"Keep Yourselves in the Love of God..."

“We need to keep our heart full of a sense of the love of God. This is the greatest perspective available to us against the power of temptation in the world...Fill your heart with a sense of the love of God in Christ, and apply the eternal design of grace and shed blood to yourselves. Accept all the privileges of adoption,justification, and acceptance with God. Fill your heart with thoughts of the beauty of holiness...then in the ordinary course of walking with God, you will experience great peace and security from temptation.”

John Owen, Sin and Temptation

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,keep yourselves in the love of God..." (Jude)

5 comments:

jul said...

Great quote, doesn't seem to jive with another quote from that book "Load thy conscience with guilt". Those puritans were funny guys... Are you reading the whole thing Sheila? I couldn't hack the guilt stuff... if you are, keep posting the good stuff, I stand a dose of the good side of the puritans...

Sheila Atchley said...

Yes, I have read it...and you are right, some of the Puritans were um...confused. I tend to take what jives with the gospel, and toss what doesn't. They were at a certain place, along a sort of "continuum" of revelation (for lack of a better term) and they did have some very insightful contributions.

I don't hack the guilt stuff either. "Load thy conscience with guilt"...sorry, but that makes me laugh out loud. John Owen was a merit monger himself from time to time - but when he spoke on the issues of grace properly, he was quite thought provoking.

Thanks for stopping in to say hey! Hug that baby girl for me! Come see us this summer!! No more weddings -

Chris Welch - 07000INTUNE said...

Sheila, I have put up your hospitality post.

Mrs Atchley and Mrs O Connor Morris
in the 12 steps there is a place where you consider the effects and seriousness of what your behaviour has cost yourself, others and God's plans. Well that's the 12 steps.

But feeing the pain and reality of what our "independence" has caused is not the same as condemnation. Sometimes either direct or through a sermon I get the Holy Spirit's seriousness. And now that I know the "trick" of God's new life...I don't redouble my efforts to be better....it's like a falling forward into Him....a recommittal to the One who is My Lawkeeper.

If the Puritans mean such a seriousness, I guess that's no bad thing. Basilea Schlink kept on reminding us of a "test" verse for these situations. Cor7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." And the latter also applies to religion and only the outer form of sorrow.
With these Puritan fellows it's nearly impossible for us to guage the "life content" of the material the guys are writing. We really needed to be in their presence hearing them speak these words. Many were actually having real visions of heaven and hell as they listened. Now I'm hardly going to go up to one of the ses guys while they are in such a place of Holy Spirit involvement and say- ummm excuse me--in around four centuries time Steve Mc Vey is telling you to listen to him rather than the Holy Spirit, and not get so serious about this hell stuff..... but conversely, perhaps these writings were done in an off period....and Steve Mc Vey turned out to be right.
The letter is such a blunt instrument. You can see why God spoke Light into being...rather than write about it.

Creation manual" First: Let there be light"
Is that a lightbulb light?
Light as a feather light
Or the raw substance light?
Sort of loses its thrust!

Chris Welch - 07000INTUNE said...

followup

Sheila Atchley said...

Chris, thanks for your comment...it brings a much needed perspective. When I say that some Puritans were "confused sometimes", I should elaborate, but there is no time right now. I probably should simply say I disagree with some of what they said and leave it at that.

That said, I've always been drawn to the writings of the Puritans - I own some books that would make any Puritan-fan salivate!!....and you are so right, you have to "hear" them in the context (time in history, background) in which they spoke. Good works isn't a bad concept, those two words are not "bad words"...they are BIBLICAL words. IN CONTEXT. What context? The context of the great grace we have been shown.

Valuable thoughts, Chris...thanks again.