There have been a few posts floating around the blogosphere lately on workaholism (see for instance: http://www.challies.com/writings/podcast/workaholism). These led me to recall the first verses of Psalm 127:
"1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep."
Spurgeon gives us perhaps the healthy balance in his commentary on verse two:
"It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. Because the Lord is mainly to be rested in, all carking care is mere vanity and vexation of spirit. We are bound to be diligent, for this the Lord blesses; we ought not to be anxious, for that dishonours the Lord, and can never secure his favour. Some deny themselves needful rest; the morning sees them rise before they are rested, the evening sees them toiling long after the curfew has tolled the knell of parting day. They threaten to bring themselves into the sleep of death by neglect of the sleep which refreshes life. Nor is their sleeplessness the only index of their daily fret; they stint themselves in their meals, they eat the commonest food, and the smallest possible quantity of it, and what they do swallow is washed down with the salt tears of grief, for they fear that daily bread will fail them. Hard earned is their food, scantily rationed, and scarcely ever sweetened, but perpetually smeared with sorrow; and all because they have no faith in God, and find no joy except in hoarding up the gold which is their only trust. Not thus, not thus, would the Lord have his children live. He would have them, as princes of the blood, lead a happy and restful life. Let them take a fair measure of rest and a due portion of food, for it is for their health. Of course the true believer will never be lazy or extravagant; if he should be he will have to suffer for it; but he will not think it needful or right to be worried and miserly. Faith brings calm with it, and banishes the disturbers who both by day and by night murder peace." (From Spurgeon's Treasury of David)
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Reading list from Reformed Theological Seminary
http://www.rts.edu/Site/Resources/Brochures/ReadingList/Readinglist.aspx
from the archive: Diligence
NAU Proverbs 13:4 "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat."
Many Christians walk around with emaciated souls due to their lax approach toward the disciplines of godliness. We are quick to cry "salvation is by faith, not of works," when really what we mean is "salvation is by laziness," supposing that since our deeds do not contribute to our justification, that this then supplies license to do nothing. This is to distort the gospel of grace. For when a soul is awakened by God's mercy, it is not to anything but to a call to a life of zealous pursuit of Jesus Christ and the things that pertain to Him. Further, in order to sustain us in this pursuit, God has richly prepared a bounty of spiritual food for us in such forms as the Scriptures and prayer, the fellowship of other believers, and suffering. When we fail through laziness to partake of these, it is as though we push ourselves back from the table of the Lord's grace, rendering our soul famished, and thus tired and weak. When, however, we make it a priority to fill our spirits with heavenly food, then can we be strengthened for the tasks the Father has so wonderfully prepared for us to His glory. The tasks themselves often sweetly become in turn nourishment for further work.
Was this not our Master's diet? Did not Jesus, in response to His disciples' urging Him to eat, say "I have food to eat that you do not know about" and "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work?" Sadly, we can be so stuffed full of the world's delights, that we thereafter have no such appetite for the work of God, having been sickened by our own gluttony, to our soul's starvation.
Many Christians walk around with emaciated souls due to their lax approach toward the disciplines of godliness. We are quick to cry "salvation is by faith, not of works," when really what we mean is "salvation is by laziness," supposing that since our deeds do not contribute to our justification, that this then supplies license to do nothing. This is to distort the gospel of grace. For when a soul is awakened by God's mercy, it is not to anything but to a call to a life of zealous pursuit of Jesus Christ and the things that pertain to Him. Further, in order to sustain us in this pursuit, God has richly prepared a bounty of spiritual food for us in such forms as the Scriptures and prayer, the fellowship of other believers, and suffering. When we fail through laziness to partake of these, it is as though we push ourselves back from the table of the Lord's grace, rendering our soul famished, and thus tired and weak. When, however, we make it a priority to fill our spirits with heavenly food, then can we be strengthened for the tasks the Father has so wonderfully prepared for us to His glory. The tasks themselves often sweetly become in turn nourishment for further work.
Was this not our Master's diet? Did not Jesus, in response to His disciples' urging Him to eat, say "I have food to eat that you do not know about" and "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work?" Sadly, we can be so stuffed full of the world's delights, that we thereafter have no such appetite for the work of God, having been sickened by our own gluttony, to our soul's starvation.
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