“The Bible That’s Falling Apart…”

“The Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to a person who isn’t!”

You may have already seen this picture, as it has been circulating on Facebook and the world wide web. I’ve seen the quote attributed to Charles Spurgeon and Vance Havner. Here are what I consider to be the options:

A. Spurgeon said it and Havner repeated it, thus it should be attributed to Spurgeon.

B. One of the men actually said it, and the other was falsely attributed the quote. This seems to be a real possibility because both men have many famous quotes.

C. Using the same logic behind option B, neither of these men actually said it.

That all said, it sounds to me like something Havner would say, so I’m going go with option B…Havner likely said it and somewhere along the way Spurgeon was falsely attributed the quote because he has so many other great quotes as well.

Of course, if any reader has evidence for the source of the quote, that would be fantastic. Please leave a comment.

Regardless of who said it, it makes a great point.  Dig into God’s Word and be transformed!

J. C. Ryle On Fleeing Sexual Immorality

Young man, I urge you, “flee sexual immorality” ( 1 Cor. 6:18) if you love life. “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6). Flee the occasions of it, – the company of those who draw you into it, – the places where you might be tempted to it. Read what our Lord said about it in Matthew 5:28. Be like holy Job: “Make a covenant with your eyes” (Job 31:1). Flee talking of it. It is one of the things ought not so much as to be named. You cannot handle tar and not be defiled. Flee the thoughts of it: resist them, mortify them, pray against them, – make any sacrifice rather than give way. Imagination is the hotbed where this sin is too often hatched. Guard your thoughts, and there is little fear about your deeds.

– J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, pp. 30-31.

Airport Idiocy

I love this sentence from THIS ARTICLE:

Wizened seniors strain to untie their shoes; beltless salesmen struggle comically to hold up their pants; three-year-olds scream while being searched insanely for explosives, when everyone — everyone — knows that none of these people is a threat.”

And isn’t this the truth?

This has nothing to do with safety — 95 percent of these inspections, searches, shoe removals, and pat-downs are ridiculously unnecessary. The only reason we continue to do this is that people are too cowed to even question the absurd taboo against profiling — when the profile of the airline attacker is narrow, concrete, uniquely definable, and universally known. So instead of seeking out terrorists, we seek out tubes of gel in stroller pouches.”

Perhaps the terrorists have won.

Want to know how airport security OUGHT to be done?

Then read THIS ONE.

Wax On Restraint

Do you know anyone who cannot seem to put a filter over their mouth? Do you struggle to keep a secret or keep your opinion to yourself?

I have found the virtue of restraint promoted in the Proverbs:

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. – Proverbs 10.19

A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. – Proverbs 17.27

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. – Proverbs 17.28

The following quote has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln:

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

Popular blogger Trevin Wax commends the lost art of restraint in his latest post.

Humbly Read the Bible

He that desires to read his Bible with profit, must first ask the Lord Jesus to open the eyes of his understanding by the Holy Spirit. Human commentaries are useful in their way. The help of good and learned men is not to be despised. But there is no commentary to be compared with the teaching of Christ. A humble and prayerful spirit will find a thousand things in the Bible, which the proud, self-conceited student will utterly fail to discern.” – J. C. Ryle

Learning Through Affliction

A few Sundays ago at Harvest, I delivered a message titled, “How Can I Really Change?” one of the points was if you really want to change in your life, if you really want to experience growth, you need to accept God’s change agents in your life, including difficult trials. Here is a good quote from Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) on this reality:

I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness.”

The Secret to Loving God

We are commanded to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Matt. 22.37). And yet we find it hard to love God more than our own desires and the tangible people and things around us. What is the secret to loving God more? The answer is found in Luke 7.36-50 where a woman shows great love for Jesus by pouring expensive oil on his feet, washing his feet while she wept. Some present were repulsed because she was a woman of ill repute. Jesus used the moment as a teaching lesson, sharing a story about two debtors who were forgiven their debts, one more than the other.

When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” (Luke 7.42-43)

Jesus goes on to say that the woman loved much because she was forgiven much, and then states this truth in the opposite form: But he who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke 7.47b).

The secret to growing in your love for God is to grow in your understanding and appreciation for how much God has forgiven you.

What, after all, is the great secret of loving Christ? It is an inward sense of having received from Him pardon and forgiveness of sins. Those love much who feel much forgiven. He who has come to Christ with his sins, and tasted the blessedness of free and full absolution, he is the man whose heart will be full of love towards his Savior. The more we realize that Christ has suffered for us, and paid our debt to God, and that we are washed and justified through His blood, the more we shall love Him for having loved us, and given Himself for us.”  – J. C. Ryle

The Width, Depth, and Height of the Cross

A. B. Simpson (1843-1919) on the cross of Jesus:

The arms of that cross are wide enough to cover every need and every experience of our daily lives. Its foundations are deeper than than our deepest sorrows, and our loftiest heights of rapture can never reach above its heavenly altitude. It is God’s measure not only of His love, but of our lives.”      – The Cross of Christ: His sufferings and their impact on the believer, p. 14.

Fighting Sin

Came across this great quote by Billy Sunday over at Trevin Wax’s blog:

I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and tootheless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!”

“Not Judged by the Color of Their Skin, But…”

“…by the content of their character.”- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a nation we have blessedly moved beyond judging people by the color of their skin. We elected a man of color as President of our country.

But as a nation we have also tragically forgotten the last half of Dr. King’s great sentence. We now consider it a high crime to judge someone by their character/behavior. Now we prohibit all forms of judging others, so is it any wonder our nation is in the mess it’s in?