Coram Deo: Whether macroeconomics or microeconomics, the science of economics from a biblical perspective is about stewardship. Ultimately, everything that we own belongs to God. He graciously gives it to us for us to manage. Thus, we are responsible to use His resources to provide for our families, and we are to protect and increase what the Lord has given to us (Lev. 19:23–25; Prov.13:22; 1 Cor. 9:7). God will hold us accountable for what we do with His creation.
As we continue to wrestle with the desires of the flesh, we can be tempted to believe God owes us a better condition than we presently enjoy. To believe such a thing is sin, and it leads to great misery, which is overcome only by trusting in the Lord’s sustaining and providential grace. —R.C. Sproul in Tabletalk Magazine
If the church were to rise up with a united front, would there be any more abortions? Dr. James Pendergraft, the owner of the abortion clinic where I minister, said, “If it wasn’t for the evangelical church sending me their daughters, I’d be out of business.” Most people who come to kill their babies claim to be Christians. The church needs to repent of our apathy. —John Barros in Tabletalk Magazine
It is easy for many of us to become so overwhelmed with our sins that we lose heart in the Christian life and begin to doubt whether we are Christians at all. We become easily discouraged with particularly stubborn sins because we do not seem to be able to gain victory over them. We see precious little growth in our lives. And no matter how much we struggle against our sin, we still find Paul’s words in Romans 7:15–20 to be true of ourselves: we do not do the things that we want to do, and, instead, we do the things we do not want to do. —Guy Richard in this month's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: The only sure way to gain humility of understanding is to know the character of God. When we begin to grasp the immensity and incomprehensibility of the Lord, we begin to see our place in this world and we are forced to acknowledge our limitations, and acknowledging our limitations is part and parcel of true humility. If we want to cultivate the virtue of humility, we mustknow the character of God.
Coram Deo: If we are wise, then we will treasure the Word greatly just as the author of Psalm 119 did. Wise people put the most value in those things that endure, and nothing is more enduring than the Word of God. After all, it comes from and is sustained by the eternal Lord of creation. With the many distractions life sends our way, it is easy not to treasure God’s Word, so let us pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us to see the true value of the Scriptures.
This is why Christians live lives of sexual purity: having experienced God’s holy love for them, they can do nothing else but “imitate his [i.e., God’s] goodness." Though wholly counter-cultural in its day, this expression of sexual purity won many to Christ. May it do so again. —Michael Haykin in Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Matthew Henry comments, “Notwithstanding the long continuance of life, and the many comforts of it, yet we must remember the days of darkness, because those will certainly come, and they will come with much the less terror if we have thought of them before.” If we are unprepared to meet our Creator, death will be a terror for us. But if we think on our deaths, realize our sin, and turn to Christ, we will not be afraid.
In the culture of pluralism, the chief virtue is tolerance. The only thing that cannot be tolerated is a claim to exclusivity. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: We can be tempted to give up when dissension and misunderstanding abound or we are facing many other problems. While we do not want to minimize our difficulties, we should also take care to look around us and see if our issues are part of the messiness of growth. Problems faced by a growing congregation or maturing family are often from the devil as he endeavors to put an end to God’s work. Let us not be thrown off course by his evil plans.
Coram Deo: The media often depicts Christians as joyless, judgmental individuals who avoid pleasure at all cost. We know that this is a gross caricature, especially in light of the Bible’s teaching that we are to rejoice in what God has given. Sadly, however, many Christians’ behavior has led to the impression that we are joyless people. Let us rejoice in what is good that unbelievers may have no legitimate cause for this caricature.
Love for Muhammad (and his family) is deeply inculcated into most Muslim children. Protecting his honor from any assault is an obligation on all. Any suspected denigration of Muhammad creates disturbances and riots in Muslim communities. It is classed as blasphemy and deserves the death sentence. —Patrick Sookhdeo in Tabletalk Magazine
If we feel lowly as believers, we should not fight this sense. We are the people made glad by news of our weakness. We do not need to keep up appearances as our unsaved neighbors must. We have no delusions of grandeur. We can work profitably in the Lord’s vineyard, but even if our efforts are richly blessed, we build no new kingdom. We inherit one. There is nothing lacking in it. In the economy of God, all the repentant sinner gets is everything. —Owen Strachan in this month's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: All of us go through periods where we may not really feel like rejoicing in the Lord. At such times, we should rejoice anyway, and we should fulfill our duty to seek our joy in Him. But we should also look to have this joy flow from hearts that really want to do it, not begrudgingly or reluctantly. We can cultivate in ourselves this desire by thinking on all that the Lord has done for us and by remembering that He takes pleasure in us, His people.
Tabletalk: What is a typical day of ministry like at the abortion clinic?
John Barros: We pray for those on their way to the clinic, asking God to work on their hearts. When they arrive, we introduce ourselves, letting them know we are here for them and that God sent us to call them to trust Him. We give them the “In the Womb” tract and a card to the local crisis pregnancy center, which will do an immediate ultrasound. God turns many hearts right away.
Coram Deo: The temptation to sexual sin does not, in our day, always present itself as a temptation to idolatry. However, the Bible’s teaching on sexual sin makes it clear that sexual sin is not only a sin against the body, but it is also a sin against the Lord. To lie with one who is not one’s lawful spouse is to forsake our union with Christ and be joined to another (1 Cor. 6:15–20). We flee sexual sin not only to protect our families but also to protect our very souls.
Faith that brings us to Christ is a faith that has with it a broken and contrite heart. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: In our society, which glorifies sexual pleasure as the greatest good of all, we face many external pressures to fall into sexual immorality. Understanding that the promises of sexual sin are false ones, therefore, requires continual immersion in the Word of God and reminders that our Lord blesses only those relationships sanctioned in His Word. Let us endeavor to meditate on God’s truth so that we will not believe the lies of sexual sin.
Coram Deo: In His grace, God calls us to Himself and chooses to dwell within us. We never have to fear that He will leave us, but we make ourselves vessels that are more fit for His presence as we pursue lives of holiness in faith and repentance. Augustine of Hippo comments: “Dost thou wish to be a place for the Lord? Be thou poor in spirit, and contrite, and trembling at the word of God, and thou wilt thyself be made what thou seekest.”
As culture veers more and more towards a secular state it shrinks back from gratitude. So vainly we think we did this all ourselves. So wrongly we think we deserve, or even have a fundamental right to, all of this. —Stephen Nichols from Ligonier Ministries
Coram Deo: Until Christ returns, enemies will rebel against His rule, but their eventual defeat is sure. John Calvin comments, “The . . . people of God will never enjoy such peace on earth as altogether to escape being assaulted by the variety of enemies which Satan stirs up for their destruction. It is enough to have it declared, upon divine authority, that their attempts shall be unsuccessful, and that they will retire eventually with ignominy and disgrace.”
Coram Deo: Christians are to be known for their love for their enemies and for each other, and such love does not seek vengeance for every wrong that is ever done to us. Of course, this is difficult, as we all seek to be repaid for the evil we experience. However, if we trust in the Lord for vengeance and pray that He will make us patient with sinners just as He is patient with sinners, the Spirit will enable us not to seek vengeance when it is not appropriate to do so.
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