Coram Deo: Many non-Christians are content to see Jesus as a good teacher, but they say more than they know when they call Him good. He is truly and inherently good because He is God incarnate. As we hear others who are not believers refer to Jesus as a good teacher, let us encourage them to consider why they see Him as good—because He is actually God Himself.
There are numerous people who struggle with addictions that many of us mistakenly deem as “harmless,” such as overeating, shopping, exercise, work, social media, and Internet addictions. Whether public or private, big or little, outward or inward, addictions are real and are ultimately matters of the heart in the lives of image bearers of God. —Burk Parsons in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: As fallen people, we tend to overestimate our faithfulness to the Lord and to rely on our works for our right standing before God. But the gospel—and our consciences—tell us that we cannot do enough or be good enough to merit the kingdom. As we grow in Christ, we will be more honest before the Lord about our sin and how short we fall of His glory. Are you growing in honesty about your sin before God?
All that God had to do to harden Pharaoh's heart, or to harden your heart, is to withhold His own grace. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Wise Christians understand that wealth brings with it certain temptations. The wealthier we are, the more we may be prone to look for security in our riches and not in Christ. Thus, Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark, “The wealth with which we have been blessed by God can become a snare to us, so we need to think about the eye of the needle and take stock every now and then of where our hearts are.”
There is no such thing as secret Christianity. Sooner or later, either the secrecy will drive out whatever Christianity there may be, or the Christianity will drive out the secrecy. Genuine Christianity will always manifest itself visibly in our lives. —Guy Richard in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Although we should not follow Jesus simply to get earthly or heavenly blessings, Scripture nevertheless holds out rewards as one motivation for obeying Christ. On those days when the cost of discipleship seems not worth paying, let us remember that Jesus promises great blessings to those who follow Him. In being willing to lose all for Christ, we will end up gaining everything.
Coram Deo: Servanthood, the willingness to put the needs of others before ourselves, trusting not in our own strength, maintaining our integrity—these are the values of God’s right-side-up kingdom. When our churches embody these values, they will look strange to the world, but that should be our goal. We want people to see our congregations and notice that there is something different about them, that we have values that are different from those of the kingdoms of this world.
One problem we have in our day is the popular belief that God never wills pain or suffering. Many teach that if you trust in Jesus, all your problems will be over, and you’ll never have to live with deprivation, persecution, or pain. Have the people who say such things ever read the New Testament? —R.C. Sproul in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Jesus, as well as the New Testament authors, tells us that Christ’s death was a propitiatory sacrifice. It was a death that satisfied the wrath of God because Christ bore the curse of God on our behalf. To bear the curse of God is a horrible thing to imagine, but it was motivated by the grace, love, and mercy of our Creator. Because Christ was delivered over to the Gentiles, we who trust in Him never need to fear that we will have to bear the curse ourselves.
The more sanctified a person is the more heavily weighted his prayer time is in adoration. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: We do not know who will have the highest place of honor after Jesus in the kingdom of God. We do know, however, that honor in the kingdom will come only as we drink Jesus’ cup and are baptized with His baptism. That is, the most highly honored in the kingdom of God will be those who have suffered the greatest for Jesus’ name. As we suffer for Jesus, let us remember that such suffering will lead to honor in His kingdom.
I wish more churches had a vision for providing the financial support necessary to prepare ministers of the gospel. If we support existing pastors, campus ministers, missionaries, and church planters (and we should), why wouldn’t we also want to support those called to and preparing to be pastors, campus ministers, missionaries, and church planters? —Ligon Duncan in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Are we seeking self-promotion? Do we aspire to greatness and think that the way to get there is to step on people on our way up the ladder? If so, then we have not understood Jesus’ teaching on true greatness. Whatever authority we have, we must exercise it in order to meet the needs of others. We should be asking what we can do for others, not what we can do for ourselves.
It's not just a duty, it's a privilege, to be able to spend one's life in the service of Christ. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Our sin violates God’s perfect justice, so He has every right to demand that a price be paid to satisfy this justice. Christ’s death was that price, and the price was also a ransom that secured our release from our bondage to sin. Because Christ died to sin, we can now obey our Creator. Let us seek to do so this day, repenting for our sin and praying for the Holy Spirit to empower us for His service.
Unsurprisingly, the darkened mind shifts the boundaries of ethical norms and clamors for everyone’s approval, even enlisting public shaming and legal force in its cause. The revolution is in full swing. Self-appointed, self-determined rights in the pursuit of dignity and liberty supposedly trump any outside influence. —Chris Larson in Tabletalk Magazine
The temptation to value certain gifts over others didn’t end with the first-century church. We, too, are plagued with the same temptation to value certain gifts over others. We can forget that God is the giver of gifts and that they are meant not for our glory but for His. As we remember that God is the giver of all good things, including gifts that He apportions as He wills, we can be content with what we have and put it to good use. We must ask the giver of good gifts to help us walk in love and unity in the body. For we know that love never ends. —Trillia Newbell in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: When Christ opens the eyes of our hearts to see Him in all His glory, we are moved to serve Him out of gratefulness for His salvation. If we would grow in our obedience this day, we must see Jesus for who He is. Let us pray that God would continue to help us see Him and His glory.
The reality is that Christians who define Christianity in terms of historic Christian doctrine and moral teachings do not believe merely that the Bible is true, but that it points to the only way we will produce real and lasting human happiness. We are not merely opposed to same-sex marriage because we believe it to be contrary to Scripture; we believe that anything opposed to Scripture cannot lead to human flourishing. —Albert Mohler in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: What happened to Jesus in Jerusalem was not some cosmic accident. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). He, with the Father and the Spirit, planned His death and remained sovereign over every aspect of it even as others were taking His life. Because He was sovereign over His death, we know that it accomplished exactly what He intended it to accomplish—the full and final salvation of His people.
It's because God is good that there is such a place as hell where He punishes evil. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: The people on the first Palm Sunday did not understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom or salvation. Nevertheless, they were correct to acclaim the Davidic king as the bringer of salvation. Only Jesus the Messiah can redeem us from all His and our enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil. We cannot save ourselves. Let us trust Him al this day, and let us proclaim to the world that He is the only Savior.
Our sins leave scars. First, they not only wound others but hurt us, damage us. Then, by His grace, and by His scars, they are healed. They are forgotten by the One who knows all things, the beginning from the end, but not by us. Because we are healed, our past sins cannot hurt us. However, because we are scarred, we do not forget. —R.C. Sproul Jr. in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Jesus cursed the fig tree for its fruitlessness, for not living up to what it appeared to be when it had foliage but no figs. That is a warning to all who profess faith in Him. We are to bear fruit for God’s glory, and if we are not bearing fruit in service to God and neighbor, we must repent and rely on His grace. If we do not, that may be a sign that we are not in His kingdom after all.
Coram Deo: How Christians and churches live out their roles as prophetic voices in the civic process is a matter of some complexity. One thing is clear, however, and that is that believers cannot be silent when babies are aborted, sexual immorality is promoted by the government, legal verdicts are bought and sold, and other matters. The church must call the state to act justly whenever it is failing to do so.
Coram Deo: Christ, the glory of God, is coming again in glory to consummate His kingdom (Acts 1:6–11). That the first-century Jewish leaders were unprepared for the return of the glory of God to the temple serves as a warning to us. Are you ready for His return, or will He find that you have been an unprofitable servant?
Once we see that the problem of addiction is really the problem of sin, we see that the solution to addiction is the same as the solution to sin: the gospel message. Addicts need to have the love of their hearts reordered by the grace of God. —Mike McKinley in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Our earthly fathers are sinners, so they fail us in many ways. Some do so in only minor ways, while others fail to protect and provide for their children in major ways. But our Father in heaven cannot fail us. He loves His children perfectly, and we can be assured that He will always protect and provide for us perfectly. Go before God in prayer today, knowing that He loves His children in Christ and will meet their needs.
If Christ could make a complaint, it would be, "My bride never talks to me." —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: One way to evaluate whether our prayers are lining up with how God wants us to pray is to consider how often we pray for God’s holiness to be recognized and for His kingdom to come. If we regularly spend more time praying for our needs than for the advance of God’s kingdom, our priorities in prayer are off. Let us consider how focused we are on praying for God’s kingdom to come, and let us pray this day for His name to be hallowed.
I need reviving on a regular basis. Coffee has a way of reviving my mind in the morning. Sleep has a way of reviving my body at night. A good laugh with a great friend has a way of reviving my emotions. But only God’s Word by the power of God’s Spirit has the power to revive our hearts—the very seat of all we are. —Ryan Huguley in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: It is not wrong to do God’s will because it is our duty to obey Him. However, God wants us to be content with His will, to seek to do His will not merely out of duty but because we are delighted to follow His commandments. By His grace, over the course of our lives, He makes us increasingly willing to obey Him even when it is hard. Let us pray that He would make us willing to do His will this day.
Coram Deo: As sinners, we are not owed anything by the Lord, not even the bread we eat every day. Asking God to provide us with our daily bread helps us remember His grace not only in saving us from sin but also in meeting our physical needs. May we ever be aware of the Lord’s sustaining hand, and may we seek Him daily for every need.
Coram Deo: When others come to us for forgiveness and ask for our pardon, we must forgive them. We cannot continue to hold their sin against them or harbor bitterness in our hearts toward them. Insofar as we are able, we are to pursue reconciliation. But we are not to do this by ignoring justice. Forgiving others and seeking justice for them if they have harmed others are not incompatible.
A person who finds God privately is freed to enjoy the good things of the earth without being bound by them. An addict needs to relearn that enjoyment comes from many sources other than the object that has captured him. —Jeremy Pierre in August's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: God will not allow Satan to snatch any of His children out of His hand, and one of the ways by which He keeps us in His hand is in our prayers for perseverance. We pray for the Lord to protect us from Satan so that we may do God’s will and so that we will press on and remain faithful to Him in all times of testing. Let us pray daily for protection from the devil and for the grace to remain faithful to Christ.
Christians can have radical and serious falls, but never total and final falls from grace. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: In its liturgical form, the Lord’s Prayer begins and ends with God’s holy name, His kingdom, and His glory. The church has been wise in this, and we can learn from the saints who have gone before us that we should begin and end our prayers by praying for the coming of God’s holy, powerful, and glorious kingdom. Let us pray for that today.
My mom’s addiction to alcohol led to many other sins. She drank in order to get drunk because she wanted to forget all the darkness in her life that caused her so much pain. She came to depend on this boozy forgetfulness in spite of all the other wickedness she had to accomplish to receive it. —Heath Lambert in August's Tabletalk Magazine
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