Christ is our pursuit in this life and the next. As Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). As you go about your daily work, do so with Christ in view. As you seek to parent your children and love your spouse, do so with Christ in view. As you read your Bible and pray, do so with Christ in view. Plead with Him every morning to give you a greater vision of His beauty. Thank Him every evening for the delights you enjoyed. —Jason Helopoulos in July's Tabletalk Magazine
Coram Deo: Are you a trustworthy person? As believers have been predestined to be conformed to Christ’s image (Rom. 8:29) and Christ is supremely trustworthy, then evidence of Christian growth comes as we become more trustworthy. As we live by faith, let us seek to become more trustworthy friends, relatives, workers, and citizens.
Coram Deo: Pray this prayer: “Cleanse me Lord. Purge my sin and remove it from me. Cover my moral nakedness.”
Coram Deo: What difficulties are you currently facing? Reaffirm your trust in the sovereignty of God, who is working all things together for His good pleasure.
Coram Deo: Are you seeking the benefits God can give you or seeking after God alone?
Coram Deo: In your spiritual walk, are you moving from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life? Are you continually seeking after God?
Coram Deo: Reflect on God’s care for you as your Supreme Bishop.
Coram Deo: Spend some time today enjoying the beauties of nature, remembering that the earth is the Lord’s.
Coram Deo: Discussions continue about what we can and cannot do on the Christian Sabbath. While these discussions are important, what is vital is that we are setting apart the Lord’s Day as holy by gathering for worship with God’s people and resting from our ordinary vocations. Are you hallowing the Lord’s Day in these ways?
What do you do when you are disappointed? Hold a pity party? Mope about it? Complain? Get angry? Muddle through confusion? Turn in on yourself? Manipulate? Withdraw? Fix the problem? Make the problem go away? None of these are Christian responses.
Coram Deo: Scripture places great responsibility on parents to rear their children in the faith (Deut. 6:4–9). We cannot be uninvolved in the spiritual nurture of our kids and expect our pastors and Sunday school teachers to do all the work. We do not have to be professional theologians, but we should know the basics of the faith well enough that we can teach them to our children.
The very essence of secularism is the thesis that the hic et nunc, the here and now, is all there is. There is no realm of the eternal. But as Christians, we are called to consider the present in light of the eternal. This is what Jesus preached again and again. What does it profit a man if in this time and in this place he gains the whole world, but he loses his own soul (Luke 9:25)? —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Murder is not the unforgivable sin, so anyone who has taken innocent life unjustly will be forgiven in Christ when they repent and believe. As Christians, we are perhaps more prone to break the sixth commandment by harboring angry hearts. Ungodly anger against another person violates the sixth commandment, so let us seek to eliminate that sin in our lives.
Those who complain about the problem of evil also have the problem of defining the existence of the good. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: None of us who are married should think we are immune to the sin of adultery. Thus, we must guard our hearts carefully lest we find ourselves entering into inappropriate relationships with those who are not our spouses. God demands that we be faithful to our marriage partners, so let us not fool ourselves into thinking that a relationship with a person to whom we are not married is innocent when it is not.
Coram Deo: If it was possible to rob God under the old covenant, how much worse is it to rob God under the new covenant when we enjoy greater clarity regarding our salvation? Let us not rob God by withholding our tithes, but let us carefully consider our income and budgets to make sure we are giving to the work of the Lord and the advance of His kingdom.
Entertainment isn’t evil in itself, and we can enjoy it as we remember that in whatever we do, our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever as we live coram Deo, before the face of our omniscient and gracious God. —Burk Parsons
Coram Deo: Many of us think that we have kept the ninth commandment when in fact we have been guilty of gossip and slander behind closed doors. If you are guilty of gossiping about others, telling people things about others that may not be true, or telling people facts about others that they do not really need to know, then repent this day. Ask God to help you put this sin to death. And may all of us take care not to gossip or slander.
Pain and suffering tend to eat away not only at our love but also at our faith, because we begin to wonder if God is loving and if He is even real. We ask how in the world He can let this relentless pain grip our lives. That’s why it’s so important for us to keep our attention on the Word of God. We are told not to be surprised when suffering comes our way. —R.C. Sproul
Coram Deo: Sin is finally a matter of the heart. That is why we must not be content with conforming only our outward behavior to God’s law but also our inward thoughts and desires. This day, repent for those thoughts and desires that you have that do not conform to God’s law. Ask the Lord to create in you a heart that more consistently and deeply loves the things that He loves
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