commentary

Just a Little Bit of Spurgeon

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment
“DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Blessed be your name God of all grace, you have revealed yourself to us, you have brought your life to our death and made us alive in you; you have brought your light to our blindness, and made us to behold you; and now you are not only the greatest source of joy to our spirit, but you are all our joy—we have none apart from you. Whatever comfort we find in creation, we know it is but fickle; and while it is there, it comes from you; for all these things are empty, and vain, and void without you. Whom have we in heaven but you, and there is none upon earth that we desire beside you!
Amen.“
“VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) In the first place, this is a very delightful thing. What a gracious God we serve, who makes delight to be a duty and who commands us to rejoice. Should we not at once be obedient to such a command as this? We should be cheerful—more than that, we should be thankful, and we should rejoice.This word, “rejoice,” is not only joy once, but it is joy over again, rejoice! We are to joy, and then we are to re-joy. We are to chew the cud of delight—we are to roll the dainty morsel under our tongue till we get the very essence out of it.”

I think Charles Spurgeon is one of my favorite preachers/authors. Even though he passed away over 130 years ago, his legacy still lives on. You can go and subscribe to receive a daily email with one of his prayers and a short commentary on a verse or two. Plus, you get to pray for a different unreached people group every week.

But back to Spurgeon. There’s a reason why he’s called the Prince of Preachers. We have so many of his sermons recorded in print for posterity. Unfortunately, the technology didn’t exist back then to be able to hear his actual preaching, but maybe somebody one day will figure out how to do an AI approximation of his voice. Or maybe not.

Here’s where you can go to receive daily emails from Spurgeon (or more accurately, from people who like Spurgeon a lot and keep his memory alive by posting his insights on a daily basis). Enjoy!

Love Will Remain

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I read this about a week ago and kept it in my archives to share with you at some point. So here it is, without any added commentary from me:

“Hope and faith will both come to an end when we die. But love will remain. Love is eternal. Love comes from God and returns to God.  When we die, we will lose everything that life gave us except love. The love with which we lived our lives is the life of God within us. It is the divine, indestructible core of our being. This love not only will remain but will also bear fruit from generation to generation.

When we approach our deaths let us say to those we leave behind, ‘Don’t let your heart be troubled. The love of God that dwells in my heart will come to you and offer you consolation and comfort'” (Henri Nouwen).

 

 

My Commentary on Current Events

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” (Martin Luther King Jr.).

I admit it. I don’t really keep up with the news. I confess that I don’t really know much about the case involving Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. I’m not going to pretend to know what happened and make a snap judgment, as I see so many doing.

I will say this. Violence only begets more violence. I don’t see how burning down businesses helps anyone. I truly don’t understand how burning down a church is anything but senseless terrorism.

I know that Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that hate only breeds more hate, and that you can’t fight hate with more hate but with love. I know I’d rather see more forgiveness and less retaliation in people’s vocabulary.

I can’t say what I would have done had it been my son or daughter who was killed. I honestly don’t know. I hope I would pray that cooler heads would prevail and that no one else would have to go through the agony of loss.

I know this. Love wins. Ultimately, the love of God will prevail. It’s not wishful thinking, but a promise. I have read the last chapter of the Book and I know how it ends. Love wins.