Keep your heart, O believer, much beneath the cross

Posted by Erik in Irish Calvinist on Jan 2nd, 2010 | 4 responses

Keep your heart, O believer, much beneath the cross, your conscience in frequent and close contact with the blood, and the slightest touch of sin will make you restless and unhappy until you have confessed, and God has forgiven.

This is the secret—which, alas! few see, or care to know—of preserving the garments white amid pollution, the mind serene amid turmoil, the heart happy amid sorrow, the life radiant and transparent as the sun, and the spirit, temper, and carriage Christ-loving, and Christ-like.

Oh the wonders of the precious blood of Christ! Who can exalt it too highly, adore it too profoundly, love, magnify, and honor it too deeply and exclusively? Will it not constitute the theme of our study, the burden of our song, and the source of our bliss as ages roll on, and never cease to roll?

Beloved, the surprise then will be, that here below we should have prized it so little, traveled to it so infrequently, and glorified it so imperfectly, and have regarded it with an affection so fickle and so cold! (The Precious Things of God, Octavius Winslow)

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4 Responses to “Keep your heart, O believer, much beneath the cross”

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January 2, 2010 at 3:33 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Erik Raymond, The Reformed Hub. The Reformed Hub said: IRISH CALVINIST: Keep your heart, O believer, much beneath the cross http://bit.ly/6LEgvn [...]
donsands says:

January 2, 2010 at 6:26 pm

Nice quote. I thank God He is full of grace, and is gracious upon gracious to us.

I know when I stand before the Lord Jesus, and see Him, and realize what He did for us, I will be ashamed. However, I am His beloved adopted son by His precious blood, because He gave Himself for me. A disobedient son, and a rebellious son at times, and a disciplined son, but a son. And an heir. And a brother.

Why would the Lord love such a blasphemer and ungodly mocker? That may still be an eternal question, even in glory for me.

Thanks for the excellent quote.
Mike says:

January 4, 2010 at 7:26 pm

Erik, I know it’s off topic, but I have to pass along a compliment to a sermon you preached January 2009, entitled “Fighting Lust with Lust.”

I thought you took an absolutely brilliant approach to a very difficult topic. You made a comment that our lust is really a displeasure with God and a declaration of self-sovereignty.

What a very challenging thought. Every sin (whether lust or anything else) is not just a slap in God’s face, but a promotion of myself over His glory.

Great job, brother!
Erik says:

January 6, 2010 at 10:33 am

Great to hear Mike. The issue of desire seems to be where to attack it. The deeds are results of a heart that is hungry for something. The goal is to make that something be God and then his glory will become our thirst. (rather than self—and then our glory) pretty huge shift here from regular counseling ‘tactics’. Glad you were encouraged.