Edwards begins the discussion of sign ten with the caveat that perfection awaits us in heaven, a truth that applies to every distinguishing sign. We have all carried into our new and transformed life in Christ a trainload of unholy baggage, including bad habits, wrong thinking, character weaknesses, etc. Nonetheless, the extraordinary change that comes […]
Gleanings from The Religious Affections (Part 4): The Importance of Religious Affections to the Christian Life
Some who rejected the entire Great Awakening as a work of God also denied religious affections as necessary to the Christian life. For them, faith involved reason and the intellect only, not the affections. For Edwards, however, this was a serious error with enormous negative consequences—new life in Christ does not exist where religious affections […]
To Know Him Is to Love Him
Boundless in knowledge and power; perfect in goodness, love, wisdom, and justice, God does all things with holy excellence. Indeed, holiness constitutes the beauty of His every attribute and action. We see God’s excellence most clearly in the person and work of Christ in love to the unlovely, goodness to the corrupt, mercy to the […]
Is Love to God No More Than Self-Love?
Mr. Christian’s neighbor had a new bumper sticker: Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. To Mr. Christian, random and senseless acts seemed, well, random and senseless, so he asked his neighbor what it meant. His answer was startling and disturbing. “Selfish acts of doing something to get something are not virtuous; […]
