Before The Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea.

A great high Priest whose Name is Love

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,

My name is written on His heart.

I know that while in heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,

My perfect spotless righteousness,

The great unchangeable I AM,

King of glory and of grace,

One in Himself I cannot die.

My soul is purchased by His blood,

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ my Savior and my God!

-Words and Music by Vikki Cook, Charitie Bancroft-

Balm of Gilead

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matt. 5:4

Many people use this verse to speak about life’s tragedies, and when we mourn over these things we will be comforted. But the greatest thing we have to mourn over is our sin, and if Christ can comfort us in this tragedy, then every other tragedy will pale in comparison and be absorbed into that comfort also. The foundation of all our hope and comfort is found in the death and resurrection of our Lord. For on the cross the price for our sin was paid, and in the resurrection the victory is found. There is no tragedy in this life that will bring us to our knees in mourning that is as significant of a problem as our sin, and when our greatest problem is cured, the comfort spreads to the lesser ones like a soothing balm. In vain we search for many medicines to cure our many wounds, when there is only one medicine that is effective and it will comfort them all. It is the balm of Gilead: the Blood of Christ.

-Doug Eaton-

Present-Day Religion

Present-Day religion far too often soothes the conscience instead of instead of awakening it; and produces a sense of self-satisfaction and eternal safety rather than a sense of our unworthiness.

~Martin Lloyd Jones~

Cities of Refuge - Hebron

The third city of refuge we will look at will be Hebron which means fellowship.

1 John 1:3 says…
That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Thanks to Christ’s work on the cross, we have fellowship with God. Without this mediating work, this would have been impossible because God’s justice needed to be satisfied, and it found its satisfaction in Christ our substitute. This verse in 1 John not only speaks of fellowship with God which is primary, but fellowship with each other as a result of our redemption.

When we flee the wrath to come and seek refuge in Christ, we are adopted as God’s children, and as children of the same Father we become brothers and sisters in Christ.

Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; 1 John 3:1

Praise God for the fellowship we have found in Him.

-Doug Eaton-

Willful Sin

Hebrews 10:26-27 says, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries (KJV).” This verse has caused many people undue anxiety. J. Vernon McGee says, that this verse should cause the hair on the back of our necks to stand up, but not in the same way it does for many who read it out of context. If we were to look at this verse by itself we would assume that if we sin after we are saved we are without hope and should simply await judgment, but does the author of Hebrews mean any sin or does he have a specific sin in mind.

The first thing we need to do with this scripture is to check the context in which we find it. First, according to Henry Virkler we need to find out some basic information about the book in which we find the statement. We should start by asking, “to whom is this book written?” When studying scripture, the best place to start looking for answers to questions like these is scripture itself, because it is infallible unlike external sources. Without much effort we will find that it is written to the Jews who have converted to Christianity or at least have made some commitment to it. This is quickly apparent because according to Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, the author of Hebrews speaks about Jewish customs without any explanation. It is apparent that the audience was Jewish and knew what these customs were and what they represented.

Another question we should ask is, “why is this book being written?” As we study the book we find that it has a general purpose, first it describes what Christ has done for them as the only true sacrifice for sin and then warns them against falling away. The concern about falling away was not due to persecution but to many who were tempted to go back to the old sacrifices which were only symbols of the true sacrifice which is Christ (Heb. 10:14).

After we have the overall argument of the book the next question we should ask is, “how do these verses of scripture fit into the overall argument of the book?” As we read the book we see that chapter 10 seems to bring the first and major section of the book to a close. Chapter 10 starts by showing that Christ is and was the only sacrifice by which any person will ever be saved. The author in verses 19-25 lays out the “new and living way”, which indicates that the old method of sacrifices are no longer of any value and to continue in them is sin.

It is in this context that we find our text. When the author says, “if we willingly sin” he is clearly speaking of willfully rejecting the sacrifice of Christ and going back to the old symbols which can never cleanse anyone from sin. If a believer does this then there is no sacrifice for their sins and they can only await judgment. In a broader sense the sin that the author is speaking of is apostasy. Now whether or not a true believer could actually do this is another question. But as J. Vernon McGee said, it should cause the hair on our neck to stand up, because this is a strong warning to keep us from ever letting anyone lead us away from trusting in the only true sacrifice that can cleans us from our sins; Jesus Christ.

If the book of Hebrews’ internal evidence is not enough to comfort a trembling soul who thinks they are forever lost because they have willfully sinned, then we must always remember that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” In them we will find no contradictions. If we ever have trouble with a difficult verse that is not immediately clear to us then we need to go check the scriptures that are clear, for Scripture is it best interpreter. In doing this we will find a verse like 1 John 2:1, which is crystal clear and says, “and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In a quick study of the context we see that John is speaking to believers. We also have the story of David being a man after God’s own heart even after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having Uriah killed. There is also the encouragement found in the account of Peter’s three denials and the forgiveness he receives from Christ, or of Paul in Romans 7 struggling with the flesh and committing sins that he hates. All of these are ample evidence that the two verses in Hebrews 10 are not saying that if you commit a sin you are lost and no longer have hope. It is saying that if you reject the sacrifice of Christ you have no hope.

-Doug Eaton-

Let Your Sins Be Strong

God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' Luke 18:13

One of the tendencies we have is trying to minimize our sin. We look at wrongs we have done and do everything we can to try and justify our actions, but this is not taking full ownership of our sins. Many times, as Christians, we admit that we need to be forgiven, but we still don’t like to admit to the fact that our sins are utterly deplorable. We like to talk about sin and forgiveness but we do not like to admit that we are really sinners. Deep down we think surely we are not like many other people who are real sinners. Thinking like this, however, makes us like the pharisee who scoffed at the tax collector--utterly in denial of the reality of our own sin.

Martin Luther once wrote a letter to Melanchthon entitled, "Let Your Sins Be Strong," addressing several different topics, including the tendency to downplay our sins. Luther says, "God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world."

We must stop trying to justify the sin we commit in order to maintain dignity. We must let them be strong, and look at them in all their wretchedness. We must see our sins as they mock God and refuse to obey Him in all His Holiness. Taking ownership of our sins is the only way we can bring what is ours to Him and say, I need you to bear my punishment for these. There is nothing anyone can do to atone for these sins. Jesus, you are the only one. His response to this request is, "I died in your place and the free gift of eternal life is yours." Because of this, there is no sin that will be able to separate us from Him, for His sacrifice was fully sufficient.

Today let us consider the words of Martin Luther: "Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner." Let us not try to justify our sins, for self-justification warrants nothing but death, but against Christ’s justifying blood, no sin can prevail.

My sins are mine I know them well
They mock at God and damn to hell
But through His blood I am set free,
He paid my debt at Calvary.

-Doug Eaton-

PS I posted this about a year ago, but it was a busy weekend. I hope it blesses some of you who haven't read it.

Pascal's Prayer in Sickness

You gave me health to use in your service, but I misused it to a wholly secular use. Now you have sent me a sickness for my correction. O let me not use this likewise to provoke you, by my impatience. I abused my health, and you have rightly dealt with me. O keep me now from abusing that also. And since the corruption of my nature distorts your favors to me, grant, O my God, that your all-prevailing grace my render your chastenings to be beneficial. If my heart has been in love with the world when I was in robust health, destroy my vigor to promote my salvation. Whether it be by weakness of or by zeal for your love, render me incapable of enjoying the worldly idols, that my delight may be only in you.

Pascal – A Prayer Asking God to Use Sickness in His life.

Four Aspects of Evangelical Systematic Theology

What are some of the important aspects of systematic theology? Speaking primarily of Evangelical systematic theology, there are at least four important aspects in addition to it being derived primarily from God’s written Word. 1. It is comprehensive, 2. it involves coherent organization, 3. it should be applicable to today’s Christian, and 4. it should all be done for the Glory of God.

1. Comprehensive

This simply means that systematic theology looks to see what scripture as a whole teaches about certain topics. As explained in the previous post, exegesis asks, what does this passage teach, Biblical theology asks, what does this author, book, or genre of literature teach within the progression of revelation, and systematic theology attempts to look at the whole and put it all together.

2. Coherent Organization

This aspect of systematic theology looks at all the pieces that scripture gives us and attempts to see how they are all tied together. The systematic theologian is not allowed to alter the pieces or leave any out. This aspect of coherence is sometimes frowned upon by those who think that the word of God cannot be understood as any kind of system. But this objection seems to miss the fact that there is nothing in the word of God that contradicts itself. This simply means that God revelation to us is unified and not contradictory, which means we should be able to look and see how it all goes together. One of the ways it is usually organized is as follows…

Bibliology- The Doctrine of the Word of God
Theology Proper- The Doctrine of God
Anthropology- The Doctrine of Man
Harmatology- The Doctrine of Sin
Christology – The Doctrine of Christ
Soteriology- The Doctrine of Salvation
Ecclesiology – The Doctrine of the Church
Eschatology – The Doctrine of Last things or the future.

Looking at this list we can see a logical progression. First we study the doctrine of the Word of God, which tells us who God is. From there we can move to God’s creation and learn about mankind who is made in His image. Looking at mankind we then study sin, which relates to mankind by showing us who we are and what sin is. From there we learn about the God-man Jesus Christ who was free from sin and how he saves sinful mankind. Because we are saved we become part of His kingdom called the Church so we study ecclesiology. From there we can move to the future of and the consummation of this Church, which is eschatology.

Some may arrange them differently, but what we begin to see is how it is all connected. In doing this we begin to understand the “total weight of truth,” as Millard Erickson puts it, realizing that doctrines do not stand alone to be easily picked off by secular arguments. They are logically interwoven into each other, and a cord of many strands which is not easily broken.

3. Applicable to Today’s Christian

There are many aspects of being a Christian that never change, such as God, sin, salvation, the Church, etc. But there are certain issues which become pressing for Christians to deal with at different times in history. If someone were to write a systematic theology today and spend most of their peripheral time arguing that the Catholic Church should not be selling indulgences, they would not really be making theology bear on the issues today, simply because this is not a major issue anymore, even though it is still true that indulgences should not be sold. Millard Erickson does a great job of this in his book on Christian doctrine, by addressing issues such as postmodernism.

4. Done for the Glory of God

Finally we must realize the systematic theology is done for the Glory of God. This is not done for us to get puffed up with knowledge, and it should always be done with humility. We are to let God’s Word inform us, instead of us informing scripture. We desire to be followers of Christ, and systematic theology along with Biblical theology and exegesis asks, what does it mean to be a follower of Christ? The more we understand the more we will be able to live our lives in a God glorifying manner, and teach others all that Christ commanded. In this we glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

-Doug Eaton-

My Advocate

I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew
Before the presence of the most high God,
And made a railing accusation there.
He said, "This soul, this thing of clay and sod,
Has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named Thy name,
But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,

'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.'
Shall not Thy sentence be fulfilled?
Is justice dead?
Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.
What other thing can righteous ruler do?
"And thus he did accuse me day and night,
And every word he spoke, O God, was true!

Then quickly One rose up from God's right hand,
Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes. He spoke,
"Each jot and tittle of the law
Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies!
But wait -- suppose his guilt were all transferred
To Me, and that I paid his penalty!
Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One day
I was made sin for him, and died that he
Might be presented, faultless, at Thy throne!"
And Satan flew away. Full well he knew
That he could not prevail against such love,
For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!

-Martha Snell Nicholson-

Cities of Refuge - Shechem

Another one of the cities of refuge was Shechem, which means shoulder or support. With these cities of refuge being a picture of what Christ does for us we can ask, “in what way is Christ a shoulder or support to us.”

The first verse that comes to mind is Isaiah 9:6 which says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:” This verse speaks of all government, but we also know that Christ governs His Church. One of Christ’s main offices is to be our king. As our king He has, and will, sovereignly oversee His kingdom by subduing our enemies such as sin and death, and protecting the rights and liberties which pertain to us as children of God. His rule is also eternal which means we will never have to worry about a new king coming into power who will not protect us.

Another way that Christ is our shoulder or support is that He gives rest to the weary and heavy laden. Much like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, we come to Him with the weight of sin upon our backs, knowing that it is more than we could bear. On the cross He takes that burden from us and endures it on our behalf by taking our wrath and giving us His righteousness. In this we find rest knowing that it is not our work that makes us right with God but His.

Praise God for being our shoulder and support.

-Doug Eaton-

Biblical and Systematic Theology

Biblical and systematic theology are both extremely important for understanding Christian truth, but there some who seem to think that biblical theology is the true theology and systematic theology is to be frowned upon if not altogether avoided. It seems that postmodernism is part of the culprit in this, but there are many that do not imbibe postmodernism who still hold this view.

This is unfortunate, because this attitude seems to miss the point of systematics and fails to see the similarities biblical theology has with systematic theology. There are three main steps in Evangelical systematic theology. First there is exegesis which looks at a text and asks, what this passage says. Next there is Biblical theology which steps out a bit further and asks what does this genre or author teach us about this topic. Finally there is systematic theology which steps out even further and asks what the Bible as a whole teaches us about some topic of interest and organizes them in a systematic way.

The similarity systematic theology has with biblical theology is that both disciplines are asking questions of the text which extend further than exegesis. For example biblical theology looks to see what wisdom literature teaches us about the fear of the Lord. As it goes along, it looks to see how the different statements about it fit together, and then come up with a statement that expresses what the wisdom literature teaches us about that topic. If it is alright for a person to involve himself in that study, it seems a bit misguided to say that they should avoid systematic theology when systematic theology does this same thing but asks the same question of the whole Bible instead of certain genres or authors.

-Doug Eaton-

Better to...

Better to have a Christian's days of sorrow,
than a worldling's days of mirth.

Better to have a Christian's sorrows,
than a worldling's joys.

Ah! happier to be chained in a dungeon with a Paul,
than reign in the palace with an Ahab.

Better to be a child of God in poverty,
than a child of Satan in riches.

-Charles Spurgeon-

Wrestling With God

24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" Genesis 32:14-26

As Jacob wrestled with God he seemed to be prevailing for some time in the struggle, then the antagonist shows his real strength by touching his side and putting his hip out of joint. This causes a great change in Jacob’s purposes in this match. The match starts as Jacob is trying to subdue the assailant and protect himself from him, but after realizing who He was, his desire changes from resisting to clinging to the assailant and not letting him go.

If we see this struggle primarily as Jacob trying to get something out of God then we have missed the point. This passage is about God getting something out of Jacob. What God was getting out of Jacob was for Jacob to cling to him in order to bless him. God is faithful and just to complete the work he has started in us, and one of the main works He does in us is to get us to stop placing confidence in ourselves and to place our trust in Him.

He does this first in his work of regeneration and justification. The first thing God does is to show us our utter hopelessness and helplessness through the law. As long as we hold to our own righteousness, all we can hope to face is judgment, but when we realize our spiritual poverty and place our hope in Christ’s completed work, ours will be the kingdom of heaven.

He then continues His work in our sanctification. Even as justified Christians our hearts are tied to this world and its comforts with iron clad bonds. In order to make us more like Him, he engages us in a struggle where it may seem that we are able to contend for ourselves, but then he shows His strength by providentially allowing us to go through times we cannot handle on our own. These times hurt and can cause manifold heaviness, but they also break our reliance upon ourselves and upon the comforts of this world.

In these struggles we are made weak, and like Jacob we may limp for the rest of our lives. But in our brokenness we are made strong, because we now cling to Christ from whom all blessing flow. The world may say, how can a man or woman who limps and appears to be so weak, be so strong? And the answer is clear, it is because God has wrestled with them, broken them, and made them to prevail with Him in His strength. Because of it they now have power with God, which also gives them power with men.

-Doug Eaton-

Cities of Refuge - Golan

1 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'Designate the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who kills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood. Joshua 20:1-2

The cities of refuge in the Old Testament are a picture of what Christ does for us. As the man guilty of accidentally killing someone is pursued, he can find refuge in six cites that have been set aside for this purpose. In these cities he is protected from those who seek to avenge the blood that he shed by taking his life.

Spiritually we are in the same situation, but our sins were no accident. We have sinned against God and His justice hangs over our head, and He will one day pour out His wrath upon us. Unless of course we flee to the refuge He has provided, and that refuge is Christ. For in Him God’s justice was satisfied for all who believe.

There are many things these cities of refuge teach us about Christ, which will hopefully be explored in future posts, but to start I want to focus on the meaning found in the names of the cities of refuge. Today we will look at Golan.

Golan was one of the Cities of Refuge, and what is interesting about this name is that it means separation, but not just any separation for some separation brings sorrow. The name Golan however carries the idea of separation that brings joy. When we run to Christ we will be separated from many things, and being separated from these things will bring us joy.

First, we will be separated from the guilt and condemnation of our sin. This is our justification. The wrath of God that rightfully belonged to us has been placed on the sacred head of Christ.

Second, we are saved in some respect in this life from the sin that rules our hearts. The sin we struggle with in this life is slowly dying thanks to the work of the Spirit in our lives. Though we will never reach perfection in this life we are in a process of being separated from our old selves, and this process is our Sanctification.

And third, we will finally be separated from all our flaws and be made like Christ, which is our glorification. The day will come when we will sin no more, and we will be separated from our darkened view of Him and see Him face to face. In that moment all the weakness and imperfection we carry will be gone permanently.

Rejoice in Christ our refuge, for in Him we will find joy in all the things from which He separates us. Flee to Christ and be separated from your guilt, sinful struggles, and eventually from this body of death.

-Doug Eaton-

Sin is Serious Business - Schaeffer

Sin is sin, and we must not call it less than sin. It is not an act of love to explain sin away as psychological determinism or sociological conditioning, for it is real and must be dealt with. Men need a Savior. Therefore, Christians in our generation must resist relativistic and deterministic thinking. If men are going to find a real solution to the problem of who they are, they must come to terms with the fact that they need a Savior because they are sinners in the presence of a holy God. Sin is serious business.

-Francis Schaeffer, No Little People-

Our Hope is Not in Vain

But I will hope continually. Psalm 71:14

Hope is one of God's precious gifts to us. As we meditate on hope, we must realize people hope in all kinds of things that will eventually disappoint them. The atheist hopes there is no God, because of the consequences of such a belief if there is one. The farmer hopes for good weather for his crops. Sometimes it happens, other times storms dash his hopes. So what is different when it comes to hoping in the Lord? How do we know that our hope is not in vain? What is our evidence, or substance of our hope.

To answer this question we must look at what hope in Christ implies. The very fact that we need to hope in Christ, shows us that we realize something about ourselves that many never see or choose to acknowledge. What we see is that we are not what we should to be. What we see is our depravity, and we long for deliverance. On top of that we have lost all hope that our good works will do anything for us. We have come to a point where we say, "Jesus, you are my only hope for righteousness” If we did not see these things, there would be no reason to hope in the Lord.

This is significant because of how we got to this point. Scripture tells us that we are dead in our trespasses, blind to spiritual things, and slaves to sin. What this means is we were lost and didn't even realize it. We were so blind that we couldn't even see our condition. But God in his grace began to reveal our condition to us through His Word, using preachers, teachers, friends, and family to show us the truth. He then went on to convict us with His Holy Spirit. Like Christian in Pilgrims Progress, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to recognize the burden of sin that is on our back. Because of this, we clamor and strain for its removal, but find that nothing we do will give us relief, until we come to the cross where our burden falls off and rolls into Christ's empty tomb never to be seen again.

We are now free, and by grace we have been saved through faith. What this means is God's grace reached out to a lost sinner and opened our understanding which was darkened, showed us our burden, and gave us only one option for it's removal, which was Christ and His sacrifice. His grace being effectual left us with no option except to willingly run into His loving arms. Thus, through Christ's grace He gave us faith, by which we are saved.

So what does this have to do with hope not being in vain? Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now FAITH is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things unseen. The very fact that we have faith is evidence that what we hope for is real. Why? Because you could not have faith unless God did His work of grace in you, and if God did this work then we know the rest is true, and will be completed also.

So like the Psalmist I will hope continually. Though all of the promises have not yet come true. I know one day my sanctification will be complete, glorification will mine, and I will be with Him face to face, where there will be no more pain and sorrow. This is our hope and we know it is true because faith is the evidence.

-Doug Eaton-

The Gospel of Substitution

What a sight it was to see Him in the garden oppressed with our load of guilt till the bloody sweat was forced from Him! To see Him bearing that stupendous weight up to the Cross and there hanging in agonies of death, bearing the desertion of His Father and all the thick clouds of darkness that came of it—dying—the “Just for the unjust to bring us to God”! It was the Glory of Christ that He was there bereft of all Glory! Never can a more glorious thing be said of Him than that He, for our sakes, was obedient to death, even the death of the Cross! And this is the Gospel we preach, the Gospel of Substitution, that Jesus stood in the sinner’s place and bore in the sinner’s stead what was due to the Law of God on account of man’s transgression.

-Charles Spurgeon-

Preacher, Speak in God's Name!

The preacher should either speak in God's name or hold his tongue. My Brother, if the Lord has not sent you with a message, go to bed, or to school, or mind your farm--for what does it matter what you have to say on your own? If Heaven has given you a message, speak it out as he ought to speak who is called to be the mouth of God!

-Charles Spurgeon-

Communion With God - Thomas Brooks

I don't normally post this many quotes from grace gems, but these have been too good to pass up.

Doug
-------------------------------------------------

Communion with God is . . .
the life of your graces,
the sweetener of all ordinances,
providences and mercies,
the strengthener of your hearts and hands,
the soul of your comforts, and
the crown of your souls.

Communion with God makes the bitter things sweet; and massive things light.

Nothing like communion with God to fence you against temptations, to sweeten all afflictions, and to make you cleave to God in the face of all troubles and oppositions.

A man high in communion with God, is a man too big for temptations to conquer, or troubles to overcome. Souls that have no communion, or but little communion with God--they are usually as soon conquered as tempted, as soon vanquished as assaulted.

(Thomas Brooks, "The Hypocrite Detected")

Redeeming the Time - Thomas Brooks

"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:16

"Time is the only thing," says Seneca, "that we can innocently be covetous of; and yet there is nothing of which many are more lavishly and profusely wasteful."

Chilo, one of the seven sages, being asked what was the hardest thing in the world to be done, answered, "To use and employ a man's time well."

"We trifle with that which is most precious, and throw away that which is our greatest interest to redeem."

Many Christian professors, instead of redeeming of precious time--do trifle and fool away much of their precious time at the mirror, the comb, the lute, the violin, the pipe, or at vain sports, and foolish pastimes, or by idle jestings, immoderate sleeping, and superfluous feasting. The best Christian is he who is the greatest monopolizer of time for private prayer.

That man is doubtless upon the brink of ruin, whose worldly business eats up all thoughts . . .
of God,
of Christ,
of heaven,
of eternity,
of his soul, and
of his soul concerns.

That man is lost, that man is cursed, who can find time for anything--but none to meet with God in his closet.

Thomas Brooks, "The Privy Key of Heaven" 1665