Preparing the Ground

My neighbour has been very busy recently, replacing the surface of his yard.  There were several days of digging out and removing old, cracked slabs, followed by levelling of the ground.  Eventually the new surface was laid, and very smart it looks too.  Of course, he could have just put the new on top of the old, which would have looked just as good – for a little while anyway.  But after all, why not?  Isn’t today’s society characterised by superficiality?

There is such a danger in the message – so prevalent today – that emphasises God’s love but neglects His holiness, His justice, His wrath.  Unconverted people, rather than being drawn to the Saviour, get the impression that God is some benign being who smiles lovingly upon them come what may, and so they cease to take any real account of Him at all.  They may add a veneer of Christianity – a top dressing – but there is no real ’spadework’ - no sense of sin, no repentance.

May the Lord impress upon us the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and then the wonders of His mercy, grace and love will make us long to forsake sin, live to please Him, and strive to make the gospel known in all its glorious fullness! 

When free grace awoke me,

By light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me,

I trembled to die;

No refuge, no safety,

In self could I see;

‘Jehovah Tsidkenu’     (The Lord our righteousness Jeremiah 23:6)

My Saviour must be!

                   R M McCheyne 

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.  Romans 1:18