Fri.-Sabbath, 12/19-21/08 Devotion

Wahoo--it's almost Sunday, the Lord's Day, the day of resurrection, one of God's 52 holy days a year! Shifting gears today, here are the words of my second favorite Puritan of all time: the great Richard Sibbes. This snippet comes from a treatise of his, entitled, "Denial of the Best for the Church's Benefit":

"A second thing that I observe hence is this, holy and gracious men, that are led by the Spirit of God, can deny themselves and their own best good for the church's benefit. They know that God has appointed them as instruments to convey good to others; and knowing this, they labor to come to Paul's spirit, to desire to live, to have life in patience, and death in desire in regard of themselves. For it would be much better for a good man to be in heaven, out of misery, and out of this conflicting condition with the devil and devilish-minded men.

"The reason is, because a good man, as soon as he is a good man, has the spirit of love in him, and 'love seeks not its own,' (1 Cor. 13:6), but the good of another; and as the love of Christ and the love of God possesses and seizes upon the soul, so self-love decays. What is gracious love but a decay of self love? The more self-love decays, the more we deny ourselves."