Fri.-Sabbath, 10/26-28/12 Devotion

Sunday IS coming! Yippee. Here is some brilliant genius from Thomas Watson, as it is found in his profound work, entitled, "The Art of Di-vine Contentment." Pastor Watson is dealing with Paul's assertion, as it is found in Php. 4:11:

"This word, 'I have learned,' is a word that imports difficulty; it shows how hard it was for the apostle came by contentment of mind; it was not bred in nature. St. Paul did not come naturally by it, but he had learned it. It cost him many a prayer and tear; it was taught him by the Spirit.

"Whence our doctrine: GOOD THINGS ARE HARD TO COME BY. The business of religion is not so facile [easy] as most do imagine. 'I have learned,' says St. Paul. Indeed you need not teach a man to sin; this is natural, (Ps. 58:3)--and therefore facile. It comes as water out of a spring. It is an easy thing to be wicked. Hell will be taken without storm; but matters of religion [viz. true Christianity] must be learned. To cut the flesh is easy, but to prick a vein, and not to cut an artery, is hard. The trade of sin needs not to be learned, but the art of divine contentment is not achieved without holy industry: 'I have learned.' "