Truth for Life - October 14, 2017
October 14
What is Spiritual Knowledge?
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. - Philippians 3:8
Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with Him. I must know Him myself; I must know Him on my own account.
It will be an intelligent knowledge--I must know Him not as in the visionary dreams of Him, but as the Word reveals Him. I must know His natures, divine and human. I must know His offices (Prophet, Priest and King)--His attributes--His works--His shame--His glory. I must meditate upon Him until I "comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge."1
It will be an affectionate knowledge of Him; indeed, if I know Him at all, I must love Him. An ounce of heart knowledge is worth a ton of head learning. Our knowledge of Him will be a satisfying knowledge. When I know my Savior, my mind will be full to the brim--I will feel that I have that which my spirit longs for. This is the bread that satisfies all hunger.
At the same time it will be an exciting knowledge; the more I know of my Beloved, the more I will want to know. The higher I climb, the loftier will be the summits that invite my eager footsteps. I shall want more as I get more. Like the miser's treasure, my gold will make me covet more.
To conclude, this knowledge of Christ Jesus will be a most happy one; in fact, so elevating that sometimes it will completely lift me above all trials and doubts and sorrows; and it will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than "Man . . . born of a woman . . . few of days and full of trouble," for it will throw about me the immortality of the ever-living Savior and cover me with the golden cloak of His eternal joy. Come, my soul, sit at Jesus' feet, and learn of Him all this day.
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 1 Kings 17
verse 2 Colossians 4
Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification
By Sinclair Ferguson
As Christians, we become transformed by the renewing of our minds. Ultimately, how we think, as shaped by our hearing the Word of God, will determine how we will live for God’s glory.
Author and pastor Sinclair Ferguson describes this transformative process in what he describes as a ‘blueprint for sanctification’. Devoted to God builds a strong and reliable framework for practical Christian living, stressing several fundamental issues, such as: union with Christ, spiritual growth, the reality of spiritual conflict, and the role of God’s law.
Here is a fresh approach to an always relevant subject, and a working manual to which we can turn again and again for biblical instruction and spiritual direction.
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From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
