From Justin Taylor:
From “Satisfaction in God,” a sermon preached by Cotton Mather (1663-1727):
Our continual apprehension of God may produce our continual satisfaction in God, under all His dispensations.
Whatever enjoyments are by God conferred upon us, where lies the relish, where the sweetness of them? Truly, we may come to relish our enjoyments, only so far as we have something of God in them. It was required in Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself in the Lord.” Yea, and what if we should have no delight but the Lord? Let us ponder with ourselves over our enjoyments: “In these enjoyments I see God, and by these enjoyments, I serve God!”
And now, let all our delight in, and all our value and fondness for our enjoyments, be only, or mainly, upon such a divine score as this. As far as any of our enjoyments lead us unto God, so far let us relish it, affect it, embrace it, and rejoice in it: “O taste, and feed upon God in all;” and ask for nothing, no, not for life itself, any further than as it may help us, in our seeing and our serving of our God.
HT: William B. Barcley, The Secret of Contentment (P&R, 2011).
Cf. Augustine: “He loves thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for thy sake.” (Confessions, Book 10, Chapter XXIX)
Oh Yes! May it be so... and ever more so... Amen.
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1 comment:
It's amazing how something written so long ago can still be relevant and meaningful today.
May you find rest the Sabbath
~a
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