Orthodoxy (correct doctrine), Orthopraxis (correct actions) and Orthocardia (correct heart). The Puritans used to talk about the need to have all three. We tend to think a lot about the first two. Let us not forget that, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."
Sunday, June 1, 2014
The Red Sea of God's Wrath
"We shall see Him as He is!" 1 John 3:2
Then we shall behold Him who died for us, that we might live forevermore; whose matchless love made Him swim through the Red Sea of God's wrath, to make a path in the midst of it for us, by which we might pass safely to our heavenly Canaan. Then we shall see what a glorious one He is, who suffered all this for us! Then shall we be more able to understand, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.
When we shall fully realize that the waters of wrath which He was plunged into, are the wells of salvation from whence we draw all our joy; that we have received the cup of salvation, in exchange for the cup of wrath which He drank--how will our hearts leap within us, burn with seraphic love, as Heaven resounds with our songs of salvation!
We shall eternally, without interruption, feast our eyes upon Him--and be ever viewing His glorious perfections! In Him shall we see everything desirable--and nothing but what is desirable. We shall look into the heart of God, and there see the love He bore to us from all eternity, and the love and goodness He will bear to us forevermore.
We who are heirs of God, the great heritage--shall then enter into a full possession of our inheritance; and the Lord will open His treasures of goodness unto us, that our enjoyment may be full. We shall not be stinted to any measure--but the enjoyment shall go as far as our enlarged capacities can reach. We shall be fully satisfied, and perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of divine goodness.
Our love to the Lord, being purified from the dross of self-love, shall be most pure. We will be all love, when we come to the full enjoyment of God in Heaven, by intuitive and experimental knowledge of Him, by full participation in the divine goodness.
The enjoyment of God and the Lamb will be ever fresh and new to us, through the ages of eternity; for we shall drink of living fountains of waters, where new waters are continually springing up in abundance. Our joy shall be pure and unmixed, without any dregs of sorrow; solid and everlasting, without interruption. We shall swim forever in an ocean of joy--where we shall see nothing but joy wherever we turn our eyes. The presence and enjoyment of God and the Lamb will satisfy us with pleasures for evermore; and will afford us everlasting delight!
"You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand!" Psalm 16:11
Thomas Boston (17 March 1676 – 20 May 1732) Excerpt from: Human Nature in its Fourfold State
And this is why I read the Puritans!
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1 comment:
Joy unspeakable and full of glory!
Where we will see things as yet unutterable.
The mind cannot possibly grasp heaven, though we may know something of what we will experience.
Thanks for the Puritan point of view. I agree: we must have all three - the last being first, and leads to the other two. It can be that we have orthodoxy and orthopraxis with orthocardia, and that is the most dangerous condition known to man! For, in that case, one can be lulled into believinig that orthocardia exists, to the neglect of pursuing such.
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