Morning With The Puritans

This morning, as is the case on many mornings, I began my day reading and praying a few words from my favorite prayer book, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.  Today, I was blessed by the prayer titled, "Fourth Day Morning: True Christianity." Here are a few lines from the latter half of the prayer:

"Grant us always to know that to walk with Jesus

makes other interests a shadow and a dream.

Keep us from intermittent attention

to eternal things;

Save us from the delusion of those

who fail to go far in religion,

who are concerned but not converted,

who have another heart but not a new one,

who have light, zeal, confidence, but not Christ.

Let us judge our Christianity,

not only by our dependence on Jesus,

but by our love to him

our conformity to him,

our knowledge of him.

Give us a religion that is both real,

and progressive,

that holds on its way and grows stronger,

that lives and works in the Spirit,

that profits by every correction,

and is injured by no carnal indulgence."

After reading these words, I prayed earnestly that God would keep me ever mindful of my proclivity to judge my own followership of Jesus by metrics other than increased dependence, love, conformity, and knowledge of Jesus, His finished work on the cross, and the salvation He has graciously offered me.  I prayed that the Holy Spirit would empower me to return daily, in humility, to a fresh, heart level consideration of these truths.  

As I closed out my morning prayer time, I prayed also that the Holy Spirit would move mightily in the church I serve, that individually and corporately, our community would be delivered from the delusions of "being concerned but not converted, having other hearts but not new ones, having light, zeal and confidence, but not having Christ," that, with hearts bowed low in conviction and repentance, we might more fully honor our Father and in greater measure, experience the joy of finding our ultimate identity and satisfaction in Him.