Thanks to a wisely placed frame by my wife, not a day goes by in which I do not ponder this quote from the Westminster Larger Catechism:
"The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him."
I love seeing this quote daily, because it is a daily reminder of how miserably short I fall of God's requirements. It is a daily reminder that I am more sinful and wicked than I have ever dared to imagine.
Yet in that reminder is the precious reminder that because of Jesus Christ, the righteous requirements of that first commandment, and every other commandment have been fulfilled in my place by the perfectly obedient Son of God. By virtue of my trust in His finished work, I am clothed in His righteousness so that God looks at me as perfectly blameless in His sight.
When I am thinking rightly about this, it is hard to think critically of others. It is hard to get offended when someone points out an area of weakness or fault within me, of which there are many. And it is hard not to stand amazed at the wondrous love of Jesus Christ, who would die to transform such a miserable wretch into a beloved child.
But I am so inclined to forget this and not think rightly about it. So thanks to my darling wife, for putting that quote in a place that I cannot miss it.
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