May 21
If...
...If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. - 1 Peter 2:3
"If." Then this is not a matter to be taken for granted concerning every one of the human race. "If"--then there is a possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that the Lord is gracious. "If"--then this is not a general but a special mercy; and it is necessary to ask whether we know the grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favor that may not be a matter for heart-searching.
But while this should be a matter of earnest and prayerful inquiry, no one ought to be content while there is any such thing as an "if" about his having tasted that the Lord is good. A jealous and holy distrust of self may give rise to the question even in the believer's heart, but the continuance of such a doubt would be an evil indeed. We must not rest without a desperate struggle to clasp the Savior in the arms of faith and say, "I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me."1
Do not rest, believer, until you have a full assurance of your interest in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy you until, by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you are identified as a child of God. Do not trifle with this. Do not be satisfied with "perhaps" or "if" or "maybe." Build on eternal truths; really build upon them. Let your anchor be cast into that which is within the veil, and see to it that your soul is linked to the anchor by a cable that will not break. Get beyond these dreary "ifs"; stay no longer in the wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the promised land of peace, where the land ceases not to flow with milk and honey.
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Numbers 30
verse 2 Psalms 74
Parenting God’s Way
For the last three decades, the idea of the traditional family has been under cultural assault. Every movement from the so-called sexual revolution to same-sex parenting has taken it’s toll on the foundational building blocks of our society. How do parents navigate these challenges? God, the perfect Father, provides the answers. In this short, but wisdom-rich booklet, Alistair Begg, gives practical, biblical instruction on what it looks like to be a father and to be a mother . . . God’s way.
Click here to learn more about Truth For Life
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.
