Required reading
Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs (available from Amazon or free on the internet,
here for example)
- Chapter 6.
My notes and thoughts
Only three points about contentment in this chapter: the burden of prosperity, the burden of being given one's desires, providence.
I liked Burroughs illustration about prosperity: 'Honey, we know, invites bees and wasps to it, and the sweet of prosperity invites the Devil and temptation. Men in a prosperous position are subject to many temptations that other men are not subject to.' Burroughs also is helpful in making clear that he is not simply speaking about material prosperity, but also spiritual gifts and the noble blessing of being in the ministry: 'And similarly ministers stand in the forefront of all the spite and malice of ungodly men; certainly God employs them in an honourable service, and a service that angels would delight in, but though the service is honourable, above other works, yet the burden of danger is likewise greater than the danger of men in an inferior position.' Great reminder!
The point on providence was also well made. Who knows what good your suffering has upon others around you or in the future: 'So when God has ordered a thing for the present to be thus and thus, how do you know how many things depend upon this thing? God may have some work to do twenty years hence that depends on this passage of providence that falls out this day or this week.'
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
1 comment:
I agree with your appreciation of Burrough's outline of Providence. I'm old enough to have known situations which have outcomes many years later. It is a fascinating subject and one we need to give more attention to. Flavel's "The Mystery of Providence" is worthy of our study. Keith
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