Grow in grace

Vivi lend me another excellent book called "Grow in grace" by Sinclair B. Peterson. I am very excited to finish this book because I've already gained a lot of insights on my way to the finishing line.

Few quotes from the book which are eloquently written and I shall be grateful for them because they are answers to my current spiritual condition:

Doubting His grace

"God has accepted us for Christ's sake. But he wants to go further. He intends to persuade us that he does accept us for Christ's sake. So he demonstrates, by adequate proof, his love to us. When I look at the cross, I learn to say 'The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me' (Gal 2:20). I begin to believe with Paul that if God did not spare His own Son, but gave him up to the cross for me, then he loves me so much he will always give me only what will bring me blessing (Rom 8:32).

Such conviction is a key point in Christian growth. If we have deep-seated fears that God does not really love us (as many Christian have), we can only go so far in growing nearer to God. There will come a point at which we will fear to trust Him any further because we cannot be sure of His love. When we look at ourselves, or at our own faith, or our own circumstances we will never be free from those lurking fears. Satan will see to that. But when we lift up our eyes and look on the cross we find the final persuasion that God is gracious to us. How can he be against us when all his wrath against us fell upon Christ? How can he fail to care for us when he gave the only Son he had for our sake? How can we doubt him when he has given us evidence of his love sufficient to banish all doubts?

The reason we lack assurance of his grace is because we fail to focus on that spot where he has revealed it. But if we fail to focus our understanding there, we will fail to grow in grace."

Isolation

"But we do not need to go overseas to experience isolation. Any major readjustment to our lifestyle can have this effect of making us feel distanced, disorientated, no longer fulfilling a strategic, purposeful role in our Christian lives. A change of job, or house, of neighbourhood, can do this. Bereavement, children leaving home, retirement can do all the same.

What did God wants to teach the psalmist? (refer to Psalm 42-43). What does he want to teach us in similar situations? God wants to teach us lessons in isolation which he does not teach us or which we can not learn, in fellowship. In our loneliness and separation from God's people we may learn to look to God, trust in God, desire God's presence. We discovered that in the past we have relied too much on the encouragement of others and insufficiently on the Lord Himself. While before we knew God (quite legitimately) through the help of our fellow Christians, now we must learn to know him in isolation from them. This is why the psalm is called Maskil, that is a song of instruction. The writer is saying to us: this is what God taught me through my experience; it is what he may want to teach you too."