A Devotional for such a time as this: - from: Wilberforce, W., & Belmonte, K. (2006). 365 Days with Wilberforce (p. 23). Leominster, UK: Day One Publications. ______________________ ‘The one thing needful’ ‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ 2 Timothy 2:15 SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 1; Luke 10:38–42 Above all remember the one thing needful. I had far rather that you should be a true Christian than a learned man, but I wish you to become the latter through the influence of the former. FOR MEDITATION: ‘When Mr Wilberforce aimed at giving peculiar force to a sentiment or a maxim,’ wrote his friend John Harford, ‘the point and terseness of his language could not be surpassed. As an instance of this, the topic of conversation one day being the misery to which Cowper, the poet, was exposed by his extreme sensibility at a public school, “Yes,” he exclaimed, “it was a sensitive plant grasped by a hand of iron.” ’ Wilberforce once observed that ‘Pascal is an author who has many “pregnant propositions”, as Lord Bacon calls them.’ Readers of Pascal’s Pensées (Thoughts on Religion), of whom Wilberforce was one, know that Pascal had a gift for framing concise phrases about matters of faith that left an indelible impression. At times Wilberforce showed a similar gift. And so it is with the passage above about the ‘one thing needful’—taken from a letter Wilberforce wrote to his third son Samuel. It is a terse, or succinct phrase, but one full of meaning. The Lord Jesus should be the cherished object of our first love. When the integrity of that relationship is as it should be, all else—the pursuit of scholarship or any of the many worthy goals God may give us to pursue—will be conducted aright. REFERENCE: Private Papers of William Wilberforce (1897) - via Logos 5 #devotionalforsuchatimeasthis #christjesus #vineofchristministries #theword #studyscripture #god #biblestudy #bible #jesus #faith
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 15:12:49 +0000
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