God Himself is Our Exceeding Great Reward

For Lord’s Day, March 9, 2013

Dear Saints,

I’m sure this sentiment I’m about to share with you has been expressed many times, and it should so be myriad more.  In two newsletters this week, I enjoyed similar thoughts that went so meaningfully together for my soul, and I hope they do for you:

[Jesus Christ] alone should be our goal and our aim, since he has an abundance of riches in himself. — John Calvin (1)

Our Lord Jesus is faithful moment by moment.  Thus we can depend on Him moment by moment. — Martin and Deidre Bobgan (2)

I think these thoughts express what the LORD says to Abraham to encourage him to keep battling for Him, even when he feels utterly alone after a great victory in Genesis 15:1:  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

One cannot help but also think of the first question and answer of the Shorter Catechism: What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.  What next comes to mind is the summary nugget Mr. Maxwell shared during the Christian Biography Fellowship this week from John Adair’s book, Founding Fathers: The Puritans in England and America.  He commented that John Winthrop (I believe he was the man cited) said, “This famous question and answer [WSC 1] capture the essence of Puritanism.” Beloved, may this question and answer more and more purely be the essence of we the saints of the Puritan Evangelical Church of America.

Semper Reformanda,
Pastor Grant

1.  John Calvin, “The Infiltration Which Corrupts the Truth of the Gospel,” sermon on Galatians 2:3-5, The Trinity Review (315 January, 2014) : 6.
2.  Martin and Deidre Bobgan, “God Matures Believers through Trials”, in PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter 22 ( 2 March-April 2014) : 8.

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