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Proper Focus
“…but when I became a man….” (1 Cor. 13:11)
I have perceived that nothing so much hinders the reception of the truth as urging it on men in too demanding a fashion, and condemning too severely their errors…
The older I grew the less emphasis I laid on controversies and curiosities (although my intellect still hates confusion)…And now it is the fundamental doctrines of the catechism which I value most and daily think of, and these I find most helpful to myself and to others. The creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments provide me now with the most acceptable and plentiful material for all my meditations. They are to me as my daily bread and drink…and I find in the daily practice and experience of my soul that the knowledge of God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the truth of Scripture, and the life to come, and a holy life, is of more use to me than mere curious speculations…
At one time I used to meditate on my own heart…dissecting my own sin or needs, or examining my own sincerity; but now though I am still greatly convinced of the need of my heart-acquaintance…I see a greater need of a higher work, and that I should look oftener on Christ, and God and Heaven (rather) than on my own heart.I now see more good and more evil in men than I did before…I admire less the gifts of utterance and a mere profession of religion than I once did….I once thought that anyone who could pray eloquently and fluently, and talk well of religion, had to be saints. But experience has revealed to me that low crimes can co-exist with high professions…I would hardly look beyond England in my prayers, and did not even consider the world at large…But now, no part of my prayers are so deeply serious as those as for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world.
—Richard Baxter
- Crazy Calvinist–The Woman God Mastered
“…but when I became a man….” (1 Cor. 13:11)
I have perceived that nothing so much hinders the reception of the truth as urging it on men in too demanding a fashion, and condemning too severely their errors…
The older I grew the less emphasis I laid on controversies and curiosities (although my intellect still hates confusion)…And now it is the fundamental doctrines of the catechism which I value most and daily think of, and these I find most helpful to myself and to others. The creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments provide me now with the most acceptable and plentiful material for all my meditations. They are to me as my daily bread and drink…and I find in the daily practice and experience of my soul that the knowledge of God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the truth of Scripture, and the life to come, and a holy life, is of more use to me than mere curious speculations…
At one time I used to meditate on my own heart…dissecting my own sin or needs, or examining my own sincerity; but now though I am still greatly convinced of the need of my heart-acquaintance…I see a greater need of a higher work, and that I should look oftener on Christ, and God and Heaven (rather) than on my own heart.I now see more good and more evil in men than I did before…I admire less the gifts of utterance and a mere profession of religion than I once did….I once thought that anyone who could pray eloquently and fluently, and talk well of religion, had to be saints. But experience has revealed to me that low crimes can co-exist with high professions…I would hardly look beyond England in my prayers, and did not even consider the world at large…But now, no part of my prayers are so deeply serious as those as for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world.
—Richard Baxter
- Crazy Calvinist–The Woman God Mastered