We named our newest son Owen. Here is one of the reasons why. May the thrice holy Lord see fit to use this quote from John Owen to convict and encourage His saints as He did with me. I know it’s long, but I took the time to type it because I know the Spirit can use it to bless someone who takes the time to read it.

“We must hate all sin, as sin, and not just that which troubles us.  Love for Christ, because He went to the cross, and hate for sin that sent Him there, is the solid foundation for true spiritual mortification.  To seek mortification only because a sin troubles us proceeds from self-love.  Why do you with all diligence and earnestness seek to mortify this sin?  Because it troubles you and takes away your peace, and fills your heart with sorrow, trouble, and fear, and because you do not have rest through it?  Yes, but, friend, you have neglected prayer and reading!  You have been vain and loose in your conversation with other things.  These are just as sinful as the one that troubles you.  Jesus Christ bled for them also.  Why do you not set yourself against them?  If you hate sin as sin, and every evil way, you would be watchful against everything that grieves and disquiets the Spirit of God.  You would not be concerned only about the sin that upsets your own soul!  It is evident that you fight against this sin merely because it troubles you.  If it did not bother your conscience you would let it alone.  If it did not bother you,  you would not bother it.   Do you think God will help you in such a hypocritical effort?  Do you think that the Holy Spirit will help in the treachery and falsehood of your own spirit?  Do you think He will free you from this so you are free to go and commit another sin which grieves Him?

‘No’, says God, ‘if I free him from this lust, I will not hear from him anymore, and he will be content in his failure.’  We must not be concerned only with that which troubles us, but with all that troubles God.  God’s work is to have full victory, and universal obedience, not just the victory over the sins that trouble our soul.

‘Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God’ (2 Cor. 7:1).

If we will do anything, we must do everything.  So, then, our need is not only an intense opposition to this or that particular lust, but a universal humble frame and temper of heart that watches over every evil, and seeks the performance of every duty that is pleasing to God.”

John Owen pp. 50-51, The Mortification of Sin

If you are anything like me, you disobey God. You neglect God. You put God to the test. You stray from God. I know this is how I am…almost constantly. Lately I have been very discouraged. I have been stressed all day long, all week long, all month long. The cares of life have been weighing down my soul.

I needed to do something to rekindle the fire in my soul. I needed some way to remind myself to seek God. So, I bought a coffee maker with a timer option. This morning it started brewing coffee at 6:30 am. By 7am, the smell of coffee had awakened me, but remembering the coffee maker had a two hour warming mode… I stayed in bed. 7:15am, my hubby woke me, “Let’s do our morning devotion.” He said. Praise God for husbands.

 Jeremiah 31:18+19 is me. I am Ephraim. This is my prayer. These words are the words I want to fall upon the ears of the Almighty:

“… ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God. After I strayed,  I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’”

 Jeremiah 31:20 are God’s words to me.

“Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.

I fail miserably. God remembers me. God still has great compassion for me. God, give me the grace to obey you today, for your kindness leads me to repentance.