In the 1700’s George Whitefield prayed that God would raise up a generation of people who longed for the glory of God. A people who were dedicated to preaching the great truths of God.
Whitefield said:
“Oh…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more…raise up unto Himself
certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”
Is that what you long for? Do you desire to see your life dominated by the “sense of the greatness, the majesty and the holiness of God”? Do you want your “mind and hearts aglow with great truths of the doctrines of grace”?
I do. Yet, ashamedly, way too often I fall woefully short of these magnificent aims. I settle for crumbs at the banquet table of God’s magnificent grace.
As we seek to be a church that spreads the glory and fame of Christ, may we make little of us as we make much of Him. May we decrease as He increases. May we always aim to teach the whole counsel of God. May we never water down the truth that man needs God(not the other way around). And may the name of Christ be forever exalted and praised!
I’m with you Kevin. I feel the same way although at times it’s hard not to settle-may we perservere to the end for His glory.
BTW-I love the way those guys wrote and spoke back then. Very engaging and poetic!
Spoken like someone with a degree in English.
😉
Thanks, Pat.
It is amazing to read the beauty and the depth of many of Whitefield’s generation.
Written much like a UGA grad!
To the original question:
Yes.
(Written like someone not of Whitefield’s generation.)
Picking up the tangent: I’m with Pat. Brevity is the soul of wit, and Jesus did command us to let our “Yes” be simply, “Yes,” but let’s face it: we are also adjured to let our speech be seasoned with salt.
Do we glorify God with our speech merely when we refrain from the profane? God’s glory deserves a poetic proclamation.
I know of at least one follower of Christ who received praise from his employer on account of his rich vocabulary and elevated discourse when all around him were cursing with every other word. That’s one easy way to spread God’s fame.
We need not speak as though it were the 18th century, but we ought to speak as citizens of another world.
Our Creator
Before this world was you were
Holy and complete; lacking nothing
You choose to create us for your good pleasure
Man at his greatest can only imitate You
Man at his greatest cannot imitate You
Man at the highest levels of knowledge & wisdom can create nothing. This Autumn hundreds of billions of leaves will cover the earth. All of which, you God, created for a season. None of which could be made by man, not even a single cell.
Man can only take the matter which was brought into existence by You and change it’s form. Man clones his animals and himself by ripping strands of DNA which you God designed; taking the original and making a woeful duplication. Man split the atom releasing the energy with which you God had joined them. Man’s highest achievements pale in comparison with Your lowest.
As we look at the world around us please help us to see the reflection of it’s inventor. Like the moon dimly refracts the sun’s blazing light, let us also look for the Creator through His creation. Enjoying the beautiful majestic things you have made, but not giving them the glory which is only due you.
-Amen-