Occasions of Sin

What situations are most likely to cause you to sin? We all have weaknesses, the things that push our buttons, and cause us to react in uncharitable ways. According to E. B. Pusey (1800-1882), and English Anglican theologian, knowing the occasions of our sin is an important step in conquering temptation:

“It is of the very greatest moment to know the occasions of our sin, and the way in which it shows itself. To know the occasions, puts us on our guard; to know how our sin shows itself, gives us the means of stopping it. Thus, as to these occasions; one is made angry, if he is found fault with roughly, or even at all, or slighted, or spoken slightly of, or laughed at, or kept waiting, or treated rudely, or hurt even unintentionally, or if his will is crossed, or he is contradicted, or interrupted, or not attended to, or another be preferred to him, or if he cannot succeed in what he has to do. These sound like little things when we speak of them in the presence of God, and in the sight of eternity. But these and other such like little things make up our daily trials, our habits of mind, our likeness or unlikeness to God, who made us in His own image; our eternity.”

Spend some time today pondering circumstances that are problematic for you; then make a resolution and a plan for doing better when they reoccur (because they will!).

For more quotes by E. B. Pusey see:

Know Yourself/Know God

Have Patience

Victorious Faith

How to Deal with Life’s Challenges

This is a quote from my daily devotional that seemed appropriate to the theme of the month, and also the Easter season.

“Choose but the will of God, and thou willest with His wisdom, thou choosest with Hiss all-perfect choice;  thou enterest into His counsels;  thou lovest with His love.  Be this our watch-word, brethren,  for the Church,  for those we love, for our own souls.  Be this our rule in action, ‘not what I will, but what Thou’;  this in suffering;  ‘not what I, but what Thou.’  This shall hallow our hopes;  this shall hush our fears;  this shall calm anxieties;  this (if so it must be) shall soothe our heart-aches;  this shall give repose to our weariness;  this, the deeper our trouble, shall be the deeper foretaste of everlasting peace and rest.  ‘Lord, not what I will, but what Thou’;  not what I, in my misery, and ignorance, and blindness, and sin, but what Thou, in Thy mercy, and holiness, and wisdom, and love.”

E.B. Pusey

For more quotes by E.B. Pusey see:

Being More Than Conquerers

Have Patience

Know Yourself/Know God

 

 

I Can Do Better

This was the daily quote in my devotional reading recently:

“Do not try only to abstain from sin, but strive, by God’s grace, to gain the opposite grace.  If thou wouldest not slip back into sin, thou must stretch forward to Christ and His holiness.  It is a dull, heavy, dreary, toilsome way, just to avoid sin.  Thou wouldest not simply not be impatient;  thou wouldest long to be like thy Lord, who was meek and lowly of heart.  Thou wouldest not only not openly murmur;  thou wouldest surely long, like the beloved Apostle, to rest on Jesus’ breast, and will what He wills.”

Edward B. Pusey

I realized this is what I have been talking about with my reunion group friend. I have shared that I can usually refrain from “outward” sins.  In other words, I do a pretty good job of avoiding sinful behavior.  However, I still struggle with things like a poor attitude, lack of gratitude for the good things God has given me, or uncharitable thoughts.  The author of this quote has it exactly right:  I need to pray to not only to do what is right, but to really want to do it.  I need to do good not just because it is my duty, but because it brings me joy to please God.

This reminds me of the famous love verses from 1 Corinthians, chapter 13:

” If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[ but do not have love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I obey God without love for Him and for others in my heart, it’s meaningless.  I’m like the Pharisees in the Bible, and Jesus called them “white-washed tombs.”  In other words, they looked good, but were dead inside.  I must develop the qualities of a truly loving disciple.

^“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  1 Corinthians 4-7

This certainly isn’t easy, and I can’t do it on my own.  I need the help of the Holy Spirit.  I’m praying for that.  Will you join me?

For more quotes by E. B. Pusey see:

Advice From E. B. Pusey

Victorious Faith

Being More Than Conquerers

 

Victorious Faith

Evidently I’m not done with last month’s theme (victory) yet because I came across this quote from Edward Pusey.  He was an English, Anglican theologian and his ideas really resonate with me.

“Living and victorious faith is that whereby Christ dwelleth in our hearts.  But Christ will not dwell in our hearts, if we fill our hearts with things which He hates.  Yet is there then no victory, nor real faith, when the world holds a struggle with us, sometimes overcoming us, sometimes overcome?  In some things victory should be complete at once.  Sins of infirmity there may be;  sins against light there should not be.  To do willfully and knowingly what God hates, destroys faith, and hope, and love.  But so that thou art fighting against besetting sin, if thou art conquering thyself, thou art still Christ’s soldier, even though in thought, word, or deed, thou be from time to time, in lesser things surprised.  This, then, is matter of faith, that if we will, we can, by the grace of God, prevail over temptation.”

For more quotes from Edward Pusey see these posts:

Advice From E. B. Pusey

Have Patience

Being More Than Conquerers

Know Yourself/Know God

 

Being More Than Conquerers

                                                             E. B. Pusey was an Anglican theologian, and I seem to like what he has to say, because I have posted several of his quotes (see Advice From E. B. Pusey, Have Patience and Know Yourself/Know God).  This one reminds me of the verse from Romans:

^“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Do you agree?

“Do not try only to abstain from sin, but strive, by God’s grace, to gain the opposite grace.  If thou wouldest not slip back into sin, thou must stretch forward to Christ and His holiness.  It is a dull, heavy, dreary, toilsome way, just to avoid sin.  Thou wouldest not simply not be impatient;  thou wouldest long to be like thy Lord, who was meek and lowly of heart.  Thou wouldest not only not openly murmur;  thou wouldest surely long, like the beloved Apostle to rest on Jesus’ breast and do what He wills.” E.B. Pusey

 

 

Advice From E. B. Pusey

E. B. Pusey was an Anglican churchman whom I’ve quoted before.  Today in my morning devotions, I read his advice on how to lead a contented life:

If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as theses:

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather
2. Never picture thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not
3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another
4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is.  God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.
5. Never dwell on the morrow.  Remember that it is God’s not thine.  The heaviest  part of sorrow is to look forward to it.  “The Lord will provide.”

“…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”  Philippians 4:11

Have Patience

This is another quote from my daily devotional.  The author is E.B. Pusey, an English, Anglican theologian.  I seem to like his take on the Christian life, because I noticed I’ve selected his quotes before.  Patience is a quality that I find elusive, and I need to cultivate patience, and pray for patience.  Maybe you do, too.

“We have need of patience with ourselves and with others;  with those below, and those above us, and with our own equals;  with those who love us and those who love us not;  for the greatest things and for the least;  against sudden inroads of trouble;  and under our daily burdens;  disappointments as to the weather, or the breaking of the hear;  in the weariness of the body, or the wearing of the soul;  in our own failure of duty, or others’ failure toward us;  in every-day wants, or in the aching of sickness or the decay of age;  in disappointment, bereavement, losses, injuries, reproaches;  in heaviness of heart;  or its sickness amid delayed hopes.  In all these things, from childhoods’ little troubles to the martyr’s sufferings, patience is the grace of God, whereby we endure evil for the love of God.”

Know Yourself/Know God

This is another quote from my daily devotional.  The author is E.B. Pusey, who was an English Anglican theologian.  It reminds me that as we go through the Fanning the Flame process at our church, we’re learning to understand ourselves better, and that leads us to understand more about God — what He made us to do, where we fit in His Kingdom, how ever-present He is in our daily lives.  I hope you like it, too.

“God knows us through and through.  Not the most secret thought, which we most hide from ourselves is hidden from Him.  As then we come to know ourselves through and through, we come to see ourselves more as God sees us, and then we catch some little glimpse of His designs with us, how each ordering of His Providence, each check to our desires, each failure of our hopes, is just fitted for us, and for something in our own spiritual state, which others know not of, and which till then, we know not.  Until we come to this knowledge, we must take in all faith, believing, though we know not, the goodness of God toward us.  As we know ourselves, we thus far, know God.”