© Matthew Tuel — 2025
Genesis 3:18 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
19 "By the sweat of your brow you will eat food
until you return to the ground, for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
Philippians 3 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials 4—though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. 6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. 10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 3:11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. 16 Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.
17 Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. 18 For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.
Colossians 4:2 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
Luke 18:1-8 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
1 Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. 3 There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, 5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! 7 Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them? 8 I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
With Calvin, we see that "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." - Matthew 5:3 (NET, 2nd Ed.).
"Poor in spirit" meaning humble, and greatly aware of the need of salvation from this life. The older I get, the more I understand that when we pray for better traits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, God does not give them to us directly. Rather, he gives us opportunities to work out and adopt those traits.
My patience has been tested, time and again. Occasionally, I am granted the "Peace the surpasses all understanding" (Phillipians 4:7) but more often than not, I am placed in situations that seem designed to test me.
Rest assured though, that similar to gold being refined by fire, and diamonds being created by pressure, we too are sanctified in the daily toil of this life.
With Spurgeon, we see a reminder that 1st Thessalonians 5:17 calls us to "pray without ceasing." What Spurgeon challenges in the referenced sermon is that we "Continue in prayer once more, because prayer is a great weapon of attack against the error and wickedness of the world." Our prayers should not just be reactive, and on the defense. We should be proactive as well, praying on offense, not just defense. Calling down holy ordinance on the schemes of the enemy is just as important as praying for healing in times of sickness.