“So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.” – The Athanasian Creed

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” – 2 Corinthians 13:14

The doctrine of the Trinity is most easily defined as this: There is only one God who exists, who rules over all and is eternal, and this God exists in three Persons. So we have three Persons in God, and yet one Substance in God… This can be confusing! And many mock it as nonsensical. They hear it much like if I said “1+1+1=1″. But this is the Biblical account of the nature of God. He reveals Himself in this way. First, let’s break down some common statements to help us arrive at this conclusion.

1. There is one God. “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4); “To you it was shown, that you might known that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides him” (Deuteronomy 4:35). One of the most basic and simple things to understand when reading the Scriptures is that there is one God. It is so consistent throughout all the Scriptures that it hard to just pinpoint a few verses. Not only does the Bible tell us there is one God plainly, but we see this in the many stories of the Old Testament, where false gods are mocked and shown to do nothing, because they have “no real existence” (1 Corinthians 8:4). Because of this, any notion of multiple gods is heretical and idolatrous. We do not worship more than one God. Christians are monotheists (meaning we believe there is one God). And from the beginning, we are told that there is only one God, Creator of the universe, and to worship no other but Him alone (Exodus 20:3).

2. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. As we read throughout the New Testament, while maintaining that there is only one God, we see that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all called God. The Bible clearly testifies that the Father is God. “Paul, an apostle… through Jesus Christ and God the Father…” (Galatians 1:1). Likewise, the Bible is clear that Jesus is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son…” (John 1:1, 14). “…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…” (Titus 2:13). He is the Creator of the universe, has no beginning and no end, knows all things, sustains all things, and is to be worship and glorified. He is not an angel (as some claim), but in Hebrews we are told that God says concerning Jesus, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” (Hebrews 1:6). And finally, we see that the Holy Spirit is God. “…Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit… You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4). “Now the Lord is the Spirit… For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). He is not simply the power of God, but He is a Person. He can be grieved. He can be lied to. He can speak. He truly is God.

3. The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. The last thing we see in the Scriptures is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from each other and are not different names for the same exact deity. For instance, in Matthew 3:16-17, it says, “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” We see that Jesus was on earth being baptized, the Father is speaking from heaven, and the Spirit is descending from heaven onto Jesus. Likewise, throughout the Gospels, Jesus prays to the Father. In one conversation I had, some girl told me that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are just different titles for God. She compared it to her being a mom, a daughter, and employee all at the same time. One of the big problems with this is that we never see her daughter-side praying to her mom-side. Nor do we see her mom-side sending her employee-side down  to hug her daughter-side.

With these three statements, we come to the basic skeleton of the Trinity, that God is one God, yet he exists as three different persons. There are not three Gods, but one God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God, and yet they are of one substance, they are one God. And the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from one another.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” – Matthew 28:19

There are quite a few things that set Christianity apart from other religions. There is the death of Christ for our sins. There is salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, and not by any works. But a very unique thing to Christianity is the doctrine of the Trinity. That is to say, there is one God, and yet this one God exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three Gods, but one God. This is uniquely Christian. If you do not have the doctrine of the Trinity, you have something different from Christianity. A major tenet and pillar of Christianity is that God is Triune. No other religion holds to the orthodox teaching of the Trinity, whether you are Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, and so on. This is a crucial truth, and yet this is one of the most confusing things ever.

And while the early Church Fathers spent time and energy defending and defining this truth, many of us today seem to take this doctrine for granted. It is sadly a neglected doctrine. Yet it is a truth that is central to our very faith. It deserves our utmost thought, yet we often forget it! I think one of the reasons so many of us have a hard time with this teaching (that God exists in three Persons, and yet remains one God) is because we do not find it practical. We don’t know how this matters in our daily lives.

So how exactly are we to think of the Trinity? Do we really need to use this old school terminology of “persons” and “substance”? And how does this apply to me? We will look what the Trinity is, Biblical evidence for the Trinity, and practical application.

My heart was greatly encouraged by our wedding on the 9th of October. As we prepared for the wedding, Kara and I strived our hardest to point as much as we could back to the Gospel, back to what Christ has done for us and his great love for his Church, since Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that marriage “refers to Christ and the Church”. Waiting for the wedding to start, I just wanted to see and talk to Kara. I was getting married to her, and I hadn’t talked to her all day! But I wouldn’t see her until her father would walk her down the aisle. All kinds of emotions were hitting me at once.

As Kara was walked down the aisle by her father, two things greatly hit me. First, I was joyful that after almost 2 years of waiting, I was about to be married to my bride. I had waiting for my bride, and now that waiting was coming to fruition. And it was well worth the wait! I would soon get to kiss her, hold her, and lay down my life for her. But likewise, and as Andrew publicly pointed out to all, I was thinking of Christ and the Church. I was thinking of the Father presenting the Church, without spot or blemish, to Christ on their wedding day. That the joy and love I was feeling towards Kara at that moment, with all the anticipation that my wait is finally over, is a small glimpse of the love that Christ has for the Church, yet Christ’s love is magnified a thousand times over. And he is now patiently waiting for his bride in love…

It is a totally new experience to actually be married and think on this. I have thought and studied the fact that marriage points to Christ’s faithfulness and love toward the Church. I knew this back and forth. But it is a completely different thing to experience a passionate love in your heart and say, “The joy and love that I feel right now is but a tiny glimpse of the passion and love and joy that Christ has for me!” It has brought a whole new light to this verse, which completely destroyed me at Andrew and Hilary’s wedding: “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” – Isaiah 62:5

Gilbert in eight chapters lays out what the Gospel is. From the beginning, it is clear where he is going. He lays out a very common formula: God, Man, Jesus, and Response. He then spends a chapter on each spending detail as to what each of those mean. He does an excellent job at centering in on the Gospel on the King Jesus, his death and resurrection as a substitute for sinners, and justification by faith alone. One of the best chapters in the book is his chapter on the Kingdom of God. He articulates what the Kingdom of God is and how we should think about it. It can clear up a lot of things. Finally, he debunks some definitions of the Gospel, while at the end seeking to stir your heart for the grace of God in it all. Gilbert desires for us to find our joy in the Gospel. He is cross-focused, Christ-centered, and God-glorifying.  Most of all, he is clear in what the Gospel is. This book stirred my heart for the Gospel again. This book was designed to do that. In a day like ours, we need more books on the Gospel. We must preach it much more clearly. As a Church, we set out to do just that to a culture that is ignorant of the Gospel. We all need a clearly picture and focus on the Gospel. I would commend this book to you, and echo the words of C. J. Mahaney: “How I wish I could place this book in the hands of every pastor and church member.”

As Christians, we very much want to emphasize the love that Christ has for his Church, and rightly so! Paul tells husbands to “love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). A whole book of the Bible, in my opinion, is dedicated to showing the intense, deep, personal, unconditional, and unending love that Christ has for his people. Christ, in his great love and mercy, being the eternal Son of God, humbled himself by becoming a man, living among us, and dying under the wrath of God to save us. His love is greater than anything that we could imagine.

The love that Christ has for us deserves our utmost meditation and reflection, yet we should never neglect the love that the Father has for his Church. Sometimes, the Covenant of Redemption is portrayed as this: God the Father is holy and righteous, and he has wrath against sinners. Christ, in his great love for sinners, decides and chooses willingly to leave heaven and become a man to bear the wrath of his Father. He brings this before his Father, who agrees to allow the Son to enter human history and make atonement for his people. If we simply say this and nothing more, it seems to completely rip away any love the Father has for us. The Father is the wrathful One, and the Son is the loving One. But there are a few things that we must consider about the love of the Father:

1. Christ tells us that he did not come of his own accord, but the Father sent him in love. We see this in John 8:42. Christ is showing us that he has come because of the love of the Father. The Father has planned this redemption and sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The Son went to the cross and died for sinners in obedience to the Father. Now don’t misunderstand me here. This is not to diminish the love of the Son. The Son willingly and joyfully went to the cross. He has an unending love for his Church. But here, Jesus is pointing us to the inexhaustible love the Father has for his Church. Jesus in essence is saying, “I have come to die for sinners, not just for myself. I love the Church and will freely lay down my life for her, but the Father’s love for the Church is so great that he sent me on a mission to save her and bring her to himself. In my death, do not only see my love, but see the Father’s love.”

2. Most frequently in the New Testament, we are told of the Father’s love in sending his Son. Thinking on this point, I found it amazing to see how often the Father’s love is declared. Just to name a few:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us… made us alive together with Christ…” – Ephesians 2:4-5

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we whould be called children of God…” – 1 John 3:1

“In this the love of God was made mainfest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation of our sins.” – 1 John 4:9-10

The Scriptures are repetitious and frequent in their proclamation of the love of the Father. We should likewise proclaim this. He has loved us and sent his Son to die in our place for our sins.

3. We cannot separate the love of the Father and the love of the Son, for they are one. God is of one essence, and yet three persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there is one God. Likewise, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father. This is what we call the Trinity. We cannot and should not take an attribute of God and apply is particularly to one person of the Trinity over the others. For instance, while the Father is holy and righteous, so is the Son and the Holy Spirit. Likewise, as the Son is full of love for the Church, so is the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Now in all this, I am not trying to say that people deny the love of the Father. I am just simply saying that sometimes by our emphasis, we can imply that. I am just saying that sometimes we do not dwell enough on or talk enough about the Father’s love. I simply want to stir this up in your heart:

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That he should give his only Son
To make a wretch his treasure.

Misconception 1: Infants who die go to heaven because they have been baptized. This is the view that my Roman Catholic co-worker was articulating in her simple question of whether Brylee was baptized. This is not meant to be a look as to whether infants should be baptized at all (that may come in another post), but as to the efficacy of baptism. First, I would say that no one goes to heaven because they are baptized. Rather, salvation is only by faith alone in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:15-21, Acts 16:30-31). As Paul says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28). If Baptism was a work to procure salvation, even on the faithless, it would be odd that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel…” The Gospel of Jesus Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection is the way men are saved from the wrath of God. It is only by Christ substituting himself on the cross for our sins, suffering under the wrath of God. Faith is what links us to this atonement. Baptism is a visible symbol of the Gospel, that we have been buried and resurrected with Christ, repented, and had our sins washed away. (Matthew 3:11, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, Colossians 2:11-12). Also, Baptism is a sign and seal of the righteousness that we already have by faith. (Romans 4:11 w/ Colossians 2:11-12, Philippians 3:9).

Furthermore, it is clear that Baptism does not produce salvation in anyone because of an example we have in the book of Acts. In Acts 10:44-48, Peter is preaching the Gospel of “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles, and they believed. They received the Holy Spirit, which is a guarantee of salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14). Then, Peter says, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Peter is stating that they should be baptized because they have already received salvation. Therefore, if Baptism does not save adults, then it surely cannot save infants.

Misconception 2: Infants who die go to heaven because they are innocent before God and are not sinners. Many people in reality don’t believe that infants need salvation. They are born innocent and have not truthfully sinned. But the Bible is clear that we are all sinners by nature from the womb (Psalm 58:3, Psalm 143:2, Psalm 14:3, 1 Kings 8:46, Proverbs 20:9, Romans 3:23). As David says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Also, Adam’s sin is imputed to all men, including infants (Romans 5:12-14). This means that there is not one person who is every born who is not in need of salvation. We are all sinners by nature from the womb, “going astray from the womb”, alongside having Adam’s guilt imputed to us. Infants, like all of us, need a Saviour to deliver us from our sin.

Misconception 3: Infants who die go to heaven because they have not yet reached the age of accountability. This is probably the most popular answer today. What this usually means is that infants will not be held accountable for their sin until they have reached a certain age or attain the ability to distinguish right and wrong. Basically put, if salvation is only through faith in Jesus, and infants are unable to place their faith in Jesus, than it would be unfair to send them to hell for something they did not have the ability to do.

Now, the huge major flaw with this idea is that there is no Biblical basis for this at all. Nowhere do we see in Scripture this idea articulated. Also, there are some problems with this view. God says he won’t let sinners go unpunished (Nahum 1:2-3), yet, according to this view, some sin is just “swept under the rug”. Also, it would ignore the consistent declaration that we are all sinners in need of salvation who will all one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ. But, most importantly, it is built on the assumption that infants cannot have faith and a regenerate heart. But, there are a few times in Scripture where we see this happen. For instance, Luke 1:15 states that John the Baptist would be “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb”. Later, he leaps with joy at the sound of Jesus’ mother while still inside the womb. Also, Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 22:10 possible suggest that infants can be regenerate prior to birth. If it is possible for some to have faith, then we cannot say that it is impossible for infants to believe, and thus could not be held accountable until they are able to.

My view: Infants who die go to heaven because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Infants, just like adults, are saved through the cross of Jesus, where he took all of our sin upon himself and suffered the wrath due for those sins. So, likewise, Christ was punished in their place for their sins. Further, I would say that the Holy Spirit comes and supernaturally regenerates an infant’s heart to have faith in Jesus, as he did to John the Baptist’s heart. This faith is a supernatural trusting in God, much like an infant’s natural trust in their mother. Thus, all men are only saved by the cross of Christ. I think this is important to articulate because it highlights the Gospel. It shows the power of the cross to save even infants. It again makes us a Gospel-centered people. And, being a Gospel-centered people, the glory of God will shine. In the cross, especially in the case of infants, we see the unsurpassed grace, wisdom, love, justice, and power of God. As Andrew Burkhart said, by saving infants in this way, God displays that we are all guilty before him, his eternal love for sinners, the beauty and necessity of the cross, both our complete inability and his powerful ability to save, and will ultimately display his glory for eternity in the salvation of infants.

One thing that has especially gripped us is the fact that Biblical theology is no longer “textbook”. It is forced into practicality. Life and suffering will hit you in such a way that what you believe will come out. You can no longer just play the game and say all the right things. What you believe about God and the Bible become practical and real. Suffering truly tests whether we believe what we think and say that we do.

To help out our Church, I thought it would be best to write about what happens to infants when they die. Do they all go to hell, do some go to heaven and some to hell, or do all go to heaven? Not only this, but, if some go to heaven, why? I believe these are good questions, and I will take a couple posts to answer them. In this post, I will answer this simple question: Do infants go to heaven when they die? To which I will answer accordingly: All infants do in fact go to heaven when they die, and are chosen by God before the foundations of the world to receive salvation and put on display God’s merciful grace and glory.

First, let me say this… There is not a whole lot of Scripture on this subject. The Bible never explicitly states what happens, but it does leave us hints and clues. In other words, this teaching is implicit, not explicit. First, according to 2 Samuel 12:15-23, David’s infant child became sick and died. David fasted while the child was sick. After the child did in fact die, David stopped fasting and cleaned himself up and worshiped God. Here is the reason David gives as to why he stopped fasting: “But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” While this doesn’t confirm beyond a doubt that David means in heaven (since he could just mean death), the context seems to suggest it. It appears that this is the reason David was comforted, because the infant was in heaven, and David would go to heaven where he is. He would see his child again in the eternal state. He worshiped the Lord after his child’s death, it seems, to thank God for bringing his child to heaven, though God took him from life on earth.

Secondly, some infants are shown to be regenerate even in the womb. For example, Luke 1:15 says that John the Baptist would be “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” Other texts that might point to this are Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 22:10. If some infants were regenerate from the mother’s womb, we should conclude that infants can be regenerate if God so chose. If they are regenerate when they die, they go to heaven.

They are saved because God has chosen to save them and give them salvation. They cannot choose God. But God has chosen them. God is completely sovereign over all things. He knows all of their days from their beginning. He has ordained all things that come to pass, including their death. Therefore, God saves all infants by his sovereign grace. They are helpless in themselves to have faith and repent of sin, but God has displayed his power and grace and ability to save the worst of sinners by saving those who cannot save themselves. As I have said before, God is as able to save infants as any of us. Infants and adults do not have the capacity to be regenerated apart from the saving grace and work of the Holy Spirit because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Lastly, I would simply make a plea to the character of God as we know it. God is a merciful and just God. Would he send an infant to Hell solely because of Adam’s original sin that was imputed to them? Would he judge infants for sins that they were not consciously aware they were doing? I think it would be safe to say that judging by God’s character and nature, he would, in his divine providence, ordained the salvation of all infants who die in their infancy. As Andrew Burkhart says, “Given God’s character and very nature, it seems like we can draw the conclusion that He would show mercy in the situation of an infant death.”

As a final appeal to this, I would like to highlight some application of believing this. First, it brings intense comfort and joy to the suffering to know that the infant is in heaven enjoying the glory of Jesus. Also, it allows us to weep over death with hope. If we have no hope that the infant is in heaven, we would weep at the thought that the infant may spend eternity in suffering. But we weep with hope that the infant will spend eternity in everlasting joy. As a pastor, it is extremely helpful to have an answer to hurting mothers and fathers about where their child’s soul has gone. And it highlights God’s grace and goodness that he would save undeserving infants, many of whom suffered in their short lives and had their lives ripped away from them.

This is just meant to be an introduction to this topic. There is much more to say. Why do infants go to heaven? Is it because they have not sinned? Is it because they are not accountable for their sin because of their age or mental capacity (also known as “the age of accountability)? Is it because they are baptized? Or are they saved in a similar sense to adults, by the blood of Jesus? And furthermore, what does this teach us about the glory and character of God.

-  Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (Banner of Truth; p. 52)

On Tuesday, the 12th of January 2010, a massive earthquake struck the small, poor country of Haiti. Though no one is quite sure as of yet, the estimates are that thousands of people have died in Haiti. The disaster was devastating. Dead bodies have lied in the streets while men and women are mourning and wailing in sorrow. This is a disaster. I would like to offer up some different meditations and thoughts that I have been thinking on today concerning this disaster.

1. This disaster reassures me that (unless Jesus returns) I and everyone I know is guaranteed to die, and everyone is stripped of their guarantee for another minute.“… it is appointed for a man to die once, and after that comes judgment” – Hebrews 9:27. We all are guaranteed to die. There is no escaping it. My family, my co-workers, my Church, my city… everyone will die. Sometimes we get this idea that death is out there, but we won’t taste it till we are old. But whether in our beds when we are old, whether stabbed on the street, whether suffering under cancer, or whether dying in an earthquake, we all will taste it. I should live in light of this truth and preach the Gospel in light of this truth. I should make the best use of my time. As Andrew Burkhart once said, “If it was September 10, 2001 and you knew that the terrorist attack would happen, how would that change the way you evangelized those who were to die.” How would I live differently if I believed this?

2. This disaster is the result of sin. “And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you.’ ” – Genesis 3:17. All of creation followed man into the fall. Creation now is subject to all kinds of futility and disasters. Prior to the fall, creation was not like it was today. But now there are earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes. Why does all this happen? The truth is because of our sin. Creation would not be cursed if we had never sinned. All this pain and anguish and suffering is because of our disobedience toward God. Do I see the sinfulness of sin in this?

3. This disaster is a picture to show me how disgusted God is by my sin. Whenever I see the pictures of Haiti, my heart churns within me. I am disgusted, appalled, and shocked that such suffering and pain can take place. One reason why I think God has allowed this kind of suffering to take place is to show us how disgusting sin is to him. When I see women and children dead on the streets and get upset that such a thing has happened, I should be reminded that God is in a greater degree upset and disgusted by my sin. God is absolutely wrathful that such a thing as sin should ever happen. God feels the way I feel, yet in a much more passionate way. Do I see our holy God’s extreme wrath and anger toward sin?

4. I am no better than the Haitians for I deserve the same thing to happen to me for my sin. It is common for some to say that God is punishing the Haitians for their sin and voodoo and rebellion against God. But listen to Jesus: “Do you think that these Galileans (who died in extreme suffering and tragedy) were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you…” The Haitians are not worse sinners than us. We are just as sinful as them. We all deserve death for our sin (Romans 6:23). God would be completely just to destroy us all because of our sin and rebellion against him. But, by God’s grace, he has not killed us all. Rather, Jesus has suffered in our place for our sins, taking on him this terrible wrath that I deserve. But, if we do not trust in Jesus alone for salvation, we will taste that wrath, which is much worse suffering that this earthquake. When we look at the cross of Christ, we see one of two things: either he died for you, or you will suffer like that. Do I look on the Haitians as worse sinners, or do I see myself as also deserving of such suffering?

5. If I do not repent, I will likewise perish. We all will die. Some of us, whether Christian or not, will possibly die in a natural disaster or tragedy of some sort. Therefore, we must repent now. We must turn from our sin. If we do not, death will one day take us by surprise, as it did for so many Haitians. Our end will be far worse than we could ever imagine, much like the Haitians. There is something dreadful about the way the Haitians died. And, if we do not repent, there will be something dreadful about the way we die, whether in a disaster or in our sleep. We will perish under the wrath of God for all eternity.

6. Sufferings are nothing to be compared with the glory to be revealed in Christ. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18; “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-17. When we see horrible sufferings, we should remember that the glory to be revealed in Christ is so much greater that it is not even worth comparing. The earthquake in Haiti will seem like a scratch compared to the everlasting, ever-increasing joy we will receive in our great Treasure, Jesus Christ.

Father, I thank you for giving me another day to live and breath. I pray that you would send help and relief to the suffering Haitians. May the Gospel of Jesus go forth there to give people true hope and joy. May they repent, and not perish, though they may die. And may we hear your word, “… but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And may we look forward to the joy of being with you forever once our suffering has ceased. Send help to Haiti! In all things, glorify your great name. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

- Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (Banner of Truth, p. 30)