"Oh to Grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be.
Let thy goodness, like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to Thee!"


Tuesday, February 12, 2008

εἰλικρινής (Sincere)

I know I've touched on this in a previous post, but the Lord is really dealing with me on this topic. Here is the Greek word for sincere:

εἰλικρινής
eilikrinēs
It means: judged by sunlight, that is, tested as genuine (figuratively): - pure, sincere.

Here is a prayer out of the book The Vally of Visions (A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions) called Sincerity that deals with this topic perfectly. I pray, brothers and sisters, that we will not be afraid to examine the sincerity of our faith.

Elector of Saints,
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and callest to thyself.
With thee is mercy, redemptions, assurance, forgiveness;
Thou hast lifted me, a prisoner, out of the pit of sin
and pronounced my discharge,
not only in the courts of heaven,
but in the dock of conscience;
hast justified me by faith,
given me peace with thee,
made me to enjoy glorious liberty as thy child.
Save me from the false hope of the hypocrite:
May I never suppose I am in Christ unless I am a new creature,
never think I am born of the Spirit
unless I mind the things of the Spirit,
never rest satisfied with professions of belief
and outward forms and services,
while my heart is not right with thee.
May I judge my sincerity in religion
by my fear to offend thee,
my concern to know thy will,
my willingness to deny myself.
May nothing render me forgetful of thy glory,
or turn me aside from thy commands,
or shake my confidence in thy promises,
or to offend thy children.
Let not my temporal occupations injure my spiritual concerns,
or the cares of life make me neglect the one thing needful.
May I not be inattentive to the design of thy dealings with me,
or insensible under thy rebukes,
or immobile at thy calls.
May I learn the holy art of abiding in thee,
of being in the world and not of it,
of making everything not only consistent with
but conducive to my religion.

Amen.

1 comment:

Jen2 said...

Hey hey....you ever hear of a book by Jonathan Edwards called The Religious Affections?