Christ cannot be weighed

I read this last night in "The Loveliness of Christ" by Samuel Rutherford:

"Convene all the lovers before your soul; and give them their leave, and strike hands with Christ, that thereafter there may be no happiness to you but Christ; no hunting for anything but Christ; no bed at night (when death cometh) but Christ; Christ, Christ, Christ, who but Christ? I know this much of Christ, he is not so ill to be found, not lordly over his love; woe had been my part part of it evermore, if Christ had made a dainty of himself to me; but God be thanked, I gave nothting for Christ; and now I protest, before mean and angels, Christ cannot be exchanged; Christ cannot be sold, Christ cannot be wieighed."

What an astonishing use of semi colons.

This what I think he meant in the parts that don't sound like English anymore (although I could be off):

"Convene all the lovers before your soul; and give them their leave":

Stop loving anything but Christ.

"he is not so ill to be found,":

Christ does not make himself hard to find.

"not lordly over his love":

Christ gives his love freely he doesn't guard it or keep it from anyone who seeks it.

"woe had been my part part of it evermore, if Christ had made a dainty of himself to me":

I would have been miserable forever if Christ had been more discriminating, and not given his love to me.

BTW: This is not a hard read. The Old English can be confusing, but you don't have to translate it page after page. There are just short passages. It is a selections from his letters. The longest of them are about your average paragraph. So you can read as much or little as you want.

I've found it beneficial. You have to keep the main thing the main thing as they say.

Towards a Biblical Theology of Homework

I am a chronic procrastinator. I am aware this is a common ailment. I don't think that because it is so wide spread that makes it a small problem. I rather think it is a huge problem that is affecting (or effecting I'm not sure; maybe I'd know if I didn't procrastinate so much) a huge amount of people. And I know for myself, at least, it is very damaging in many areas of life. It seems that I get caught in this cycle where doing my homework (or whatever task) causes me some anxiety so I put off doing it. The more time I put it off the less time I have to get it done which of course causes more anxiety. Then after putting things off to the last minute I get really freaked out. Then some how (by the grace of God) more often than not I pull it off. What I produce by pulling it off at the last minute is undoubtedly of lower quality than what I could have done had I not procrastinated. Also this is an emotionally and spritually painful process.

I believe that the root of the problem is that I am viewing the task wrongly to begin with. So then the problem is one of perspective. This is what I think my perspective should be:

I have a task or tasks to do.

There are only three possibilities:

1. I may do them poorly.

2. I may do them well.

3. I may not do them at all.

(Of course there is a lot of middle ground and subjectivity regarding “poor” and “well” but for the purposes of this exercise I think these categories are sufficient)

No matter which of the three I do the following is true: God is good, and is good to me in particular, and will continue to be good and good to me.

To whatever extent I do the tasks, or do them well, it is all by the mercy of God.

And I should pray.

The Homework prayer:

Lord

Apart from you I can do nothing.

Be merciful to me by reminding me of your goodness.

Be merciful to me in guarding me from fear and anxiety.

Be merciful to me in guarding me from the temptation to avoid work.

Be merciful to me by helping me think.

Be merciful to me in helping me to complete the work well.

Be merciful to me in reminding me that all I've done is by your mercy.

Amen.