Archive for July, 2010

19:14 Prudent Wife

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

Anne H. Judson, prudent wife.

Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the Lord. Proverbs 19:14.

When Adoniram Judson became a Christian, his father, a minister, immediately had visions of him becoming a notable pastor in the United States. Adoniram grievously disappointed him. He told his father he was leaving it all to go to India.

Shortly before sailing in 1812, Adoniram married Anne Hasseltine, a young woman who had been a socialite before her conversion. They wound up in Burma, where Adoniram was imprisoned and tortured. Although a new mother, Anne exhausted herself to preserve his life and succor him. She died soon after his release.

Adoniram could have taken the course his father wanted. Instead he took a harder path, on which he was accompanied by a wife from the Lord. The pair became household names in America.

Everything of the Father belongs to Christ. He also is preparing himself a bride without spot or wrinkle, a prudent wife.

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15:6 Revenues vs. Treasures

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, happy couple.

In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. Proverbs 15:6.

When worldly church-goers hear the word “treasure,” they immediately assume the gold and silver kind are meant; but the person who knows Christ understands that something else is intended—treasures of love, joy, justice, wisdom, and peace. Christian homes, armies, societies and nations are distinguished by such treasures. Often physical treasures follow, too, because people who live well-regulated and honest lives tend to husband natural resources wisely and increase them.

For an example of a home filled with spiritual treasure, one can look to Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. The beauty of their affections and their godly oversight of their children were recorded by contemporaries. Evangelist George Whitefield was so impressed with the love he saw between the pair that he promptly determined to marry himself. His ill-advised union was not so happy.

One of the chief treasures of the Christian is contentment. The revenues that the wicked extract (often by unjust methods) do not bring them much happiness, not least because they constantly crave more and are never satisfied.

Christians enjoy spiritual treasures others can only crave. This is possible because of Jesus, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3) and who “became poor so that we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).” The deposit he has left us is the Holy Spirit, who resides in us, whom Paul likens to those clay pots in which the people of the Middle East stored documents and gems they wished to preserve.

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