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Monday, September 19, 2011

Spiritual riches from soul poverty

It is not so much the removing of the affliction that is upon us as the changing of the affliction, the metamorphosing of the affliction, so that it is quite turned and changed into something else. I mean in regard of the use of it, though for the thing itself the affliction remains. The way of contentment to a carnal heart is only the removing of the affliction. O that it may be gone! 'No', says a gracious heart, 'God has taught me a way to be content though the affliction itself still continues.' There is a power of grace to turn this affliction into good; it takes away the sting and poison of it. Take the case of poverty, a man's possessions are lost: Well, is there no way to be contented till your possessions are made up again? Till your poverty is removed? Yes, certainly, Christianity would teach contentment, though poverty continues. It will teach you how to turn your poverty into spiritual riches. You shall be poor still as to your outward possessions, but this shall be altered; whereas before it was a natural evil to you, it comes now to be turned to a spiritual benefit to you. And so you come to be content.

There is a saying of Ambrose, "Even poverty itself is riches to holy men." Godly men make their poverty into riches; they get more riches out of their poverty than ever they get out of their revenues. Out of all their trading in this world they never had such incomes as they have had out of their poverty. This a carnal heart will think strange, that a man shall make poverty the most gainful trade that ever he had in the world. I am persuaded that many Christians have found it so, they they have got more good by their poverty, than ever they got by all their riches. You find it in Scripture. Therefore, think not this strange that I am speaking of. You do not find one godly man who came out of an affliction worse than when he went into it; though for awhile he was shaken, yet at last he was better for an affliction. But a great many godly men, you find, have been worse for their prosperity.
Luther has a similar expression in his comment on the 5th chapter of the Galatians, the 17th verse: he says, 'A Christian becomes a might worker and a wonderful creator, that is' he says, 'to create out of heaviness joy, out of terror comfort, out of sin righteousness, and out of death life.' He brings light our of darkness. It was God's prerogative and great power, his creating power to command the light to shine out of darkness. Now a Christian is a partaker of the divine nature, so the Scripture says; grace is a part of the divine nature, and, being part of the divine nature, it has an impression of God's omnipotent power, that is, to create light out of darkness, to bring good out of evil - by this way a Christian comes to be content. God has given a Christian such power that he can turn affliction into mercies, can turn darkness into light.
...so when we say of grace, that it can turn water into wine, and turn poverty into riches, and make poverty a gainful trade, a carnal heart says, 'Let them have that trade if they will, and let them have water to drink, and see if they turn it into wine.' Oh, take heed you do not speak in a scornful way of the ways of God; grace has the power to turn afflictions into mercies. Two men may have the same affliction; to one it shall be as gall and wormwood, yet it shall be wine and honey and delightfulness and joy and advantage and riches to the other. This is the mystery of contentment, not so much by removing the evil, as by metamorphosing the evil, by changing the evil into good.

~ Jeremiah Burroughs, Christian Contentment

1 comments:

Nolan said...

Great thoughts on contentment. There is much to be thankful for with grace abounding all the more. :-)