Holly D. Dye is the founding contributor and General Editor of Refocusing Our Eyes.

Through the cold winds of adversity, my soul has found its shelter in You, O LORD.

It is You, O Great Sovereign, who loves me. I may have never understood the depth of Your love until You placed me in such tumultuous situations where I had no choice but to draw near to You or die. It is in this place of utter reliance upon You that I have found the sweetest consolation ever known.

What a blessed privilege You have given me, that I may in all things and in all ways give glory to Your most excellent Name. This is true living. This is the place of sweet communion.

Oh how a man should be pitied who has never known a need, never a want, never a discomfort! Shall I think this man blessed? I shall not! How can they rejoice with a glorious and inexpressible joy over reliance in themselves?

You have allowed me to be scorned and rejected and misunderstood and I bless You for this, for You knew I would come running to You. What a glorious privilege to be rejected by man and accepted by God! There have been times when no one stood with me, but You alone. Though my heart was crushed, I would not trade the sweetness I found in weakly, but determinedly breathing the words, “I have Christ and He is enough.”

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Tags: Holly D. Dye, Holly Dye

When we were in Venice we purchased a few curiosities, and finding them burdensome, we thought of sending them home by one of the English vessels lying in the Canal. We went out in a gondola with our box, and having asked for the captain of one of the vessels, we put to him the question, “Will you take a box for us to London, and what is the charge?” His reply was very ready, “I can’t say till I know what’s in it, for I don’t want to get into trouble.” A very common sense answer indeed; we admired its caution and honesty.

What a pity that men do not exercise as much care in spiritual matters, as to what they will receive or reject. Dear reader, in these times there are thousands of bad books published, and herds of bad teachers sent forth to deceive the unwary; you must be on your guard, lest you be led into error. Take nothing for granted, inquire into things for yourself, and try every new doctrine, and professedly old doctrine too, by the Word of God. You may take contraband goods on board before you are aware of it; keep both eyes open, watch and examine, and when a thing is pressed upon you, find out what’s in it. Do not believe all a man says because he is a clergyman, or eloquent, or learned, or even because he is kind and generous. Bring all to the bar of Holy Scripture, and if they cannot stand the test, receive them not, whatever their bold pretenses.

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Tags: C.H. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon

“The God of all grace.” (1 Peter 5:10)

There is not, perhaps, in the Bible a word more expressive, or, to the believing ear, one more sweet, than the word GRACE. It at once discloses the secret of salvation, defines the underlying principle of redeeming mercy, and indicates the golden thread which runs throughout and knits together all the great doctrines of the gospel, emphatically designated the “gospel of the grace of God.” The definition of the word is simple as it is precious. It means, God’s good-will and free favor to man, in and through Christ Jesus. Thus is it employed, “By grace you are saved;” “The grace of God that brings salvation;” “It is of faith, that it might be by grace;” “By the grace of God I am what I am;” “We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”

This principle of God’s favor, or free grace, as we have just remarked, underlies and binds together all the great truths indicated by the previous titles of God. The whole plan of salvation is based upon free grace, or, in other words, God’s good-will and unpurchased favor to sinners. This idea, of course, repudiates and ignores all worth and worthiness whatever on the part of the creature, constituting man God’s debtor, instead of- as the scheme of salvation by human merit does- God being a debtor to man. Let this not be lost sight of, that salvation by works lays God under obligation to the creature, whereas salvation by grace lays the creature under eternal obligation to God. Human merit, therefore, is entirely excluded as an element entering into our salvation; the whole scheme, from first to last, being by grace. “And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace; but if it be of works, then it is no more grace.”

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Tags: Octavius Winslow

“Missions is the back-breaking, culture-penetrating, darkness-shattering initial work to penetrate and plant the church, see it flourish, get its own elders, train its own people and evangelize its own networks. That’s the task of missions. It’s not over.” – John Piper

Churches today are suffering spiritually, both because of false doctrine and because of other doctrine, that is, ideas and activities which are far removed from God’s revealed will. So much of what we hear from modern Christian ministries is not necessarily wrong in itself, but a distraction from the core of the apostolic message, and to the degree it diverts us from the most important truths, it really is “contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:10). Ironically, in the name of relevance, Christian pulpits and presses and media spew forth many things completely irrelevant to the nature of God and man, the plight of sinners without Christ, and the way of salvation through Him. Doctrine itself is generally despised, and an appreciation for accurate gospel doctrine is rare. Weak and sickly churches glory in having no doctrinal statement and being nondenominational, or having one vague enough for every professing Christian to agree. This is not fringe evangelicalism, but its impoverished mainstream.

We desperately need to hear afresh God’s counsel in 1^st Timothy, with earnest desires to understand it and resolve to embrace it wholeheartedly, putting it into practice. The theme I discern in chapter one is “the non-negotiable centrality of gospel doctrine,” and the teaching might be summarized this way:

Together, we absolutely must fight uncompromisingly to maintain a steady focus upon gospel doctrine in and from the church.

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Tags: D. Scott Meadows, Scott Meadows

I am convinced that one of our grave defects today, is a most serious diminishing of the good old custom of private reading of the Bible.  Between the growth of Christian periodicals and books, I have a strong impression that Bibles are not read as much and as carefully as they were two hundred years ago.

Neglect of the Bible, is like disease of the body–it shows itself in the face of a man’s conduct.  It tells its own tale.  It cannot be hidden.

I fear that many neglect the Bible–because of the enormous ignorance of true religion which everywhere prevails. There are thousands of professing Christians in this country, who know literally nothing about the Gospel. They could not give you the slightest account of its distinctive doctrines. They have no more idea of the true meaning of conversion, grace, faith, justification, and sanctification–than of so many words and names written in Arabic! And can I suppose that such people search the Scriptures? I cannot suppose it.  I do not believe they do!

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Tags: J.C. Ryle, Ryle