A new book by Jeremiah Burroughs

I was thrilled to learn of the publication of Contentment, Prosperity, and God's Glory by Jeremiah Burroughs, one of my favorite Puritan authors. This was originally intended to be an appendix to The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, which is on my top 10 list. In The Rare Jewel, Burroughs taught his flock to be content in times of hardship. In Contentment, he sought to encourage his flock under different circumstances  - material prosperity.

There's no question that we need to learn contentment in adversity, but compared to the rest of the world, we are those who carry the "burden that is in a prosperous condition." Here are some gems from this book. A review will be forthcoming on Friday, God willing.

[I]t's better to know how to honor God with those good things I have than to know how I can get more. It's better to know how I might behave myself in the enjoyment of those good things God has given me than to know to get more of those good things. ¹

Perhaps God has given so many great things because He intends for you to use them for something other than yourself. God gives you so much a year, but not because He intends for you to spend it all to fill you own belly or to clothe your own back.²

A Christian learns how to be full when he can spread out all his fullness and offer it to God for His use - that is, when he can improve what he has to serve God. I use it, yes, but I do not use it for myself so much as for God. I know how to be full when I can see the opportunities for service that God has given to me in my fullness.³

The time when people are the least careful is when they eat and are full; then they think they are in no danger at all. Yes, but this is the charge of the Spirit of God; when you have eaten and are full, that's when you need to remember to be especially careful. Remember this, you who have full tables! ⁴

If a man appreciates what he has through the lens of the Word of the promise or by the Word of the gospel, where Jesus Christ is revealed to us, his ability to profit from the things he enjoys becomes transformed by Jesus Christ, the Word who sanctifies everything to us.⁵

In all your abundance, learn thoroughly your utter dependence upon God. Learn to see your need of Him as much in the midst of your abundance as in the greatest depth of affliction. That is the one thing that is very useful. When a man knows that he needs just as much mercy from God in his abundance as his lowest affliction, he has attained a good measure of grace. ⁶

Consider whether you can praise God in one condition just as well as you can in another condition. God's grace so satisfies and strengthens the heart that the things that are outside it in the world make very little difference to it. External things cannot alter a heart full of grace.⁷  

_______________________________________________________

1. Contentment, Prosperity, and God's Glory, Jeremiah Burroughs, Reformation Heritage Books, 2013, pg. 10.
2. Ibid. 18.
3. Ibid. 28-29.
4. Ibid. 46-47.
5. Ibid. 85.
6. Ibid. 110.
7. Ibid. 119.