Faint and languid assent

Our reading group is currently reading Henry Scougals “The life of God in the soul of man”. This is a remarkable book, which I recommend every follower of Jesus Christ read.

Col 3:1-4 says “If then you’ve been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory”.

These words are absolutely necessary and also happen to ring through Scougals words when he is speaking of the truths we assent to:

“The assent which is ordinarily given to divine truth is very faint and languid, very weak and ineffectual, flowing only from a blind inclination to follow that religion which is in fashion, or a lazy indifference and inconcernedness whether things be so or not. 

Men are unwilling to quarrel with the religion of their country, and since all their neighbours are Christians, they are content to be so too; but they are seldom at the pains to consider the evidences of those truths, or to ponder the importance  and tendency of them; and thence it is that they have so little influence on their affections and practice.

Those ‘spiritless and paralytic thoughts’, as one doth rightly term them, are not able to move the will, and direct the hand. We must therefore endeavour to work up our minds to a serious belief and full persuasion of divine truths, unto a sense and feeling of spiritual things: our thoughts must dwell upon them, till we be both convinced of them, and deeply affected with them. Let us urge forward our spirits and make them approach the invisible world, and fix our minds upon immaterial things, till we clearly perceive that these are no dreams; nay, that all things are dreams and shadows besides them.” (Scougal, p118-119)

Bang on.  When we see a weak believer in Christ, we can be sure it is because they have not allowed the word of Christ to dwell in them richly (Col 3:16).