As the genuine
religious impulse becomes dominant, adoration more and more takes charge.
"I come to seek God because I need Him," may be an adequate formula for
prayer. "I come to adore His splendour, and fling myself and all that I
have at His feet," is the only possible formula for worship.
... Evelyn
Underhill
The testimony of
the New Testament cannot be lightly disregarded, nor can the claims of
Christ be airily dismissed. Many otherwise intelligent people have never
read with adult attention either the four Gospels or the Letters of the
New Testament. When they so do, to my certain knowledge they not infrequently
become converted. Indeed, I know of no adult who has seriously studied
the New Testament and rejected the stories of Christ as mythical or the
evidence of changed lives in the Letters as mere fabrication.
... J.
B. Phillips, God with Us
In some communities
there remains, as a vestige of a false conception of the church building,
a resistance to the sale and purchase of books on a table... anywhere on
the premises. When this position is expressed, it must be attacked directly
and unapologetically, because it represents a genuine evil, ... the idolatry
of bricks and mortar, a heresy specifically undermined by the Apostle Paul
in Athens when he said, "The God who made the world and everything in it,
being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man" (Acts
17:24). The notion that it is perfectly all right to sell a New Testament
in the department store on Monday, but that it is wrong to sell it in the
meetinghouse on Sunday, represents a confusion so great that it is truly
appalling. As Christians, we believe in the Real Presence, but it is a
severe denial of the divine power to claim that this Presence is limited
geographically. If, in a building dedicated to worship, a seeker buys a
book on Sunday morning and his life is deepened in consequence, the only
important thing to say is that the Gospel has thereby been preached, and
this is one of the major tasks of the Church.
... Elton
Trueblood, The Incendiary Fellowship
Be not afraid that
thou art tempted, for the more thou art assailed by temptations, the greater
friend and servant of God do I hold thee, and the greater love do I bear
thee. Verily, I say to thee, let no man deem himself the perfect friend
of God until he have passed through many temptations and tribulations...
I am ready to endure patiently all things that my Lord would do with me.
... Ugolino
of Montegiorgio, The Little Flowers
of St. Francis
Unless we know
the difference between flowers and weeds, we are not fit to take care of
a garden. It is not enough to have truth planted in our minds. We must
learn and labor to keep the ground clear of thorns and briars, follies
and perversities, which have a wicked propensity to choke the word of life.
... Clyde
Francis Lytle
If those who say
that we must preach the same message as Paul and the other apostles mean
that we should also exhibit the same adaptability and sensitivity to the
background culture, then they are right... If, however, they mean that
we should expect results merely by repeating the actual phrases found in
the New Testament, then they are mistaken. They are making, in fact, one
of the basic mistakes in verbal communication, which is to confuse words
with what they describe. The gospel is something God has done, not a series
of phrases describing it. Saying this does not undermine the Christian's
belief in the inspiration of the Bible, for the important thing about the
Bible is what it talks about, rather than the way it does the talking.
If we considered that there was the same degree of essential inspiration
in the way it does the talking, then we would have to insist that every
Christian learn Hebrew and Greek. The mere fact that we in the Western
world read translations of the scriptures is a clear admission that times
and cultures have changed.
... Gavin
Reid, The Gagging of God
Never let us be
discouraged with ourselves; it is not when we are conscious of our faults
that we are the most wicked: on the contrary, we are less so. We see by
a brighter light. And let us remember, for our consolation, that we never
perceive our sins till He begin to cure them.
... François
Fénélon
The more a man
hath unity and simplicity in himself, the more things and the deeper things
he understandeth; and that without labour, because he receiveth the light
of understanding from above. The spirit which is pure, sincere and steadfast,
is not distracted though it hath many works to do, because it doth all
things to the honour of God, and striveth to be free from all thoughts
of self-seeking.
... Thomas
à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ
Thou knowest how
far Thou hast already changed me, who first healed me of the lust of vindicating
myself, that so Thou mightest forgive all the rest of my iniquities, and
heal all my infirmities, and redeem my life from corruption, and crown
me with mercy and pity, and satisfy my desire with good things; who didst
curb my pride with Thy fear, and tame my neck to Thy yoke. And now I bear
it and it is light unto me, because so hast Thou promised, and hast made
it; and verily it was so, and I knew it not, when I feared to take it.
... The Confessions
of St. Augustine
Wilberforce, Lord
Shaftesbury, and many other evangelicals, have been leaders in social reform,
but it was not their religion. Their efforts succeeded because they put
first things first, and believed firmly in the Word of God, in the conversion
of the individual, in prayer, and in using spiritual means for spiritual
work.
... G.
T. Manley, Christian Unity
Like the eye which
sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied
with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at
all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves -- blessed riddance.
The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated
failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul
and looks away to the perfect One.
... A.
W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
Finally, what do
we mean by the word "true"? How do we distinguish real Truth from human
notions and ideas and opinions and doctrines? We are compelled to say that
the word "true" means "grounded in reality, based on the real nature of
things, on the basic facts which underlie the universe." Hence, if people
say -- as many have said -- that the moral ideals set out in the gospels
are high and noble ideals, and express admiration for the moral character
of Jesus, and stop there, not daring to affirm more than that, the answer
they are giving to the Question, "Is the Gospel true?", is No.
... Gabriel Hebert
[He said:] That
all possible kinds of mortification, if they were void of the love of God,
could not efface a single sin.. That we ought, without anxiety, to expect
the pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ, only endeavoring
to love Him with all our hearts. That God seemed to have granted the greatest
favors to the greatest sinners, as more signal monuments of His mercy.
... Brother
Lawrence
Steadfastness in
believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a
tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows upon it.
... John
Owen
O God, grant that today
I may not disappoint any friend;
I may not grieve any loved one;
I may not fail anyone to whom I have a duty;
I may not shame myself.
Grant that today
I may do my work with honesty and fidelity;
I may take my pleasure in happiness and purity.
Grant that today
I may lead no one astray;
I may not make goodness and faith harder for anyone.
Help me today
to be a help and example to all;
to bring strength and encouragement wherever I am:
Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
... William Barclay
Our faith and our
friendships are not shattered by one big act, but by many small neglects.
... J.
Gustav White
The knowledge of
God is very far from the love of Him.
... Blaise
Pascal
God's child in Christ adopted -- Christ my all --
What that earth boasts were not lost cheaply, rather
Than forfeit that blest name, by which I call
The Holy One, the Almighty God, my Father? --
Father! in Christ we live, and Christ in Thee --
Eternal Thou and everlasting we.
The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death:
In Christ I live! in Christ I draw the breath
Of the true life! -- let then earth, sea, and sky
Make war against me! On my front I show
Their mighty Master's seal. In vain they try
To end my life, that can but end its woe.
Is that a death-bed where a Christian lies?
Yes, but not his -- 'tis Death itself there dies.
... Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The basis of our
Lord's appeal was himself. "Follow me," "come unto me," and "ye will not
come unto me," indicate sufficiently that what he offered to men was himself.
He seeks to win men's acceptance of the truth that had come in him. His
words and deeds served to indicate what manner of man he was and what kind
of work he had come to do; and all the time it is a person addressing persons,
seeking to gain their recognition of and their self-commitment to himself.
He sought to exercise no authority over men that was not personal, both
in the way it was exercised and in the way in which it was recognized and
accepted.
... John
Huxtable, The Bible Says
We cannot understand
the depth of the Christian doctrine of sin if we give to it only a moral
connotation. To break the basic laws of justice and decency is sin indeed.
Man's freedom to honor principles is the moral dimension in his nature,
and sin often appears as lawlessness. But sin has its roots in something
which is more than the will to break the law. The core of sin is our making
ourselves the center of life, rather than accepting the holy God as the
center. Lack of trust, self-love, pride -- these are three ways in which
Christians have expressed the real meaning of sin. But what sin does is
to make the struggle with evil meaningless. When we refuse to hold our
freedom in trust and reverence for God's will, there is nothing which can
make the risk of life worth the pain of it.
... Daniel
D. Williams, Interpreting Theology
1918-1952
The idea of "conviction"
is complex. It involves the conceptions of authoritative examination, of
unquestionable proof, of decisive judgment, of punitive power. Whatever
the final issue may be, he who "convicts" another must place the truth
of the case in a clear light before him, so that it must be seen and acknowledged
as truth. He who then rejects the conclusion which the exposition involves,
rejects it with his eyes open and at his peril. Truth seen as truth carries
with it condemnation to all who refuse to welcome it.
... B.
F. Westcott, The Gospel According
to St. John
The heart of man
is revealed in temptation. Man knows his sin, which without temptation
he could never have known; for in temptation man knows on what he has set
his heart. The coming to light of sin is the work of the accuser, who thereby
thinks to have won the victory. But it is sin which is become manifest
which can be known, and therefore forgiven. Thus the manifestation of sin
belongs to the salvation plan of God with man, and Satan must serve this
plan.
... Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Temptation
We come to Jesus
Christ: and He does for us what He promised; and the thing works out. To
our amazement, it works out. And then we settle down. We have had our own
first-hand and irrefutable experience. But, instead of opening the windows
to the glory of the sunshine so evidently there, instead of being incited
to a hugeness of faith by what Christ has already done for us, we can't
believe that there can be anything more, or that even He can work, for
us, anything better. That first foretaste satisfies us. And so we camp
for life out on the confines of the Kingdom, and never press on to inherit
what is there and meant for us.
... A.
J. Gossip, Experience Worketh
Hope
Let every man recognize
what he is, and be certain that we are all equally priests, that is, we
have the same power in the word and in any sacrament whatever.
... Martin
Luther, The Babylonian Captivity
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save what Thou art:
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.Be Thou my Wisdom and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.Riches I need not, nor man's empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all!
... Anonymous medieval Irish hymn
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2008, by Robert McAnally Adams,
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