Quotations for March, 2023
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Seen from below, from a human perspective, there is an enormous distinction between good times and bad, between sorrow and joy. But from above, in the eyes of God, sorrow and joy are never separated. Where there is pain, there is also healing. Where there is mourning, there is dancing. Where there is poverty, there is the kingdom.
... Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996), Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith, Forward Movement, 1981, p. 134-135 
(see the book; see also Luke 6:20; Isa. 64:8; Matt. 5:4; 11:4-6; 2 Cor. 6:4-10; 8:1-2; Heb. 12:5-6; Jas. 2:5; Rev. 22:1-2; more at God, Health, Joy, Kingdom, Mourning, Pain, Poverty, Sorrow)
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
The fool for Christ holds a prophetic role in Christianity, from the early church to Russian Orthodox “pilgrims” and such later fools as Luther, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky, who were seekers after the true, the good, the holy, the beautiful. They were insane—not in a clinical sense, but in the madness of the Holy, an insanity which ordinary sanity refuses to admit.
... David Kirk (1935-2007), Quotations from Chairman Jesus, Springfield, Ill.: Templegate Publishers, 1969, p. 132-133
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 1:18-27; Matt. 11:16-19; Luke 11:9-10; Acts 17:24-27; more at Beauty, Fool, Goodness, Holiness, Pilgrim, Prophet, Truth)
Friday, March 3, 2023
Seven marks of spiritual health [in] our righteousness toward others: (1) Christians work to glorify God in doing good. (2) God’s children cannot but naturally love one another. (3) A compassionate heart, even toward enemies, is a Christian heart. (4) Impartial reproving, a character of God’s people. (5) Admirable resisting of temptation. (6) A Christian bearing of reproof an argument of much of Christ Jesus. (7) God’s people willing to lose all for God’s glory.
... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), Experiments of Spiritual Life & Health [1652], reprinted, Sidney S. Rider, Providence, 1863, p. 37-45
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 12:26-27; Matt. 10:42; John 7:7; Rom. 9:3; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 4:15; 1 Pet. 3:8; 1 John 3:17; more at Bearing, Enemy, Glory, God, Goodness, Heart, Love, Righteousness, Temptation)
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
The different emphases of many denominations and sects are not bad in themselves. These very differences would profit the whole Body if each group would only be humble enough to recognize the value of the others, instead of making their differences the basis of exclusivism and separation.
... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 9
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:3-6; Ps. 133:1; Matt. 23:8; John 17:20-21; Rom. 14:1-6,10; 15:5-6; 1 Cor. 1:10; 8:9-13; 12:12; 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 1:27; 2:1-2; Col. 2:16-17; 1 Pet. 3:8; Jude 1:3; more at Body of Christ, Humility, Sect)
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Faith is not that human illusion and dream that some people think it is. When they hear and talk a lot about faith and yet see that no moral improvement and no good works result from it, they fall into error and say, “Faith is not enough. You must do works if you want to be virtuous and get to heaven.” The result is that, when they hear the Gospel, they stumble and make for themselves with their own powers a concept in their hearts which says, “I believe.” This concept they hold to be true faith. But since it is a human fabrication and thought and not an experience of the heart, it accomplishes nothing, and there follows no improvement.
... Martin Luther (1483-1546), “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans”, par. 13
(see the book; see also Rom. 8:6-11; Matt. 7:21-23; Rom. 7:18-23; 8:6-11; 1 Cor. 13:2; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Tim. 1:3-11; 1 John 5:3-5; more at Belief, Faith, Good works, Gospel, Heart, Heaven, Illusions, Morality, Virtue)
Monday, March 6, 2023
The question is not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God’s things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak—even the walk from the house to the garage that you have walked ten thousand times before, even the moments when you cannot believe that there is a God who speaks at all anywhere. He speaks, I believe, and the words he speaks are incarnate in the flesh and blood of our selves and of our own footsore and sacred journeys.
... Frederick Buechner (1926-2022), Listening to Your Life, HarperCollins, 1992, p. 4
(see the book; see also Pr. 16:33; Ex. 3:1-5; 1 Kings 19:11-13; Luke 10:30-32; Acts 1:26; Rom. 8:28; Jas. 4:13-15; more at Belief, God, Incarnation, Journey, Self)
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
A man will confess sins in general; but those sins which he would not have his neighbor know for his right hand, which bow him down with shame like a wind-stricken bulrush, those he passes over in his prayer. Men are willing to be thought sinful in disposition; but in special acts they are disposed to praise themselves. They therefore confess their depravity and defend their conduct. They are wrong in general, but right in particular.
... Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), Life Thoughts: gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher, Edna Dean Proctor, ed., Sheldon, 1860, p. 23
(see the book; see also John 9:39-41; Ps. 19:12; 139:23-24; Lam. 3:40; Hag. 1:5; Matt. 7:1-2; Rom. 10:3; 11:19-21; 1 Cor. 11:31; Gal. 6:3-5; Jas. 1:26; more at Conduct, Confession, Depravity, Neighbor, Praise, Prayer, Shame, Sin)
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Commemoration of Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
This making of your peace with God is not, and never can be, a mere matter of emotional surrender, however honest and sincere. It must be an act of the whole man, feeling, thinking, and doing, in every department of his life, in obedience to a great governing and controlling principle. It must be the response of the whole man to his whole world. God must be at least as big as the world if He is to be God at all. Religion applies either to everything or to nothing, and no department of life can be left outside of God. Whatever appears to be beyond His control must, to the religious man, become either a problem to solve or an obstacle to be overcome, and whatever is essentially opposed to Him must become an evil to be destroyed. The soul that has really made its peace with God simply cannot tolerate anything or anybody as being permanently outside of Him.
... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, p. 22-23
(see the book; see also 1 Chr. 29:10-12; Ps. 1:1-2; 73:25; 85:8; Isa. 11:6-9; 25:6-8; Matt. 11:27; John 16:33; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:19-20; more at God, Life, Man, Obedience, Peace, Religion, World)
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Does not Christ set more value upon importunity than on submission? “Knock, and it shall be opened.” I would refer also not only to the parable of the unjust judge, but to the incident of the Syrophenician woman, where her wit, faith, and importunity together did actually change our Lord’s intention and break His custom. There is Paul beseeching the Lord thrice for a boon; and urging us to be instant, insistent, continual in prayer. We have Jacob wrestling. We have Abraham pleading, yea, haggling, with God for Sodom. We have Moses interceding for Israel and asking God to blot his name out of the book of life, if that were needful to save Israel. We have Job facing God, withstanding Him, almost bearding Him, and extracting revelation. And we have Christ’s own struggle with the Father in Gethsemane.It is a wrestle on the greatest scale—all manhood taxed as in some great war, or some great negotiation of State. And the effect is exhaustion often. No, the result of true prayer is not always peace.
... P. T. Forsyth (1848-1921), The Soul of Prayer [1916], Regent College Publishing, 2002, p. 101-102
(see the book; see also Matt. 7:7-8; Gen. 18:20-33; 32:24-29; Ex. 32:31-34; Deut. 1:45; Matt. 10:34; 26:36-44; Mark 7:25-30; Luke 2:36-38; 11:5-8; 18:1-8; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; more at Christ, Faith, Intention, Judgment, Peace, Perseverance, Prayer, Revelation, Struggle, Submission, Woman)
Friday, March 10, 2023
The very act of throwing ourselves on the mercy of God brings forth the confidence that God looks with favor on our request, since this act could only arise from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
... Donald G. Bloesch (1928-2010), The Struggle of Prayer, Harper & Row, 1980, p. 47-48
(see the book; see also Acts 10:44-45; Joel 2:28-32; Luke 2:25-26; Acts 2:14-18,21,33; Rom. 8:26; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Tit. 3:4-7; Jude 1:20; more at Confidence, God, Holy Spirit, Mercy)
Saturday, March 11, 2023
I remember my Anthropology of Religion professor... urging us to ask not whether Jesus walked on water but what the gospel writer wanted to communicate by writing that Jesus walked on water... The professor’s answer, that the writer wanted to convey Jesus’ mastery over nature, and the dependence of the world of nature on something beyond it, seemed to conflict with his dismissal of Jesus’ actually walking on water. If Jesus didn’t, or couldn’t, walk on water, then what are we to make of the symbolic claim that nature depends on something beyond it? To maintain the dependence of nature in the face of Jesus’ inability to walk on water, command the wind and the waves, heal the sick, etc., is not contradictory, but it is epistemically undercutting in the sense that it involves asserting a thesis while denying the possibility of any evidence for it. That epistemic incoherence lies at the heart of the naturalistic, symbolic interpretation of Christianity that many leaders of the _____ Church currently embrace.
... Daniel A. Bonevac, from “Are You a Religious Extremist? Religion and the Academy,” in The Truth That Makes Them Free, Donald G. Davis, Jr., ed., Austin, Texas: Christian Faculty Network, 2011, p. 34
(see the book; see also John 6:16-21; Ps. 107:28-29; Matt. 8:24-27; 12:39-40; 14:22-33; 28:18; Mark 1:27; 4:37-41; 6:45-52; John 5:37-40; 10:25-26; 12:37; more at Dependence, Jesus, Nature, Religion, World)
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Among our own people also the church sorely needs clergy in close touch with the ordinary life of the laity, living the life of ordinary men, sharing their difficulties and understanding their trials by close personal experience. Stipendiary clergy cut off by training and life from that common experience are constantly struggling to get close to the laity by wearing lay clothing, sharing in lay amusements, and organizing lay clubs; but they never quite succeed. To get close to men, it is necessary really to share their experience, and to share their experience is to share it by being in it, not merely to come as near to it as possible without being in it.
... Roland Allen (1869-1947), The Case for Voluntary Clergy, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1930, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 150
(see the book; see also Acts 18:1-3; Isa. 53:2-5; Luke 22:27-28; Eph. 4:28; Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15; 5:2; more at Affliction, Church, Experience, Life, Share, Trial, Understanding)
Monday, March 13, 2023
Men despise the Church when it doesn’t stand for the Christian viewpoint. Not beginning with the absolute, the Kingdom, it becomes a part of the relativisms of kingdoms of this world.
... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), The Christ of the American Road, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944, p. 217
(see the book; see also Acts 18:28; Matt. 13:44-48; Luke 17:20-21; Rom. 14:17-18; 2 Cor. 5:16-17; Phil. 1:27; 1 Thess. 5:21; 2 Thess. 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:13; Jude 1:3; Rev. 12:10-11; more at Beginning, Church, Kingdom, Worldly)
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
I am having the depressing experience of reading congregational descriptions of what these churches want in a pastor. With hardly an exception they don’t want pastors at all—they want managers of their religious company. They want a pastor they can follow so they won’t have to bother with following Jesus anymore.
... Eugene H. Peterson (1932-2018), in “On Being Unnecessary”, The Unnecessary Pastor, Marva J. Dawn, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000, p. 4
(see the book; see also Tit. 1:9; Matt. 4:19; 8:22; 16:24; Luke 5:27; 9:59-60; John 12:25-26; 1 Cor. 9:16-18; 2 Thess. 2:15; 1 Tim. 6:3-6; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:2-3; Tit. 1:5-8; Rev. 2:25; 3:11; more at Church, Depression, Experience, Jesus, Minister)
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Knowing how susceptible we are to success’s siren call, God does not allow us to see, and therefore glory in, what is done through us. The very nature of the obedience He demands is that it be given without regard to circumstances or results.
... Charles W. Colson (1931-2012), Loving God, Zondervan, 2011 reprint, p. 23
(see the book; see also John 12:26; Eccl. 11:1-2; Jer. 26:13; Hab. 2:4; Matt. 6:34; Acts 15:28; John 3:8; 6:27; 13:16-17; 14:15,21; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 4:17; Heb. 13:16; Jas. 1:22; more at Call, Glory, God, Obedience, Success)
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Some go to the light of nature and the use of right reason (that is, their own) as their guides; and some add the additional documents of the philosophers. They think a saying of Epictetus, or Seneca, or Arrianus, being wittily suited to their fancies and affections, to have more life and power in it than any precept of the Gospel. The reason why these things are more pleasing unto them than the commands and instructions of Christ is because, proceeding from the spring of natural light, they are suited to the workings of natural fancy and understanding; but those of Christ, proceeding from the fountain of eternal spiritual light, are not comprehended in their beauty and excellency without a principle of the same light in us, guiding our understanding and influencing our affections. Hence, take any precept, general or particular, about moral duties, that is materially the same in the writings of philosophers and in the doctrine of the Gospel, not a few prefer it as delivered in the first way before the latter.
... John Owen (1616-1683), V.5 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 633
(see the book; see also Prov. 16:25; 3:5-6; 12:15; Jer. 9:23-24; Mark 7:6-8; Luke 13:24; 1 Cor. 1:18-25; 2 Cor. 10:5; Gal. 6:3; Eph. 5:6; Col. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:20-21; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; more at Apologetics, Christ, Duty, Gospel, Instruction, Morality, Philosophy, Pleasure, Reason)
Friday, March 17, 2023
Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
Finally, the Devil showed Christ all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said: All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. All Christ had to do in return was to worship the donor instead of God—which, of course, he could not do. How interesting, though, that power should be at the Devil’s disposal, and only attainable through an understanding with him! Many have thought otherwise, and sought power in the belief that by its exercise they could lead men to brotherhood and happiness and peace, invariably with disastrous consequences. Always in the end the bargain with the Devil has to be fulfilled—as any Stalin or Napoleon or Cromwell must testify. I am the light of the world, Christ said; power belongs to darkness.
... Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), Jesus Rediscovered, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969, p. 9
(see the book; see also Matt. 4:8-10; Deut. 6:13-14; Matt. 16:26; John 7:7; 13:3; 1 John 2:15-16; more at Belief, Brotherhood, Christ, Devil, Fulfillment, Happiness, Light, Peace, Power, World)
Saturday, March 18, 2023
There are many formidable obstacles in the pursuit of social justice. The challenge for the Christian is to put into concrete terms the revolutionary style of life lived by Christ; to translate into economics, education, politics, and human relationships that he is a “new creation”, who looks at no one and no situation from simply a human point of view of self-interest and self-concern. [Continued tomorrow]
... David Bronnert, “The Gospel and Culture”, in The Changing World, Bruce Kaye, ed., vol. 3 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 120
(see the book; see also Gal. 6:15; Pr. 21:3; Matt. 7:13-14; 24:14; Mark 16:15; John 3:16-17; Rom. 5:19; 1 Cor. 9:19; 2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 1:3-6; Jas. 2:15-16; more at Challenge, Christ, Justice, Life, Self, Simplicity, Social)
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Feast of Joseph of Nazareth
[Continued from yesterday]A love for others will result in the Christian being concerned for the total good of others: material, social and spiritual. A concern for the social and material should not be a substitute for man in his relationship with God, nor should it be viewed as a convenient bridge to the spiritual; rather, because he knows God, he reflects the character of God.
... David Bronnert, “The Gospel and Culture”, in The Changing World, Bruce Kaye, ed., vol. 3 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 120
(see the book; see also Jer. 9:23-24; Amos 5:14-15,23-24; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 25:34-36; Mark 12:32-34; John 3:3; 10:27; more at God, Goodness, Knowing God, Love, Spiritual life)
Monday, March 20, 2023
Feast of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687
We cannot build too confidently on the merits of Christ, as our only hope; nor can we think too much of the mind that was in Christ, as our great example.
... Richard Cecil (1748-1810), The Works of the Rev. Richard Cecil, v. III, Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1825, p. 144
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 3:10-11; Isa. 28:16; Acts 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 2:16; 3:12-15; 11:1; Eph. 2:19-20; Phil. 2:5-7; 1 Tim. 1:16; 2 Tim. 2:19; 1 Pet. 2:6-8,21; more at Christ, Example, Hope, Mind)
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them: show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability... Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others. If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God!
... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Spiritual Letters of Archbishop Fénelon. Letters to men, London: Rivingtons, 1877, p. 205-206
(see the book; see also Ps. 88:1-3; 62:8; 142:2; Lam. 2:19; Mark 14:35-36; Rom. 8:26; Heb. 4:16; more at Blessing, Comfort, Evil, Friend, God, Heart, Joy, Pain, Pleasure, Prayer, Purity, Temptation, Trouble)
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
If criticism has made such discoveries as to necessitate the abandonment of the doctrine of plenary inspiration, it is not enough to say that we are compelled to abandon only a “particular theory of inspiration,” though that is true enough. We must go on to say that that “particular theory of inspiration” is the theory of the apostles and of the Lord, and that in abandoning it we are abandoning them.
... Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921), The Presbyterian and Reformed Review, Volume 4, 1893, Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Review, 1893, p. 185-186
(see the book; see also Mark 12:36; 2 Sam. 23:2; Matt. 22:43; Luke 1:70; Acts 28:25; Rom. 3:2; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:21; more at Bible, Criticism, Discovery, God, Inspiration, Truth)
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Above all, the group must keep remembering that true growth in grace is not to be achieved by our own efforts or contriving, but must be received as the gift of God’s Spirit, working in, and among, us. The work of the group is to keep open the channels of receptiveness through study, discipline, prayer, and self-offering... When a group learns to live in this faith, it can keep the lines of endeavor tentative and sensitive to new headings and possibilities, on the one hand; and on the other, move forward resolutely under such light as is now given.
... John L. Casteel (1903-1993/5), Spiritual Renewal through Personal Groups, NY: Association Press, 1957, p. 195
(see the book; see also Acts 13:2-4; Lev. 26:12; Luke 11:13; John 16:13; Acts 15:28; Rom. 8:9-10; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:8-9; Phil. 2:5-7; Heb. 6:1-3; more at Church, Discipline, Faith, Gifts, Grace, Growth, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Work)
Friday, March 24, 2023
Feast of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980
Commemoration of Paul Couturier, Priest, Ecumenist, 1953
It is characteristic of the thinking of our time that the problem of guilt and forgiveness has been pushed into the background and seems to disappear more and more. Modern thought is impersonal. There are, even to-day, a great many people who understand that man needs salvation, but there are very few who are convinced that he needs forgiveness and redemption... Sin is understood as imperfection, sensuality, [worldliness]—but not as guilt.
... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Word and the World, London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1931, p. 49
(see the book; see also Ps. 51:4; Matt. 6:12,14-15; Luke 1:76-79; 24:46-47; Acts 16:29-31; Rom. 7:13; Jas. 2:10; more at Forgiveness, Guilt, Redemption, Salvation, Sin, Worldly)
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary
A genuine Christian should be a walking mystery because he surely is a walking miracle. Through the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is involved in a daily life and habit that cannot be explained.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), Whatever Happened to Worship?, Christian Publications, 1985, p. 75
(see the book; see also John 16:13-15; Matt. 9:5-8; John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:10-16; Phil. 1:27-28; 2:14-16; 1 Pet. 3:15-16; 1 John 2:20; more at Holy Spirit, Life, Miracle, Power)
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Feast of Harriet Monsell of Clewer, Religious, 1883
Oh, friends, it is not that God is going to judge us some day. That is not the awful thing. It is that God knows us now. If I stop an instant and know that God knows me through all these misconceptions and blunders of my brethren, that God knows me—that is the awful thing. The future judgment shall but tell it. It is here, here upon my conscience, now.
... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), from “The Beauty of a Life of Service”, in Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 28
(see the book; see also Heb. 4:13; 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chr. 28:9; Matt. 9:4; 19:28; Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22; John 2:24; 5:41-42; 6:64; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:13-16; Jas. 5:9; more at Conscience, God, Judgment, Knowledge)
Monday, March 27, 2023
The world and worldly things must be used with discretion, for without them life is not only difficult but impossible. For this very purpose God created the world that men might make use of it, but men should not drown themselves in it, for thus the breath of prayer is stopped and they perish.
... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), At the Master’s Feet, Fleming H. Revell, 1922, p. 45
(see the book; see also Matt. 13:22; Gen. 1:29; 2:15,19-20; 9:1-3; Matt. 6:24-25; Luke 12:15; 21:34; Rom. 1:20-25; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; 2 Tim. 2:20-21; Heb. 2:7-8; 1 John 2:15-16; more at God, Life, Prayer, Purpose, World, Worldly)
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
We cannot pray and believe to order. Neither faith nor prayer is at the bidding of authority. We cannot believe merely because we are told we ought to believe, and that we shall be damned if we do not. Faith is possible only where the truth finds an answering note in the soul.
... Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932), Humanity and God, Hodder and Stoughton, 1904, p. 305
(see the book; see also John 8:30-32; 1:11-13; 3:12; 7:5; 10:25-27; 12:37; Acts 2:41,46-47; 5:14; 6:7; 13:12,48; 17:34; 18:27; Rom. 10:14-17; more at Belief, Faith, Prayer, Soul, Truth)
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
To need God is nothing to be ashamed of but is perfection itself. It is the saddest thing of all if a human being goes through life without discovering that he needs God.
... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, tr. H. V. Hong, Princeton University Press, 1992, p. 303
(see the book; see also Rev. 3:17-18; Deut. 8:11-14; Ps. 102:19-20; 130:1-2; 147:3; Joel 2:32; Matt. 9:11-13; 19:21-24; Mark 2:17; Luke 4:18-19; 5:31; 15:7; Acts 2:21; Rom. 7:24; more at Agnosticism, Discovery, God, Life, Need, Perfection, Sadness)
Thursday, March 30, 2023
For a spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the centre, where we are anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of His reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of His will.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Spiritual Life, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1985, p. 36
(see the book; see also Mark 2:14; Deut. 6:5; Ps. 1:2; 51:6; Matt. 5:6; John 4:34; 6:27,38-40; 14:16-17; Rom. 8:10; 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Col. 3:1-3; more at Existence, God, Spiritual life, Will of God)
Friday, March 31, 2023
Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
Never propose to thyself such a God, as thou wert not bound to imitate: thou mistakest God, if thou make him to be any such thing, or make him to do any such thing, as thou in thy proportion shouldst not be, or shouldst not do. And shouldst thou curse any man that had never offended, never transgrest, never trespassed thee? Can God have done so? ... Will God curse man, before man have sinned?
... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. IV, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon CVII, p. 458
(see the book; see also Eccl. 7:20; Isa. 64:6; 65:20; Jer. 4:22; Matt. 9:9-13; Rom. 1:28; 3:10-12; Eph. 2:3; more at Existence, God, Man, Sin)
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