Quotations for June, 2023
Thursday, June 1, 2023 Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165 Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the animal which wears it? It is just the opposite. It is to make its burden light. Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the plow would be intolerable. Worked by means of a yoke, it is light. A yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is an instrument of mercy. It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a gentle device to make hard labor light... [Christ] knew the difference between a smooth yoke and a rough one, a bad fit and a good one... The rough yoke galled, and the burden was heavy; the smooth yoke caused no pain, and the burden was lightly drawn. The badly fitted harness was a misery; the well fitted collar was “easy.”And what was the “burden”? It was not some special burden laid upon the Christian, some unique infliction that they alone must bear. It was what all men bear. It was simply life, human life itself, the general burden of life which all must carry with them from the cradle to the grave. Christ saw that men took life painfully. To some it was a weariness, to others failure, to many a tragedy, to all a struggle and a pain. How to carry this burden of life had been the whole world’s problem. And here is Christ’s solution: “Carry it as I do. Take life as I take it. Look at it from My point of view. Interpret it upon my principles. Take my yoke and learn of me, and you will find it easy. For my yoke is easy, works easily, sits right upon the shoulders, and therefore my burden is light.”
... Henry Drummond (1851-1897), “Pax Vobiscum”, in Addresses, H. Altemus, 1891, p. 124,127-129
(see the book; see also Matt. 11:29-30; 7:24; 17:5; John 14:21; 15:10-14; 2 Cor. 10:5; Heb. 5:8-10; more at Bible, Burden, Christ, Failure, Life, Mercy, Pain, Struggle, Tragedy, Work)
Friday, June 2, 2023
Jesus! why dost Thou love me so?What hast Thou seen in meTo make my happiness so great,So dear a joy to Thee?
... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Hymns, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1877, p. 171
(see the book; see also John 15:9; Eph. 3:16-18; 5:1-2; Gal. 2:20; Heb. 12:1-2; more at Happiness, Jesus, Joy, Love, Sight)
Saturday, June 3, 2023 Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910 Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978
What reason have [atheists] for saying that we cannot rise from the dead? What is more difficult, to be born or to rise again; that what has never been should be, or that what has been should be again? Is it more difficult to come into existence than to return to it?
... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #222, p. 80
(see the book; see also Matt. 22:31-32; Gen. 18:14; Luke 1:37; 18:27; John 5:28-29; Acts 4:2; 26:8; 17:30-32; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:12-14; Phil. 3:20-21; more at Death, Existence, Reason, Resurrection)
Sunday, June 4, 2023 Trinity Sunday
You cannot escape Christ, do what You will. You reject His divinity, but, so doing, you have not evaded Him. If He is just a man like us, then obviously you must be a man like Him!
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), The Galilean Accent, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1926, p. 271
(see the book; see also Mark 5:6-8; Isa. 53:7; Matt. 16:13-16; 22:42-45; 27:12-14; Mark 15:3-5; 1 Pet. 2:23; more at Authenticity, Christ, Jesus, Man, Perseverance)
Monday, June 5, 2023 Feast of Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, Archbishop of Mainz, Apostle of Germany, Martyr, 754
Every one who receives this Word, and by it salvation, receives along with it the duty of passing this Word on... Where there is no mission, there is no Church, and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith.
... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Word and the World, London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1931, p. 108
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 2:14; Ps. 22:30-31; 98:3; 102:18; Matt. 24:14; 28:19; Mark 16:15; John 20:29; Rom. 10:18; 15:18-19; 16:25-26; 2 Cor. 2:15-17; Col. 1:6; more at Church, Duty, Faith, Mission, Salvation)
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945
Oftentimes when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying. What shall one do in such a case? cease praying until he does feel like it? Not at all. When we feel least like praying is the time when we most need to pray. We should wait quietly before God and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and look up to Him and trust Him and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts and draw them out in prayer. It will not be long before the glow of the Spirit’s presence will fill our hearts, and we will begin to pray with freedom, directness, earnestness and power. Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness; but in my helplessness and coldness I have cast myself upon God, and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach me to pray, and He has done it.
... R. A. Torrey (1856-1928), How to Pray, Fleming H. Revell, 1900, p. 59-60
(see the book; see also Ps. 118:5-6; 42:1-2; Matt. 26:36-39; Mark 14:34-36; John 16:23-24; Rom. 8:15,26; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 6:18; Jude 1:20; more at Blessing, Freedom, God, Heart, Helplessness, Holy Spirit, Need, Prayer, Teach)
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
No other circumstances than those in which we find ourselves at this moment could achieve His highest purpose for our lives. Our need is not so much a change of circumstances as a change of attitude toward them.
... J. Oswald Sanders (1902-1992), The Pursuit of the Holy, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1972, p. 36
(see the book; see also 1 Tim. 6:6; Ps. 23:4; Matt. 10:17-20; Luke 12:29-32; 18:29-30; 21:12-15; John 4:48-53; 20:29; Rom. 15:18-19; Heb. 13:5-6; Jas. 1:2-3; Rev. 2:10; more at Achievement, Attitudes, God, Life, Need, Purpose)
Thursday, June 8, 2023 Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711 Commemoration of Roland Allen, Mission Strategist, 1947
In the world to which the Apostles preached their new message, religion had not been the solace of the weary, the medicine of the sick, the strength of the sin-laden, the enlightenment of the ignorant: it was the privilege of the healthy and the instructed. The sick and the ignorant were excluded. They were under the bondage of evil demons. “This people which knoweth not the law are accursed,” was the common doctrine of Jews and Greeks. The philosophers addressed themselves only to the well-to-do, the intellectual, and the pure. To the mysteries were invited only those who had clean hands and sound understanding. It was a constant marvel to the heathen that the Christians called the sick and the sinful.
... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 46
(see the book; see also Acts 4:13; Ps. 112:9; Matt. 5:5; 9:12-13; 11:5; Mark 6:56; John 7:49; 1 Cor. 1:25-27; 2 Cor. 8:9; Jas. 2:5; 3:13; more at Bondage, Health, Heathen, Mission, Philosophy, Preach, Sickness, Weary, World)
Friday, June 9, 2023 Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597 Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373
He walks as in the presence of God that converses with Him in frequent prayer and frequent communion; that runs to Him in all his necessities, that asks counsel of Him in all his doubtings; that opens all his wants to Him; that weeps before Him for his sins; that asks remedy and support for his weakness; that fears Him as a judge, reverences Him as a lord, obeys Him as a father, and loves Him as a patron.
... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, I.iii, p. 27
(see the book; see also Ps. 62:8; Neh. 1:4-6; Ps. 42:3-4; Matt. 6:6; Luke 11:5-8; 18:13; 22:44; John 15:15; Acts 20:27; Rom. 8:26; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; Heb. 4:16; 5:7; more at Communion, Father, Judgment, Love, Obedience, Prayer, Presence of God, Sin, Weakness)
Saturday, June 10, 2023
Each of us individually has risen into moral life from a mode of being which was purely natural; in other words, ... each of us also has fallen—fallen, presumably in ways determined by his natural constitution, yet certainly, as conscience assures us, in ways for which we are morally answerable, and to which, in the moral constitution of the world, consequences attach which we must recognise as our due. They are not only results of our action, but results which that action has merited; and there is no moral hope for us unless we accept them as such.
... James Denney (1856-1917), The Atonement and the Modern Mind, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1903, p. 55
(see the book; see also Gen. 3:22-23; Matt. 27:3-5; Tit. 1:15; Heb. 9:14; 10:26-27; more at Action, Assurance, Certainty, Conscience, Hope, Life, Morality, Nature, Sin)
Sunday, June 11, 2023 Feast of Barnabas the Apostle
The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives—altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. But what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it.
... Richard J. Foster (b. 1942), Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, HarperCollins, 1992, p. 8
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:7; John 6:44-45; 1 Cor. 3:1-3; 10:13; 15:10; Eph. 2:8-9; 3:16-17; Phil. 2:12-13; 1 Tim. 1:14; 1 Pet. 2:2-3; 5:10; more at Bitterness, Faith, Goodness, Grace, Mercy, Prayer, Purity, Selfish)
Monday, June 12, 2023
Do not forget that the answer to many prayers is “Wait,” or sometimes, “No, not that, but something else, which when you see Me, you will know was a far better thing.”
... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), Edges of His Ways [1955], London: SPCK, 1957, p. 113
(see the book; see also John 11:21-23; Ps. 5:3; 22:1-2; 80:4; 106:15; Matt. 26:39; Luke 12:13-14; Acts 3:2-6; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; more at Blessing, Knowledge, Prayer, Remembrance)
Tuesday, June 13, 2023 Commemoration of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Apologist and Writer, 1936
The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.
... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy, London, New York: John Lane Company, 1909, p. 175-176
(see the book; see also John 10:10; Ps. 23:5; Matt. 20:26-28; Luke 19:10; John 3:17; Rom. 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 8:2; Eph. 3:20-21; Col. 2:6-7; more at Christlikeness, Goodness, Rule)
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 Commemoration of Richard Baxter, Priest, Hymnographer, Teacher, 1691
I like to hear a man dwell much on the same essentials of Christianity. For we have but one God, and one Christ, and one faith to preach; and I will not preach another Gospel to please men with variety, as if our Savior and our Gospel were grown stale.
... Richard Baxter (1615-1691), A Treatise of Conversion, London: Nevill Simmons, 1658, p. 23
(see the book; see also 2 Pet. 1:12-15; Phil. 3:1; Eph. 4:4-6; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3; Tit. 1:9; Heb. 4:14; 2 Pet. 3:1; Jude 1:3; more at Christ, Faith, God, Gospel, Preach)
Thursday, June 15, 2023 Feast of Evelyn Underhill, Mystical Writer, 1941
Those who complain that they make no progress in the life of prayer because they “cannot meditate” should examine, not their capacity for meditation, but their capacity for suffering and love. For there is a hard and costly element, a deep seriousness, a crucial choice, in all genuine religion.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The School of Charity, New York: Longmans, Green, 1934, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1991, p. 54
(see the book; see also Ps. 119:47-48; Matt. 16:24,25; Col. 3:16-17; more at Choices, Love, Meditation, Prayer, Religion, Suffer)
Friday, June 16, 2023 Feast of Richard of Chichester, Bishop, 1253 Commemoration of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham, Moral Philosopher, 1752
Thanks be to thee,My Lord Jesus Christ,for all the benefits which Thou hast given us;for all the pains and insults which Thou hast borne for us.O most merciful redeemer,friend and brother,may we know thee more clearly,love Thee more dearly,and follow Thee more nearly;For Thine own sake.
... St. Richard of Chichester (1197-1253), attributed
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 4:15-16; Mark 12:30; Luke 11:3; John 15:15; 20:17; Gal. 4:6; more at Christ, Friend, Jesus, Knowing God, Love, Pain, Prayers, Redemption)
Saturday, June 17, 2023 Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936
If we believe that the Christian faith is written into the structure of reality, as well as in the pages of Scripture, then we will not only allow men to think freely but will urge them to do so. For the facts, wherever discovered, will bring men out to the same place—at the fact of Christ.
... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), The Christ of the American Road, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944, p. 91
(see the book; see also 1 Thess. 5:21; Ps. 19:1-4; 34:8; 119:103; Eccl. 7:29; 8:16-17; Luke 12:57; Rom. 1:18-22; 2 Cor. 13:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:2-3; 1 John 4:1-2; more at Assurance, Christ, Knowledge, Loneliness, Man)
Sunday, June 18, 2023
No one but God has the right and the power to contradict my devotion to God. “Who are you?” is Paul’s trembling question. It is the same as Moses’ question at the burning bush: “What is your name?” The answer, “I am Jesus,” means that from henceforth Saul knows Jesus as simply and absolutely Lord.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Foolishness to the Greeks: the Gospel and Western culture, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1986, p. 5
(see the book; see also Acts 9:3-8; Ex. 3:13-14; Acts 26:9,14-18; Rom. 10:9; more at Devotion, God, Jesus, Power, Question)
Monday, June 19, 2023 Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929
To pray does not imply that without prayer God would not give us anything or that He would be unaware of our needs, but it has this great advantage, that in the attitude of prayer the soul is best fitted to receive the Giver of blessing as well as those blessings He desires to bestow... Thus it was that the fullness of the Spirit was not poured out upon the Apostles on the first day, but after ten days of special preparation.
... Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), At the Master’s Feet, Fleming H. Revell, 1922, p. 46
(see the book; see also Acts 1:13-14; Matt. 6:6-8; Acts 2:1-4; 1 Thess. 5:17; Heb. 4:16; Rev. 4:8; more at Attitudes, Blessing, Giving, God, Holy Spirit, Prayer)
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
We read not that Christ ever exercised force but once; and that was to drive profane ones out of his Temple, not to force them in.
... John Milton (1608-1674), “A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes” [1659], in Prose Works, London: Westley and Davis, 1835, p. 421
(see the book; see also John 2:14-17; Ps. 69:9; Jer. 7:11; Zech. 4:6; Matt. 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46; 2 Cor. 10:4; more at Christ, Church, Jesus, Profane, Temple)
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
The primary truth about our church membership is not that we are members of a particular congregation, but that we have been born into this new race of human beings, the Christian race, which is made up of people out of every nation and tribe and class. Further, each local church is a church only in so far as it is the expression, in a particular place, of this new race that has come into the world through Jesus Christ. It is the mighty acts of God in Christ that are the guarantee of our fellowship in the Church.
... Ambrose Reeves (1899-1980), Bishop of Johannesburg [1956]Church and Race in South Africa, David M. Paton, London: SCM Press, 1958, p. 31
(see the book; see also 1 Pet. 2:10; Eze. 11:19; 36:26; Hos. 1:9-10; John 3:3,5; Rom. 9:25-26; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:10; more at Christ, Church, Congregation, Fellowship, Jesus, Nation, People, Truth, World)
Thursday, June 22, 2023 Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209
The fundamental doctrines of our evangelical belief are... the full inspiration and ruling authority of Holy Scripture, with its consequences, the Divinity of Christ, the finality of His Atonement, and salvation through faith alone. These basic truths should be studied as set forth in the New Testament, that they may be asserted or defended whenever occasion requires. If this be done in a humble and Christian spirit, we shall in the long run be promoting the cause of Christian unity, which must ultimately find its basis in the truth which God has revealed.
... G. T. Manley (1872?-1961?), Christian Unity, London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1945, p. 74
(see the book; see also Rom. 10:8-11; John 3:16-17; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:15-16; Jude 1:3; more at Atonement, Belief, Church, Faith, Inspiration, Revelation, Salvation, Scripture, Truth, Unity)
Friday, June 23, 2023 Feast of Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, c.678
In the kingdom of God there are no other tasks than those of the present.
... Karl Barth (1886-1968), from “Be Not Anxious!”, in Come Holy Spirit: Sermons, New York: Round Table Press, 1933, reprint, Mowbrays, 1978, p. 99
(see the book; see also Matt. 5:23-24; Ps. 37:5; Matt. 6:25,34; 8:21-22; 19:21; Luke 9:23; 12:11-12,22; John 5:8-11; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 13:5-6; 1 Pet. 5:7; more at Kingdom, Task, Time)
Saturday, June 24, 2023 Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist
Complain as little as possible of your wrongs, for, as a general rule you may be sure that complaining is sin: [because] self-love always magnifies our injuries.
... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, III.iii, p. 139
(see the book; see also Phil. 2:14-16; Rom. 4:2; Gal. 6:2; Phil. 2:4; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; Philemon 1:18; Jas. 5:9; 1 Pet. 2:12,20; 1 John 3:17; more at Affliction, Complaint, Selfish, Sin)
Sunday, June 25, 2023
The Gospel leaves men, unless upon extraordinary occasions, their names, their reputations, their wealth and honours, if lawfully obtained and possessed; but the league that is between the mind and these things in all natural men must be broken. They must be no longer looked upon as the chiefest good, or in the place thereof.
... John Owen (1616-1683), III.4 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 277
(see the book; see also Tit. 2:11-14; Isa. 33:6; Matt. 6:19-21; Luke 12:33-34; 16:13; 2 Cor. 4:18; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:1-5; 1 Pet. 4:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; more at Goodness, Gospel, Honor, Man, Possession, Wealth)
Monday, June 26, 2023
A Soul is a very precious thing, and that if Jesus thought it worth so infinite a price, we can scarcely estimate it too highly, or shrink from proving our belief in its value, by co-operating with Him for its salvation. Look at the Cross, if you would learn the true value of a soul, your own soul, the soul of each human being for whom you can do somewhat; measure and weigh your life, your sufferings, your joys, your hopes, by that standard.
... Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803), The Hidden Life of the Soul, London: Rivingtons, 1870, p. 238-239
(see the book; see also Matt. 18:12-14; John 13:35; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 4:1-3; Jas. 2:15-16; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:14,18-20; more at Belief, Cross, Hope, Infinite, Jesus, Joy, Life, Salvation, Soul, Truth)
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
How did Jesus show his authority? Not by making vast claims for himself, though such claims were implicit. His authority seemed to reside in what he was and what he did rather than in what he specifically claimed to be. Especially in Mark’s Gospel there is an elusive quality about his authority, the mystery of the hidden Messiah. His authority was at the same time most deeply hidden and most clearly expressed by his servanthood... The more the Church in its life shows forth the character of the Servant, the more will its teaching bear the marks of the authority of the Servant.
... Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991), The Church of the Servant, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 113
(see the book; see also Matt. 20:25-28; Isa. 53:2-12; Matt. 7:28-29; Mark 9:35; 10:42-45; Luke 14:11; 22:25-27; John 13:13-16; Phil. 2:5-8; more at Church, Jesus, Service, Teach)
Wednesday, June 28, 2023 Feast of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher, Martyr, c.200
It was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God.
... Irenaeus (c.130-c.200), from Adversus Haereses, The Writings of Irenaeus, v. I, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1868, III.xix.2, p. 345
(see the book; see also John 1:12-14; 20:17; Rom. 8:13-14; 9:8; Gal. 3:26; 4:4-7; Eph. 1:4-6; 2:19-20; Heb. 2:10; 1 John 4:4; more at God, Man, Purpose, Son)
Thursday, June 29, 2023 Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles
We must see that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, as happens when we foolishly impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far more than either of these kinds of ignorance, we must hate and shun that presumption which would lead us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that they are not of ourselves but of God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honor due unto Him.
... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), On Loving God, CCEL, ch. 2, p. 6
(see the book; see also Rom. 12:3; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 18:1-4; Luke 11:43; 18:10-14; 1 Cor. 4:7; Gal. 6:3; Eph. 4:7; Phil. 2:3-4; Col. 2:13-14; 1 Pet. 5:5; more at Attitudes, Folly, God, Goodness, Honor, Ignorance, Knowledge, Thought)
Friday, June 30, 2023
I believe that there is nothing good for me or for any man but God, and more and more of God, and that alone through knowing Christ can we come nigh to him.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Justice”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 154
(see the book; see also Ps. 36:8-9; 42:1-2; 63:1-2; 84:2; 143:6; Isa. 26:9; Jer. 17:13; John 4:13-14; 7:37-38; 14:9; Rev. 21:6; 22:1; more at Christ, God, Goodness, Knowing God)
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