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Wednesday 22 June 2011

One act of thanksgiving when things go wrong with us is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclination.- John Jewell

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; and the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say not to oneself.- Abraham Joshua Heschel

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Being a Christian depends on a certain inner relatedness to
the living Christ. Through this relatedness all other
relationships of man--to God, to himself, to other people--are
transformed.-Stephen Neill (1900-1984), The Difference in Being a Christian, New York: Association Press, 1955, p. 11

Forgiven souls are HUMBLE. They cannot forget that they owe all they have and hope for to free grace, and this keeps them lowly. They are brands plucked from the fire—debtors who could not pay for themselves—captives who must have remained in prison forever—but for undeserved mercy—wandering sheep who were ready to perish when the Shepherd found them! What right then have they to be proud? I do not deny that there are proud saints. But this I do say—they are of all God's creatures the most inconsistent, and of all God's children the most likely to stumble and pierce themselves with many sorrows. We have nothing we can call our own--but sin and weakness. Surely there is no garment that befits us so well, as humility.
~ J.C. Ryle, Old Paths, “Forgiveness”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 201.

Monday 20 June 2011

Every Christian must refer "always and everywhere" to the Scriptures for all his choices, becoming "like a child" before it, seeking in it the most effective remedy against all his various weaknesses, and not daring to take a step without being illuminated by the divine rays of those words.-John Paul II

I bear my testimony that there is no joy to be found in all this world like that of sweet communion with Christ. I would barter all else there is of heaven for that. Indeed, that is heaven. As for the harps of gold and the streets like clear glass and the songs of seraphs and the shouts of the redeemed, one could very well give all these up, counting them as a drop in a bucket, if we might forever live in fellowship and communion with Jesus.-C.H. Spurgeon

Sunday 19 June 2011

The Church exists, and does not depend for its existence
upon our definition of it: it exists wherever God in His
sovereign freedom calls it into being by calling his own into
the fellowship of His Son.
And the Church exists solely by His mercy. God shuts up and
will shut up every way except the way of faith which simply
accepts His mercy as mercy. To that end, He is free to break
off unbelieving branches, to graft in wild slips, and to call
"No people" His people. And if, at the end, those who have
preserved through all the centuries the visible "marks" of the
Church find themselves at the same board with some strange and
uncouth late-comers on the ecclesiastical scene, may we not
fancy that they will hear Him say--would it not be so like him
to say--"It is my will to give unto these last even as unto
thee?" Final judgment belongs to God, and we have to beware of
judging before the time. I think that if we refuse fellowship
in Christ to any body of men and women who accept Jesus as Lord
and show the fruits of His Spirit in their corporate life, we
do so at our peril. It behooves us, therefore, to receive one
another as Christ has received us.-Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God, London, SCM Press, 1953, New York: Friendship Press,
1954, p. 150

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Saturday 18 June 2011

Fear will always knock on your door. Just don't invite it in for dinner. And for heaven's sake, don't offer it a bed for the night.- Max Lucado

The love of our neighbour is the only door out of the dungeon of self.- George MacDonald

Friday 17 June 2011

As a wise, skilled pharmacist mixes medicine, our heavenly Father wisely mixes exactly the right measure of bitter things and sweet, to do us good. Too much joy would intoxicate us. Too much misery would drive us to despair. Too much sorrow would crush us. Too much suffering would break our spirits. Too much pleasure would ruin us. Too much defeat would discourage us. Too much success would puff us up. Too much failure would keep us from doing anything. Too much criticism would harden us. Too much praise would exalt us. Our great God knows exactly what we need. His Providence is wisely designed and sovereignly sent for our good!-Don Fortner

God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life, that I may burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.-Jim Elliot

Thursday 16 June 2011

The older I get the better I used to be!- Lee Trevino

A knowledge of the will of God is relative to one's desire to do the will of God. God does not reveal His will to those who are not gladly committed to it. A commission from God is relative to our commitment to God. Commitment is prerequisite to commission. There is no substitute for the bent knee, the surrendered heart, the open Bible, the listening ear and the voice of the Spirit in discovering the will of God.-Don Hillis

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person..- Mark Twain, 1835 - 1910

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect..- Mark Twain, 1835 - 1910

It is not what a man knows, but what he thinks of in time.- Mark Twain, 1835 - 1910

Let us all be on our guard against the love of money. The world is full of it in our days. The plague is abroad. Thousands who would abhor the idea of worshiping Juggernaut, are not ashamed to make an idol of gold. We are all liable to the infection, from the least to the greatest. We may love money without having it, just as we may have money without loving it. It is an evil that works very deceitfully. It carries us captives before we are aware of our chains. Once let it get the mastery, and it will harden, paralyze, scorch, freeze, blight, and wither our souls. It overthrew an apostle of Christ. Let us take heed that it does not overthrow us. One leak may sink a ship. One unmortified sin may ruin a soul.-J.C. Ryle
Commentary, Matthew 26

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--limited
and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--He had the
honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He
is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and
played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not
exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of
human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life
and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to
the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and
death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in
poverty and died in disgrace and thought it was well
worthwhile.-Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, Eerdmans, 1969, p. 14

Monday 13 June 2011

Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.- John Petit-Senn, 1792 - 1870

It is only by fidelity in little things that the grace of
true love to God can be sustained, and distinguished from a
passing fervor of spirit...No one can well believe that our piety is sincere, when our behavior is lax and irregular in its little details. What probability is there that we should not hesitate to make the
greatest sacrifices, when we shrink from the smallest?-Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fenelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 160

Saturday 11 June 2011

Love is the grand secret of true obedience to God. When we feel towards Him as children feel towards a dear father, we shall delight to do His will. We shall not find His commandments grievous, and work for Him like slaves under fear of the lash. We shall take pleasure in trying to keep His laws, and mourn when we transgress them. None work so well as those who work out of love. The fear of punishment, or the desire of reward, are principles of far less power. They do the will of God best, who do it from the heart.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 293

Whenever we call God the Creator of heaven and earth, let
us at the same time reflect, that the dispensation of all those
things which he has made is in his own power, and that we are
his children, whom he has received into his charge and custody,
to be supported and educated; so that we may expect every
blessing from him alone, and cherish a certain hope that he
will never suffer us to want those things which are necessary
to our well-being, that our hope may depend on no other; that,
whatever we need or desire, our prayers may be directed to him,
and that, from whatever quarter we receive any advantage, we
may acknowledge it to be his benefit, and confess it with
thanksgiving; that, being allured with such great sweetness of
goodness and beneficence, we may study to love and worship him
with all our hearts.- John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen,Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.xiv.22, p. 170

Friday 10 June 2011

Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar. :- William Wordsworth, 1770 - 1850

The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:- William Wordsworth, 1770 - 1850

Confession of Christ is a matter of great importance. Let this never be forgotten by true Christians. The work that we can do for our blessed Master is little and poor. Our best endeavors to glorify Him are weak and full of imperfections. Our prayers and praises are sadly defective. Our knowledge and love are miserably small. But do we feel within that Christ has healed our souls? Then can we not confess Christ before people? Can we not plainly tell others that Christ has done everything for us--that we were dying of a deadly disease, and were cured--that we were lost, and are now found, that we were blind, and now see? Let us do this boldly, and not be afraid. Let us not be ashamed to let all people know what Jesus has done for our souls.~ J.C. Ryle,Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 282, 283. {Luke 8: 41-48}