Commemoration of Margery Kempe, Mystic, after 1433 The blessed and inviting truth is that God is the most winsome read more

Commemoration of Margery Kempe, Mystic, after 1433 The blessed and inviting truth is that God is the most winsome of all beings and in our worship of Him we should find unspeakable pleasure.

Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.

Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles It has been observed that nowhere does Scripture attempt a read more

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles It has been observed that nowhere does Scripture attempt a deductive argument for the existence of God, like those of Thomas Aquinas, for example. This fact ought not to be taken to imply, however, that such an effort is unjustifiable and necessarily useless. The distinctiveness of the Biblical approach is its immediacy. The theistic proofs for God's existence constitute a laborious, painstaking, and patient justification of theism. They attempt to set forth in rational argument what the soul grasps intuitively. But for the Bible, the deepest proof of God's existence is just life itself. The knowledge of God and man's knowledge of himself are closely intertwined. If only God could be written off neatly and cleanly, how simple things would be! But the hound of heaven pads after us all. He does not let us go. There is no escaping him...; when least expected, he closes in. The explanation for this is man's creation in the image of God. His identity is known theologically, in relation to the God who as a man in his true significance cannot survive permanently in isolation from his Maker. Without God, man is the chance product of unthinking fate, and so of little worth. The current loss of identity and the emergence of the faceless man in today's culture are testimony to the effects of losing our God. The knowledge of God is given in the same movement in which we know ourselves.

Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893 The Bible is like a telescope. If a read more

Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spiritual writer, 1893 The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond.

He had no qualms; "for", said he, "when I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, 'I am read more

He had no qualms; "for", said he, "when I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, 'I am used to do so; I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself'. If I fail not, then I give God thanks, acknowledging that the strength comes from Him.".

Commemoration of Amy Carmichael, Founder of the Dohnavour Fellowship, 1951 How often we look upon God as our read more

Commemoration of Amy Carmichael, Founder of the Dohnavour Fellowship, 1951 How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397 To the good man to die is gain. The foolish read more

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397 To the good man to die is gain. The foolish fear death as the greatest of evils, the wise desire it as a rest after labors and the end of ills.

Christ came... in a purpose, ... to manifest himself in the Christian Religion, to all the nations of the world; read more

Christ came... in a purpose, ... to manifest himself in the Christian Religion, to all the nations of the world; and therefore, says David, The Lord reigneth, let the Islands rejoice -- the Islands who by reason of their situation, provision, and trading have most means of conveying Christ Jesus over the world. He hath carried us up to heaven & set us at the right hand of God, & shall not we endeavour to carry him to those nations, who have not yet heard of his name? Shall we still brag that we have brought our clothes, and our hatchets, and our knives, and bread to this and this value and estimation amongst those poor ignorant Souls, and shall we never glory that we have brought the name, and Religion of Christ Jesus in estimation amongst them? Shall we stay till other nations have planted a false Christ among them? And then either continue in our sloth, or take more pains in rooting out a false Christ than would have planted the true?

Continuing a series on the person of Jesus: It was only in the light of Easter that the disciples read more

Continuing a series on the person of Jesus: It was only in the light of Easter that the disciples understood Jesus' work and intention; they now realized that the Messiah had to undergo rejection and suffering, that he was to conquer not Rome but death and evil. We have no reason to mistrust the New Testament assurance. The Easter message and the historical Jesus are joined by a bridge resting on many piers. Jesus proclaimed the good news of the presence of God who, like a forgiving father, seeks his lost children and grants even sinners the company of the Redeemer; the disciples preached the Gospel of Christ, who appeared as saviour and died on the cross for sinners. In the Holy Spirit Jesus drove out unclean spirits and conquered Satan; from Easter onwards he was extolled as the Lord of all spirits, who gives the Holy Spirit to believers and in him is ever present with them.