Our calling is not primarily to be holy women, but to work for God and for others with Him. Our read more

Our calling is not primarily to be holy women, but to work for God and for others with Him. Our holiness is an effect, not a cause; so long as our eyes are on our own personal whiteness as an end in itself, the thing breaks down. God can do nothing while my interest is in my own personal character--He will take care of this if I obey His call. In learning to love God and people as He commanded us to do, obviously your sanctification cannot but come, but not as an end in itself. ... The Notebooks of Florence Allshorn November 13, 2001 Feast of Charles Simeon, Pastor, Teacher, 1836 Repentance is in every view so desirable, so necessary, so suited to honor God, that I seek that above all. The tender heart, the broken and contrite spirit, are to me far above all the joys that I could ever hope for in this vale of tears. I long to be in my proper place, my hand on my mouth, and my mouth in the dust... I feel this to be safe ground. Here I cannot err... I am sure that whatever God may despise... He will not despise the broken and contrite heart.

Feast of Matthias the Apostle In religion, we are not asked to make up our minds, we are asked read more

Feast of Matthias the Apostle In religion, we are not asked to make up our minds, we are asked to make up our lives... We may refuse to make up our minds, but our lives get made up, one way or the other... Whatever we believe with our minds, our lives are committed either to God's way or to the God-denying way, and what matters in religion is the act of commitment.

Faith, if it be a living faith, will be a working faith.

Faith, if it be a living faith, will be a working faith.

Every day is a little life: and our whole life is but a day repeated, whence it is that old read more

Every day is a little life: and our whole life is but a day repeated, whence it is that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic, to number not his years but his days. [And so, those] that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate.

Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love. If I read more

Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love. If I do not love a person I am not moved to help him by proofs that he is in need; if I do love him, I wait for no proof of a special need to urge me to help him. Knowledge of Christ is so rich a treasure that the spirit of love must necessarily desire to impart it. The mere assurance that others have it not is sufficient proof of their need. This spirit of love throws aside intellectual arguments that they can do very well without it. But if this spirit is not present, a man is easily persuaded that to impart a knowledge of Christianity (for it is noteworthy that such men always speak of Christianity rather than of Christ) is not necessary -- nay, is superfluous expense of energy which might be better used in other ways.

The overwhelming recognition of human sin controls the Old Testament and the New Testament alike, and no understanding of our read more

The overwhelming recognition of human sin controls the Old Testament and the New Testament alike, and no understanding of our Lord's words and actions is possible if we persist in denying it.

I implore you in God's name, not to think of Him as hard to please, but rather as generous beyond read more

I implore you in God's name, not to think of Him as hard to please, but rather as generous beyond all that you can ask or think.

Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929 Many people despise those who spend their health, strength read more

Commemoration of Sundar Singh of India, Sadhu, Evangelist, Teacher, 1929 Many people despise those who spend their health, strength and money for the salvation of others, and call them mad. And yet it is they who will save many and be saved themselves.

Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761 Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347 Commemoration of read more

Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761 Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347 Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955 No creature can be a child of God but because the goodness of God is in it; nor can it have any union or communion with the goodness of the Deity till its life is the Spirit of Love. This is the one only band of union betwixt God and the creature... Here the necessity is absolute; nothing will do instead of this will; all contrivances of holiness, all forms of religious piety, signify nothing without this will to all goodness. For as the will to all goodness is the whole nature of God, so it must be the whole nature of every service of religion that can be acceptable to him.