The sovereign God wants to be loved for Himself and honored for Himself, but that is only part of what read more

The sovereign God wants to be loved for Himself and honored for Himself, but that is only part of what He wants. The other part is that He wants us to know that when we have Him we have everything -- we have all the rest.

Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 To pious and peaceable persons [Augustine] gives this advice: read more

Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 To pious and peaceable persons [Augustine] gives this advice: that they should correct in mercy whatever they can; that what they cannot, they should patiently bear, and affectionately lament, till God either reform and correct it, or, at the harvest, root up the tares and sift out the chaff. All pious persons should study to fortify themselves with these counsels, lest, while they consider themselves as valiant and strenuous defenders of righteousness, they depart from the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the only Kingdom of righteousness. For since it is the will of God that the communion of his church should be maintained in this external society, those who, from an aversion of wicked men, destroy the token of that society, enter on a course in which they are in great danger of falling from the communion of the saints. .

Let us pardon those who have wronged us. For that which others scarcely accomplish -- I mean the blotting out read more

Let us pardon those who have wronged us. For that which others scarcely accomplish -- I mean the blotting out of their own sins by means of fasting and lamentations, and prayers, and sackcloth and ashes -- this it is possible for us easily to effect without sackcloth and ashes and fasting, if only we blot out anger from our heart, and with sincerity forgive those who have wronged us.

It does not make a very great difference what side of Christ's work attracts us and appeals to us most; read more

It does not make a very great difference what side of Christ's work attracts us and appeals to us most; doubtless Christ has many ways of drawing men to Himself. One side of Christ's work will appeal most to one mind, another to another. The mistake that is often made by those who speak most about Christian experience is that they are so apt to insist upon everyone else's experience -- on penalty of its utter worthlessness -- being exactly the same as their own. The great thing is that we should be attracted by Christ in some way, that we should come to God in that spirit of penitence which Christ taught was the one condition of acceptance with Him, and with that steady purpose of amendment which is, as he always taught, a part of true penitence.

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary If the Holy Spirit can take over the read more

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary If the Holy Spirit can take over the subconscious with our consent and cooperation, then we have almighty Power working at the basis of our lives, then we can do anything we ought to do, go anywhere we ought to go, and be anything we ought to be. Life is supplied with a basic adequacy... The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions; and the reactions are just as important as the actions. Many Christians are Christians in their actions -- they don't lie, steal, commit adultery, or get drunk; but they react badly to what happens to them: they react in anger, bad temper, self-pity, jealousy, and envy... When the depths are upheld by the Holy Spirit, then the reaction is Christian.

Ascension He has gone away, the Well-Beloved, For our sake! He is risen, the Well-Beloved, For our sake! read more

Ascension He has gone away, the Well-Beloved, For our sake! He is risen, the Well-Beloved, For our sake! He has prayed, the Well-Beloved, For our sake! He has spoken, He has sung, The Word was with God. Praises of the Father, Substance of the Father, The stamp and issue forever, In Love! Word of Love!

To the rich man, Lazarus was part of the landscape. If ever he did notice him, it never struck him read more

To the rich man, Lazarus was part of the landscape. If ever he did notice him, it never struck him that Lazarus had anything to do with him. He was simply unaware of his presence, or, if he was aware of it, he had no sense of responsibility for it... A man may well be condemned, not for doing something, but for doing nothing.

Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944 If Christianity has never frightened us, we have read more

Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944 If Christianity has never frightened us, we have not yet learnt what it is. ... Abp. William Temple November 7, 2001 Feast of Willibrord of York, Archbishop of Utrecht, Apostle of Frisia, 739 The social gospel is not an addendum to the gospel; it is the gospel. If we read the Gospels, it becomes clear that it was not what Jesus said about God that got him into trouble (but) his treatment of men and women, his way of being friendly with outcasts with whom no respectable Jew would have anything to do. It has always been fairly safe to talk about God; it is when we start to talk about men that the trouble starts. And yet the fact remains that there is no conceivable way of proving that we love God other than by loving men. And there is no conceivable way of proving that we love men than by doing something for those who most need help.

The Christian message is not an exhortation -- "try hard to be good." Good advice, but there is no saving read more

The Christian message is not an exhortation -- "try hard to be good." Good advice, but there is no saving gospel in that.