Do you think that the work God gives us to do is never easy? Jesus says that His yoke is read more

Do you think that the work God gives us to do is never easy? Jesus says that His yoke is easy, His burden is light. People sometimes refuse to do God's work just because it is easy. This is sometimes because they cannot believe that easy work is His work; but there may be a very bad pride in it... Some, again, accept it with half a heart and do it with half a hand. But however easy any work may be, it can nnot be well done without taking thought about it. And such people, instead of taking thought about their work, generally take thought about the morrow -- in which no work can be done, any more than in yesterday.

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710 To do for yourself the best that you have it in read more

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710 To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do -- to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst -- is by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still. The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own.

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 George Brush, the hero of [Thornton Wilder's] "Heaven's My Destination", read more

Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970 George Brush, the hero of [Thornton Wilder's] "Heaven's My Destination", a textbook salesman and evangelist extraordinary, is the innocent fool, in the kindliest sense of both the noun and the adjective. He is striving to be the fool in Christ, sowing the inevitable amazement, consternation and wrath that must ensue when Christ's fool runs at large among the worldly wise.

No man safely goeth abroad who loveth not to rest at home. No man safely talketh but he who loveth read more

No man safely goeth abroad who loveth not to rest at home. No man safely talketh but he who loveth to hold his peace. No man safely ruleth but he who loveth to be subject. No man safely commandeth but he who loveth to obey.

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.

Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167 Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689 Continuing a read more

Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167 Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689 Continuing a short series on Romans 8: Romans 8:14,16. Ephesians 1:13,14. The Witnessing and Sealing Spirit Why should the children of a king Go mourning all their days? Great Comforter, descend and bring Some tokens of thy grace. Dost though not dwell in all thy saints, And seal the heirs of heaven? When wilt thou banish my complaints, And shew my sins forgiven? Assure my conscience of her part In the Redeemer's blood; And bear thy witness with my heart, That I am born of God. Thou are the earnest of his love, The pledge of joys to come; And thy soft wings, celestial Dove, Will safe convey me home.

"The Bible," we are told sometimes, "gives us such a beautiful picture of what we should be." Nonsense! It gives read more

"The Bible," we are told sometimes, "gives us such a beautiful picture of what we should be." Nonsense! It gives us no picture at all. It reveals to us a fact: it tells us what we really are; it says, This is the form in which God created you, to which He has restored you; this is the work which the Eternal Son, the God of Truth and Love, is continually carrying on within you.

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary We cannot divide either man or the read more

Commemoration of Anne & Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary We cannot divide either man or the universe... into two parts which move on different planes and have no vital relations; we cannot... limit the divine reaction against sin, or the experiences through which, in any case whatever, sin is brought home to man, to the purely spiritual sphere. Every sin is a sin of the indivisible human being, and the divine reaction against it expresses itself to conscience through the indivisible frame of that world, at once natural and spiritual, in which man lives. We cannot distribute evils into the two classes of physical and moral, and subsequently investigate the relation between them: if we could, it would be of no service here. What we have to understand is that when a man sins he does something in which his whole being participates, and that the reaction of God against his sin is a reaction in which he is conscious (or might be conscious) that the whole system of things is in arms against him.

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 (1) God's children ought to walk in constant amazement of read more

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 (1) God's children ought to walk in constant amazement of spirit as to God, His nature, and works. (2) The glorifying of God is the great work of God's children. (3) Delightful privacy with God argues strong affection. (4) Frequent prayer an argument of much of God's Spirit; true prayer is the pouring out of the heart to God; God's children are most in private with God; the prayers of God's people most respect spiritual mercies; God's people wait for and rest in God's answer. (5) God's people are sensible of their unworthiness. (6) God Himself is regarded as the portion of His people. (7) Ready obedience to God. (8) The patience of God's children under God's hand. (9) The mournful confession of God's people. (10) God's people long after God in an open profession of His ordinances. (11) Their hearts are ready and prepared. (12) God's people's sense of their own insufficiencies.