Measure your progress by your experience of the love of God and its exercise before men.
Can one serve God and one’s nation in parliament?
The distemper of which, as a community, we are sick, should be considered rather as a moral than a political malady.
Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow lean.
Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties?
It makes no sense to take the name of Christian and not cling to Christ. Jesus is not some magic charm to wear like a piece of jewelry we think will give us good luck. He is the Lord. His name is to be written on our hearts in such a powerful way that it creates within us a profound experience of His peace and a heart that is filled with His praise.
Some might say that one’s faith is a private matter and should not be spoken of so publicly. They might assert this in public, but what do they really think in their hearts? The fact is, those who say such things usually don’t even have a concern for faith in the privacy of their interior lives.
In the calmness of the morning before the mind is heated and weary by the turmoil of the day, you have a season of unusual importance for communing with God and with yourself.
What a difference it would be if our system of morality were based on the Bible instead of the standards devised by cultural Christians.
You can choose to look the other way but never again can you say that you never knew.
Blessed be to God for the day of rest and religious occupation wherein earthly things assume their true size.
I would suggest that faith is everyone’s business. The advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society that it should be of particular interest to a politician.
How can you measure the value of the good news of Christ? It is spoken of in the Bible as light in the darkness, freedom from slavery and life from death. Look at how much the Early Church valued the message. They received it with great joy and overflowing gratitude.
The instructive admonitions, “give an account of thy stewardship,“ – “occupy till I come;” are forgotten. Thus the generous and wakeful spirit of Christian Benevolence, seeking and finding every where occasions for its exercise, is exploded, and a system of decent selfishness is avowedly established in its stead; a system scarcely more to be abjured for its impiety, than to be abhorred for its cold insensibility to the opportunities of diffusing happiness.
Having seen all this you can choose to look the other way, but you can never say again, ‘I did not know.
A good orator can whip a crowd, even a Christian crowd, into a frenzy. This is not the kind of emotion that God desires. When emotion is a response to truth or to a clear comprehension of the nature of God and His goodness to us, then emotion is valuable and appropriate.
Carefully studying the Bible will reveal to us our own ignorance of these things. It will challenge us to reject a superficial understanding of Christianity and impress on us that it is imperative not to simply be religious or moral, but also to master the Bible intellectually, integrate its principles into our lives morally, and put into action what we have learned practically.
What we believe determines how we live. Men who sincerely believed that what they were doing was right have perpetrated many of the most hideous crimes against humanity.
If we seek and keep on seeking, we will find; if we ask and keep on asking, we will receive; if we knock and keep on knocking, the door to truth will be opened. How can we refuse an offer like this?
We are all accountable: Our fallen nature is no excuse. We are responsible: God is not to blame. We stand guilty and deserving judgment. Any other teaching dilutes and refutes the true significance of the cross of Christ.
The problem with this way of thinking is that authentic faith cannot be inherited.