Anger

  • "Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back; in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you."

    Frederick Beuchner

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    Amazing Grace

  • "If I could give you information on my life it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything."

    Florence Nightingale

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    Human weakness

  • "We are too Christian really to enjoy sinning, and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it."

    Peter Marshall

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    Human weakness

  • "Often, actually very often, God allows His greatest servants, those who are far advanced in grace, to make the most humiliating mistakes. This humbles them in their own eyes and in the eyes of their fellowmen. It prevents them from seeing and taking pride in the graces God bestows on them or in the good deeds they do, so that, as the Holy Spirit declares: ‘No flesh should glory in the sight of God.’"

    Louis-Marie Grignion De Montfort

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    Power to overcome sin

  • "The strength for our conquering and our victory is drawn continually from Christ. The Bible does not teach that sin is completely eradicated from Christians in this life, but it does teach that sin shall no longer reign over you. The strength and power of sin have been broken. The Christian now has resources available to live above and beyond this world. The Bible teaches that whosoever is born of God does not practice sin. It is like the little girl who said that when the devil came knocking with a temptation, she just sent Jesus to the door."

    Billy Graham

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    Sharing and Justice

  • "Remember that sharing means more than cutting a piece of cake in two equal slices. It involves your whole attitude toward the other person. Remember all the ways you are equal persons in God’s estimation; then equalize your life to fit His opinion, not that of society around you."

    Pat Gundry

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    Faith

  • "Without weakening in his faith, [Abraham] faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief, regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised."

    Romans 4:19–21

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    Faith

  • "We are establishing an all-time world record in the production of material things. What we lack is a righteous and dynamic faith. Without it, all else avails us little. The lack cannot be compensated for by politicians, however able; or by diplomats, however astute; or by scientists, however inventive; or by bombs, however powerful."

    John Foster Dulles

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    Sin

  • "Sin is first pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed; then the man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to repent. And then he is ruined."

    Bishop Leighton

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    God and His love

  • "God did not make the first human because He needed company, but because He wanted someone to whom He could show His generosity. God did not tell us to follow Him because He needed our help, but because He knew that loving Him would make us whole."

    Irenaeus

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    Virtue

  • "Do little things as if they were great, because of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells in thee; and do great things as if they were little, because of His omnipotence."

    Blaise Pascal

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    Emptiness of pleasure

  • I walked a mile with Pleasure

    She chatted all the way,

    But left me none the wiser

    For all she had to say.

    I walked a mile with Sorrow

    And ne’er a word said she;

    But, oh, the things I learned from her

    When Sorrow walked with me!

    Robert Browning

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    Trust in God

  • O, yet we trust that somehow good

    will be the final goal of ill,

    To pangs of nature, sins of will,

    Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

    That nothing walks with aimless feet;

    That not one life shall be destroy’d

    Or cast as rubbish to the void,

    When God hath made the pile complete;

    That not a worm is cloven in vain;

    That not a moth with vain desire

    Is shrivell’d in a fruitless fire,

    Or but subserves another’s gain.

    Behold, we know not anything;

    I can but trust that good shall fall

    At last—far off—at last, to all,

    And every winter change to spring.

    Alfred Lord Tennyson

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    • Self-denial

  • "Gethsemane teaches us that the kingdom of God is entered only through a denial of one’s own will and the affirmation of the will of God. Therefore, the cross must stand central to an understanding of the kingdom. Since the essence of the kingdom is our obedience to the absolute will of God, we understand it only as we bring our own will to the foot of the cross. No self-will can live unchallenged in God’s kingdom."

    Dennis Corrigan

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    • Miracles

  • "You will hear men say that people ‘in olden times’ believed in miracles ‘because they didn’t know the laws of Nature.’ A moment’s thought shows this to be nonsense. If events were not known to be contrary to the laws of nature how could they suggest the presence of the supernatural? How could they be surprising unless they were seen to be exceptions to the rules? And how can anything be seen to be an exception till the rules are known? If there ever were men who did not know the laws of nature at all, they would have no idea of a miracle and feel no particular interest in one if it were performed. Belief in miracles, far from depending on an ignorance of the laws of nature, is only possible in so far as those laws are known."

    C.S. Lewis

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    • Thanksgiving

  • "If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness and all perfection, he must tell you to make a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. It is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing. If you could work miracles, therefore, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit. It heals and turns all that it touches into happiness."

    William Law

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    • Love and forgiveness

  • Since I dislike you, how can I then fulfill the law of love? Your speech, your ways, your very image in my eye,

    These all revolt me… (and it is little help that I am sure you care no whit the more for me!)

    Thus battle head and heart, the one reverberant with pique,

    The other incandescent in the light of love. But both, I think, must surely be of God, and so an acrid lesson says

    That head must love whom heart insists it cannot like.

    God help me try!

    Samuel J. Miller

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    • Discipleship

  • "Who speaks for God? He does quite nicely for Himself. Through His holy and infallible Word—and the quiet obedience of His servants."

    Chuck Colson

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    • Faith

  • "Therefore with mind entire, faith firm, courage undaunted, love thorough, let us be ready for whatever God wills; faithfully keeping His commandments, having innocence in simplicity, peaceableness in love, modesty in lowliness, diligence in ministering, mercifulness in helping the poor, firmness in standing for truth, and sternness in keeping of discipline."

    Bede the Venerable

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    • Christian dignity

  • "If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or civilization, compared with his, is only a moment."

    C.S. Lewis

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    • Simplicity of God

  • "I don’t say anything to God. I just sit and look at Him and let Him look at me."

    Old Peasant of Ars

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    • Discipleship

  • "Heretics are to be converted by an example of humility and other virtues far more readily than by any external display or verbal battles. So let us arm ourselves with devout prayers and set off showing signs of genuine humility and go barefoot to combat Goliath."

    Dominic

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    • Religion and ritual

  • "What is the essence of religious ritual in the Bible? It is a means of communication between God and man, a drama on a stage watched by human and divine spectators. Old Testament rituals express religious truths visually as opposed to verbally. They are the ancient equivalent of television."

    Gordon J. Wenham

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    • Prayer

  • "Aspire to God with short but frequent outpourings of the heart; admire His bounty; invoke His aid; cast yourself in spirit at the foot of His cross; adore His goodness; treat with Him of your salvation; give Him your whole soul a thousand times a day."

    Francis de Sales

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    • Forgiveness

  • "What could you want that forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, the warmth of sure protection always? Do you want quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that can never be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?

    "All this forgiveness offers you, and more. It sparkles in your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. It soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rests upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace."

    Gerald Jampolsky, M.D.

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    • Love

  • "At last I have found my calling! My calling is love."

    Therese de Lisieux

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    • Love

  • "It is not the Christian man’s part to think in this wise: what have I to do with this fellow?… Remember only those things which Christ hath done for thee, which should be recompensed, not in Himself, but in thy neighbour. Only see of what things he hath need, and what thou art able to do for him. Think this thing only, he is my brother in our Lord, co-heir in Christ, a member of the same body, redeemed with one blood, a fellow in the common faith, called unto the very same grace and felicity of the life to come."

    Erasmus of Rotterdam

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    • Humility of Jesus

  • King Jesus

    why did You choose

    a lowly ass

    to carry You

    to ride in Your parade?

    Had You no friend

    who owned a horse

    —a royal mount with spirit

    fit for a king to ride?

    Why choose an ass

    small unassuming

    beast of burden

    trained to plow

    not carry kings?

    King Jesus

    why did You choose

    me

    a lowly unimportant person

    to bear You

    in my world today?

    I’m poor and unimportant

    trained to work

    not carry kings

    —let alone the King of kings

    and yet You’ve chosen me

    to carry You in triumph

    in this world’s parade.

    King Jesus

    keep me small

    so all may see

    how great You are.

    Keep me humble

    so all may say

    "Blessed is He who cometh

    in the name of the Lord"

    not "what a great ass He rides."

    Joseph Bayly

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    • Women and the Church

  • "Scripture ultimately proves that the Apostle Paul had high regard for the work and ministry of women. Scripture shows that local churches and other Christian ministries should eagerly endeavor to find fulfilling effective ministries for the godly women who serve them. Some of the tragic situations arising out of intense counseling between members of the opposite sex might well be avoided by allowing godly women to exercise their calling to counsel other women.… Many other facets of God’s work often stand or fall on the availability of godly effective women to lead them."

    H. Wayne House

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    • Law

  • "Too often Christians regard the Law merely as a set of legalisms, and they view Jewish people as trying to follow the letter of the Law. On the other hand [they] then proclaim that the New Covenant describes how God works in grace to redeem His people and shower His love on them. In no way should such a compartmentalization exist between the Old and New Testaments. Deuteronomy describes how God blessed Israel and showered His love on them because of His grace and mercy. What the Lord expected from Israel in return was an outpouring of love. While some people misappropriated God’s intentions and developed a legalistic substitute, a remnant in every generation always deeply loved, honored, and served the Lord their God."

    Lewis Goldberg

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    • Confession and sin

  • "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word has no place in our lives. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

    1 John 1:9–2:2

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    • Trust

  • "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

    Proverbs 3:5–6

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    • Sin

  • "The wages of sin is death—thank God I quit before payday."

    Reamer Loomis

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    • Prayer

  • "Most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me, Lord, a correct faith, a certain hope, a perfect charity, sense, and knowledge, so that I may carry out your holy and true command."

    Francis of Assisi

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    • Judging others

  • "Enjoy your life without comparing it with that of others."

    Marques De Condorcet

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    • Mercy of God

  • "God is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them."

    St. Augustine

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    • Communion of Saints

  • "What else do worldlings think we are doing but playing about when we flee what they most desire on earth, and what they flee, we desire? We are like jesters and tumblers who, with heads down and feet in the air draw all eyes to themselves.… Ours is a joyous game, decent, grave, and admirable, delighting the gaze of those who watch from heaven."

    Bernard of Clairvaux

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    • Christian Discipleship

  • "You can measure what you would do for the Lord by what you do."

    T.C. Horton

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    • Mystery of God's work

  • "When God contemplates some great work, He begins it by the hand of some poor, weak, human creature, to whom He afterwards gives aid, so that the enemies who seek to obstruct it are overcome."

    Martin Luther

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    • Holiness

  • "A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine."

    D.L. Moody

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    • Christian Modelling

  • "There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself."

    Abraham Lincoln

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    • Christian Discipleship

  • "We will lie down for such a long time after death that it is worthwhile to keep standing while we are alive. Let us work now; one day we shall rest."

    Agostina Pietrantoni

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    • God's Grace

  • "We should not attach much value to what we have given God, since we shall receive for the little we have bestowed upon Him much more in this life and in the next."

    Theresa of Avila

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    • Lust

  • "Inordinate love of the flesh is cruelty, because under the appearance of pleasing the body we kill the soul."

    Bernard of Clairvaux

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    • Conditioning

  • "There can be no true and faithful learning of Christ when we are not ready to unlearn. By heredity, by education, by tradition, we have established thoughts about life which are often great hindrances to living the truth. To learn of Christ requires a willingness to subject every value we hold to His inspection for criticism and correction."

    Andrew Murray

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    • Happiness

  • "What is the command associated with being given the desires of our heart? ‘Delight yourself.’ The word ‘delight’ means to be soft and pliable. We might say be moldable and teachable. It means more than being happy or excited about God."

    Earl D. Wilson

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