Christian Life

The pleasures of religion – Matthew Henry

The pleasures of religion – Matthew Henry

The pleasures of religion will abide; they wither not in winter, nor tarnish with time, nor doth age wrinkle their beauty; frosts nip them not, nor do storms blast them; they continue through the greatest opposition of events, and despise that time and change, which happens to all things under the sun’ (Ecl 9:1).  Believers, when they are sorrowful, they are but as sorrowful, for they are “always rejoicing” (2 Cor 6:10) and “Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph” (2 Cor 2:14).

– Matthew Henry –
from The Pleasantness of a Religious Life, 1714

Release your grasp on the temporal – Jim Elliot

Release your grasp on the temporal – Jim Elliot

Father, let me loose my clutch on everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of the grasping hand. Open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary, as Christ’s was opened. He thought Heaven, yea, equality with God, not a thing to be clutched at. So let me release my grasp.

– Jim Elliot –

Don’t be lazy in prayer – Martin Luther

Don’t be lazy in prayer – Martin Luther

We must be careful not to break the habit of true prayer and … become lax and lazy, cool and listless toward prayer. The devil who besets us is not lazy or careless, and our flesh is too ready and eager to sin and is disinclined to the spirit of prayer.

– Martin Luther –
from A Simple Way to Pray

The Chief of God’s Promises – Richard Baxter

The Chief of God’s Promises – Richard Baxter

Christ promised His Spirit to all true believers, to be in them as his Advocate, Agent, Seal, and Mark; and indeed the Spirit here, and heaven hereafter, are the chief of His promises.

– Richard Baxter –
from Dying Thoughts, 1683