Tuesday, November 30, 2010

When are we happiest?

When are we happiest, then? Oh, when resigned
To Whatsoever our cup of life may brim;
When we can know ourselves but weak and blind,
Creatures of earth! and trust alone in Him
Who gives, in his mercy, joy or pain—
Oh! we are happiest then!'
—M. A. Brown.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

More than we deserve

Reflect, my reader, on the numberless blessings you enjoy, and do not imagine that you have nothing but troubles and misfortunes. We have all more than we deserve from that patient and gracious God, against whom we have so often and grievously sinned. Let us rather study to be content and thankful, and in all our troubles to resign ourselves under his mighty hand, and seek his strength. Reflect withal, that your present trouble is but for a moment; and if you are a Christian, there remains for you a rest, the very prospect of which should induce you to regard all your present crosses as perfectly insignificant.

- from A Treatise on Temper—its Use and Abuse

Monday, November 15, 2010

SUPPOSE

“Suppose,” said I, “that you should see
A small boy tumble from a tree;
How would you tell that tale to me?”

“Why, dad,” said he, “I’d simply say,
I saw a fellow hurt today,
And two men carried him away.”

“How many injured would there be,” I asked?
“Just one, of course,” said he,
“The boy who tumbled from the tree.”

“No, no,” I answered him,
“That fall which hurt the lad brought pain to all,
Who knew and loved that youngster small.”

“His mother wept, his father sighed,
His brothers and sisters cried,
And all his friends were hurt inside.”

“Remember this your whole life through;
Whatever may cause hurt to you
Must hurt us all who love you too.”

“You cannot live your life alone;
We suffer with your slightest groan
And make your pain and grief our own.”

“If you should do one shameful thing,
You would not bear alone the sting;
We’d spend our years in suffering.”

“How many hurt?” We cannot state.
There never falls a blow of fate
But countless people feel its weight.

- Edgar A. Guest

Monday, November 8, 2010

Legalized adultery

“Look at the legalized adultery that we call divorce. Men marry one wife after another and are still admitted into good society; and women do likewise. There are thousands of supposedly respectable men in America living with other men’s wives, and thousands of supposedly respectable women living with other women’s husbands.”  - R. A. Torrey in How to Pray p. 94-95

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. . . .Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.” Mark 10:7-12

“Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.” Luke16:18

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.” Romans 7:2,3

“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 7:39

Monday, November 1, 2010

Loyalty

He may be six kinds of a liar,
He may be ten kinds of a fool,
He may be a wicked high flyer
Beyond any reason or rule;
There may be a shadow above him
Of ruin and woes to impend,
And I may not respect, but I love him,
Because-well, because he’s my friend.

I know he has faults by the billion,
But his faults are a portion of him;
I know that his record’s vermilion,
And he’s far from the sweet Seraphim;
But he’s always been square with yours truly,
Ready to give or to lend,
And if he is wild and unruly,
I like him-because he’s my friend.

I criticize him but I do it
In just a frank, comradely key,
And back-biting gossips will rue it
If ever they knock him to me!
I never make diagrams of him,
No maps of his soul have I penned;
I don’t analyze-I just love him,
Because -well, because he’s my friend.

- Berton Braley


“Duty,” said Robert E. Lee, “is the sublimest word in the English language.” Second to it, I think, may be “Loyalty.” I like the loyalty toward a friend which is symbolized in this poem. However, in the strictest literal reading of the words, it can be taken too far. Loyalty to my supreme Friend, Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour, sometimes demands a separation from friends, grievous as it is, if they go the way of the wicked and un-godly. Yet, so long as it is not disloyalty to Christ to stick loyally by a friend, whatever else he may be - well, he’s my friend.