Tag Archives: Christianity

Do You Know Christ, or Do You Just Know a Lot about Him?

Posted on by under J. C. Ryle

It is well to be acquainted with all the doctrines and principles of Christianity. It is better to be acquainted with Christ Himself. It is well to be familiar with faith, and grace, and justification, and sanctification. They are all matters pertaining to the King. But it is far better to be familiar with Jesus Himself, to see the King’s own face, and to behold His beauty.

J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)

Christ’s Sufferings Are a Rebuke

Posted on by under James Stalker

Christ’s sufferings are a rebuke to our softness and self-pleasing.  It is not, indeed, wrong to enjoy the comforts and the pleasures of life.  God sends these; and, if we receive them with gratitude, they may lift us nearer to Himself.  But we are too terrified to be parted from them and too afraid of pain and poverty.  Especially ought the sufferings of Christ to brace us up to endure whatever of pain or reproach we may have to encounter for His sake.  Many would like to be Christians, but are kept back from decision by demand of the laughter of profane companions or by the prospect of some worldly loss.  But we cannot look at the suffering Saviour without being ashamed of such cowardly fears.  If the crown of thorns no becomes Christ so well as to be the pride and the song of men and of angels, be assured that any twig from that crown which we may have to wear will not one day turn out to be our most dazzling ornament.

James Stalker, The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1966), 64.

People Who Live Close to God

Posted on by under J. I. Packer

People who live close to God are more God-conscious than self conscious, and if you call them godly to their face they are likely to smile, shake their heads, and say how they wish it was true. What they know about themselves has more to do with their weaknesses and sins than with any real or fancied spiritual attainments, and they are reluctant to talk about themselves save as tools in Gods hands, servants whose story only merits notice because it is part of the greater story of how God has exalted himself in this world that denies him honor.

J. I. Packer, A Passion for Faithfulness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1995), 44.

“Whatever Doesn’t Kill Me Will Only Make Me Stronger”

Posted on by under G. Campbell Morgan

What cannot be cured must be endured is paganism. It is wonderful that paganism ever climbed to that height. It is a great attitude, it is heroic up to a certain point, but it is not Christianity. Christianity does not say what cannot be cured must be endured, it says, rather, These things must be endured because they are part of the cure. These things are to be cheerfully borne because they have the strange and mystic power to make whole and strong, and so lead to victory and the final glory. Christianity is never the dour pessimism which submits. Christianity is the cheerful optimism which cooperates with the process, because it sees through suffering and weakness, joy and strength come.

original emphasis, G. Campbell Morgan in Richard Morgan, Howard Morgan & John Morgan, In the Shadow of Grace (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007), 27.