I'm really enjoying the thoughts of William Ellery Channing, so I thought I'd share a piece from his chapter on Self-control. He explains how we differ from animals regarding appetites and how excess can damage us. 

 

 

  In my fifty plus years as a Christian, I've seen many distractions hinder the true work of Christ. I was saved a year before the book, The Late Great Planet Earth came out, and many flooded the seminars, conventions and sat under teachers and pastors as the End Times Theology dominated much of the church's time, money and resources. Then there was the divide between charismatics and non charismatics; and for years some claimed tongues are the sign of the Holy Spirit while others strenuously opposed. The arguing went on; one side decrying the "social gospel" and the other side fiercely promoting old ways and systematic theology. The 80's brought the church front and center in the political arena with the "Silent Majority" spreading the new gospel. The Calvinist and the Armenian continue their divisions, and today we are examining the sheep to see if there fur reveals any "liberal/progressive" wolves hair! 

All the while poor Lazarus sits at our gate, lost, destitute, addicted, wounds gaping while he hungers for just a few crumbs from our table. 

So brethren, "choose your battles wisely because if you fight them all you'll be too tired to win the really important ones." 

FRUIT

This is a famous painting of "FRUIT, MUCH FRUIT."

As we grow in Christ and follow in His footsteps; we too will become like Jesus as He is depicted here ministering in love to the elderly, the sick, the fatherless little girl, the struggling single mother, the widow and abandoned little boy, the man seeking answers for his soul, and the crowds of lost, destitute and forgotten.

 

 

The single most important decision you will ever make will be in dating and choosing a spouse. No where will you meet more wolves (or leopards) in sheep's clothing than when dating.

 

 

 

 

   I posted this on social media because I frequently hear people lament that God doesn't answer their prayers. I believe we all experience hardships in life, and some, without question, are so hard to bear; but each hardship will sensitize our hearts to the needs of others, and our own sorrows help us sympathize with others. Many that have lost their homes because of Covid will, no doubt, never see homeless people the same. God will use our challenges and will not allow any grief to be wasted.  

  What I like about art is it evokes so many emotions; we each react to a picture so differently. When I saw this woman sitting in a completely bare room, with nothing but her body to focus on, I felt like it was a statement boldly saying, "I have value and I'm loved." Certainly she is unashamed even though she is far over weight, but holding her hands over her heart represented to me the feelings of love she has for others, and that she receives from others, outward appearances have no bearing on that. 

 

Wisdom for young men and women

"You will bring with you from your books and solitary reveries a wrong measure of men and things, unless you correct it by careful experience and mixed observation. 

You will raise your standard of character as much too high at first, and from disappointed expectation, it will sink too low afterwards. But you had, after all, better wait and see what things are than try to anticipate the results. You know more of a road by having travelled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world. 

You will find the business of life conducted on a much more varied and individual scale than you would expect. People will be concerned about a thousand things that you have no idea of, and will be utterly indifferent to what you feel the greatest interest in. You will find good and evil, folly and discretion, more mingled, and the shades of character running more into each other than they do in the ethical charts. No one is equally wise or guarded at all points, and it is seldom that any one is quite a fool. 

  Do not be surprised when you go out into the world to find men talk exceedingly well on different subjects who do not derive their information immediately from books. Common sense is not a monopoly, and experience and observation are sources of information open to the common man of the world as well as to the educated student. If you may know more of the outline and principles, he knows more of the details and practice of life. A man may give a singular account of the method of drying teas in China without being a profound chemist. It is the vice of scholars to suppose that there is no knowledge in the world but that of books. If you want to avoid it I urge you and thereby save yourself the pain and mortification that must ensue from finding out your mistake continually."   William Hazlitt.

   "The Queen of Sheba came to King Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart." 1Kings 10:2

If we are truly "walking in the spirit", we too will have others coming to open their hearts to us. We are told to "Examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith", this is a good measuring stick. 

 

   "I have so much silence to say." 

I saw this on a web-site that had many dark posts and it was obvious they suffered a great deal of trauma; and when we have, it's so hard to trust anyone; so this quote of hers is so haunting. May all Christians seek to learn from the mind of Christ, how to unlock the hearts of the hurting. "The fields are ripe and ready to harvest..."

 

A Christian minister should beware of offering interpretations of Scripture which are repugnant to any clear discoveries of reason or dictates of conscience. This admonition is founded upon the very obvious principle, that a revelation of God must be adapted to the rational and moral nature which He has conferred on man; that God can never contradict in His Word what he has Himself written on the human heart, or teaches in His works and providence.

  All those interpretations of the Gospel which strike the mind at once as inconsistent with a righteous government of the universe, which require of man what is disproportioned to his nature, or which shock any clear conviction which our experience has furnished, cannot be viewed with too jealous an eye by him who, revering Christianity, desires to secure to it an intelligent belief.

  I answer too, that all sects of Christians agree, and are forced to agree, in frequently forsaking the literal sense on account of its incongruity with acknowledged truth. 

There is, in fact, no book in the world which requires us more frequently to restrain unlimited expressions, to qualify the letter by the spirit, and to seek the meaning in the state and customs of the writer and of his age, than the New Testament. No book is written in a more popular, figurative, and animated style -- the very style which requires the most constant exercise of judgment in the reader. 

The Scriptures are not a frigid digest of Christianity, as if this religion were a mere code of civil laws. They give us the Gospel warm from the hearts of its preachers. The language is not that of logicians, not the language of retired and inanimate speculation, but of affection, of zeal, of men who burned to convey deep and vivid impressions of truth. In understanding such writers, moral feeling is often a better guide than a servile adherence to the literal and most obvious meaning of every word and phrase. It may be said of the New as well as the Old Testament, that sometimes the letter killeth whilst the spirit gives life. 

Almost any system may be built on the New Testament by a commentator who, forgetting the general scope of Christianity and the lessons of nature and experience, shall impose on every passage the literal signification which is first offed to the mind. The Christian minister should avail himself, in his exposition of the Divine word, of the aids of learning and criticism, and also of he aids of reasons and conscience. Those interpretations of difficult passages which approve themselves to his clear and established conceptions of rectitude, and to his devout and benevolent affections, he should regard with a favorable eye; whilst those of an opposite character should be regarded with mistrust."  

 Why do we preach Christ and to what end?

We preach Christ, says Paul, "warning ever man, and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." 

We should preach that we may make men perfect Christians; perfect, not according to the standard of the world but according to the law of Christ; perfect in heart and in life, in solitude and in society, in the great and in the common concerns of life. Here is the purpose of Christian preaching. 

 It demands that our piety be fervent, our benevolence unbounded, and our thirst for righteousness strong and insatiable. The Gospel enjoins inflexible integrity, fearless sincerity, fortitude which despises pain and tramples pleasure under foot in the pursuit of duty, and an independence of spirit which no scorn can deter and no example seduce from asserting truth and adhering to the cause which conscience approves. With this spirit of martyrs, the Gospel calls us to unite the mildest and meekest virtues; a sympathy which melts over other's woes; a disinterestedness which finds pleasure in toils and labors for other's good; a humility which loves to bless unseen, and forgets itself in the performance of the noblest deeds; a love which counts no service hard, and a penitence which esteems no judgment severe; a gratitude which offers praise even in adversity; a holy trust unbroken by protracted suffering, and a hope triumphant over death. In one word, it enjoins that loving and confiding in Jesus Christ, we make His spotless character, His heavenly life, the model of our own. Such is the greatness of character which the Gospel demands, and such is the end to which our preaching should ever be directed."  W.E.Channing. 

 

"There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand"              

And one of them is - "The way of a man with a maid." 

This reminded me to always stir and rekindle our love, and to rejoice in the wife of our youth and be exhilarated always with her love. 

Pr. 30:18-19, Pr. 5:19  

  

 This is such an insightful quote; learning to listen to what a person does NOT say is so important. Whether it's your spouse, child, family, friend or stranger. It's a key component in consoling the downcast and also evaluating a sermon or teaching. I, for one, when listening to a preacher, listen to hear if he mentions the poor, the downcast and all who have fallen between the cracks; if Jesus found it necessary to stress the importance of the poor and hurting by word and deed, then I find it a necessary that who I choose to sit under recognizes it as well. 

Of course topics on all subjects need to be taught, but even a closing prayer will show a lot. 

 Oh dear soul, I see in God's spotless and beloved Son, to whom His power was peculiarly delegated, and in whom He peculiarly dwelt, giving singular attention to the most fallen and despised men, casting away all outward pomp that He might mingle familiarly with the poor and neglected; when  I see him sitting at the table with the publican and sinner, inviting them to approach Him as a friend, allowing the women whose touch was deemed pollution to bedew his feet with tears; and when  I hear Him in the midst of such a concourse saying, "I have come to seek and to save that which was lost," I have an understanding and conviction of the lenience, the gentleness, kindness and graciousness, of that God whose representative and chosen minister Jesus was, such as not abstract teaching could have given me. 

So take heart isolated one, you've got a friend in Jesus!

Taken from W.E. Channing.   

"but maybe the bible………… is about suffering

maybe it’s the dozens of psalms about weeping and fear of losing God. maybe it’s Jesus being resurrected with scars on his hands and feet, proof of His terrible death. maybe it’s Elijah in the desert, praying to die. maybe it’s Jeremiah, an outcast prophet who cursed the day he was born. maybe its Job, who lost his entire life in one night. maybe it’s the woman who clutched Jesus’ robe, begging for a cure for her chronic illness. maybe it’s Jesus in Gethsemane, praying for God to take this cup from Him.

maybe the purpose of God’s love is not to immediately save us from all our problems. that would be too easy. maybe God just wants to walk through with us, watch us become stronger through our trials, watch us become examples for other people struggling in this broken world."

I read that this morning, what ever one believes, surely this plays a part.

I was shocked, confused, bewildered

As I entered Heaven’s door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights of its decor.

But it was all the folks in Heaven

Who made me sputter and gasp--

The thieves, the liars, the sinners,

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade

Who swiped my lunch money! Twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor

Who never said anything nice.

Jerry, who I always thought

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, ‘What’s the deal?

I would love to hear Your take.

How’d all these sinners got up here?

God must’ve made a mistake!

‘And why’s everyone so quiet,

So somber? — Please give me a clue.’

Hush, child,’ He said, ‘It’s because

They’re all in shock.

No one thought they’d be seeing you.’

Author unknown

 

  Let me propose to you one great but simple question -

What is it that is to be loved in Christ? Why are we to hold him dear? I answer, there is but one ground for virtuous affection in the entire universe, but one object worthy of cherished and enduring love, whether in heaven or on earth, and that is Moral Goodness. 

I make no exceptions. My principle applies to all beings, to the Creator as well as to His creatures. The claim of God to the love of his rational offspring rests on the rectitude and benevolence of His will. It is the moral beauty and grandeur of His character to which alone we are bound to pay homage. The only power which can and ought to be loved is a beneficent and righteous power. The creation is glorious, and binds us to supreme and everlasting love to God, only because it sprung from and shows forth this "energy of goodness"; nor has any being a claim on love any further than this same energy dwells in him and is manifested in him. I know of no exception to this principle. 

I can conceive of no being who can have any claim to affection but what rests on his character, meaning by this the spirit and principles which constitute his mind, and from which he acts; nor do I know but one character which entitles a being to our hearts, and it is that which the Scriptures express by the word Righteousness; which in man is often called Virtue -- in God, Holiness; which consists essentially in supreme reverence for and adoption of what is right; and of which benevolence, or universal charity, is the brightest manifestation." William Ellery Channing.

A way to read the Bible

 "After praying for spiritual light, read a small portion of the passage of Scripture you have opened to. Be careful as you read. Take in fully, gently and carefully what you are reading. Taste it and digest it as you read. 

In the past it may have been your habit to move very quickly from one verse of Scripture to another until you had read the whole passage. Perhaps you were seeking to find the main point of the passage. But try not reading quickly, read very slowly not moving from one passage to another, not until you have sensed the very heart of what you have read. 

You may then want to take that portion of Scripture that has touched you, and turn it into prayer. 

 After you have sensed something of the passage and after you know that the essence of that portion has been extracted and all the deeper sense of it is gone, then, very slowly, gently, and in a calm manner begin to read the next portion of the passage. You will be surprised to find that when your time with the Lord has ended, you will have read very little, probably no more than a half a page."                         Madame Guyon, Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ.

  This young woman, homeless, destitute and traumatized, sits on the streets of Portland unable to help herself, and ignored by all but the predators. She was molested by her father from age four to fifteen, and her older brother began molesting her from age eleven to fifteen; her mother did nothing. She ran away at age 16 and has been on the streets since then, where she was brutally beaten and has been raped twice. She now sits disassociated from from reality, a poor, hopeless orphan. 

Oh God! Send us a man like Job!

 

Why Job you may ask? 

"Because he delivered the poor who cried for help, and the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to commit suicide came on him. He was a father to the needy, and he investigated the case of people like her. And he BROKE the jaws of wicked and snatched the prey from his teeth! Snatching them, as it were, out of the FIRE."

Job 29:12-17, Jude 23

This young woman was photographed by Cedric Hayes on the streets of Portland, and the story of her past is not specific to her, but represents the story I've heard countless times by the homeless, the drug addicted and destitute. 

   "Go to the dark alleys and the darker dwellings of the poor. Go in the spirit of that God to whom the soul of the poor man is as precious as your own. Go in the spirit of Him who for our sakes was poor, and had no where to lay His head. Go in reliance on that omnipotent grace which can raise up the most fallen, cleanse the most polluted, enrich the poorest with more than royal wealth, console the deepest sorrows, and sanctify the sorest trials of life. Go cheerfully, for into the darkest dwelling you carry the light of life. And think not that you alone visit these humble habitations. God is there, -- Christ is there, -- angels are there. Feel their presence; breathe their love; and through your wise, unwearied, effectual labors, may the poor man's dwelling become a consecrated place, the abode of love, "The house of God and the gate of heaven." William Ellery Channing. 

Man, when I read this it made my eyes well up; please Lord, when I see a poor brother struggling under the weight of loss, addiction, homelessness, sorrow or at his worst, let me see Him through your eyes and say, Thats the one I want to help!

 

Are we planting seeds in the desert?

We often hear our job is to plant seeds and another will water and God will give the increase, but when we plant a seed, before we do, we labor to cultivate the soil, to fertilize it and to protect it. When one waters they seek the water and either fetch it, or dig a well or build reservoirs or make irrigation ditches, We labor we are engaged, we are personally involved. We don't walk through the barren soil sticking seeds where there is little or no chance of it growing; does not the parable of the sower teach us so? Evangelism without love is planting in the desert. All the Bible teaches us that, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." Evangelism, in general, is personal, and without love will be in vain.

 

 This photo is so disturbing, so many children today are exposed to books, TV shows and movies that rob them of innocence, condition their tender hearts towards evil and replace purity with evil. 

                                      Guard their hearts!

 

When I saw this beautiful woman, and how she had been disfigured by some person's rage, it immediately reminded me of Christ's stern command to "Seek justice, show mercy and be faithful." The world, religions, races and cultures are in chaos, and more than ever, Christ is the answer! Help me Lord work for you! Disturb me Lord! Let me not live in slumber.

 I like both of these quotes, the top one states what I think is true, and the reaction part, well, that's something we all have to work on. 

The bottom one is also one I like, and I suppose we all like to think we're that way, but some people are very much at ease in crowds and around strangers, that's not me. 

 

  "The only power to oppose evil is love - strong, enduring love -- a  benevolence which no crime or wretchedness can conquer, and which therefore can conquer all. Miserable indeed will your position be if this spirit does not possess you, if a deep sympathy with your suffering fellow-creatures does not compel you, as it were, to seek their homes and identify with them. 

Nothing but Christ's spirit, that which carried Him to His cross, can carry you through your work. Go then, with this love, and it will be mightier than the sword of the magistrate, or the armies of monarchs to conquer evil. This spirit will touch the heart which has hardened itself against all other influences. It will pierce the conscience which is impregnable against the most vehement rebuke. It will say to the reckless transgressor, in the only language he can understand, that he is not an outcast from his race; and it will reveal to the desponding sufferer a love higher than your own, and bring back his lost faith in God. William Ellery Channing. 

   

"Strive, each of you, to bring at least one human being, in the next five years, to the happiness for which God made him. Awaken him to some inward spiritual growth. Strive to raise him above the crushing necessities of the body, by turning him to the great purpose of his being. Show him that the fountain of all happiness is within us, and that this fountain may be opened alike in every soul. Show him what a near union he may form with God; and what a benevolent influence he may exert in his narrow sphere; what heroism may be exercised by sacrificing for others, and how that sacrifice may be turned to glory; and how heaven may begin in the most unprosperous conditions on earth. Surely he who can carry such truths to any human being is charged with a glorious mission, a "Great Commission" from above." William Ellery Channing.  

"If you extract the precious from the worthless, 

you will become my spokesman." Jer. 15:19 

That verse struck me, it reminds me of Romans 8:28

The verse in its entirety says - 

"If you return, then I will restore you --

You will stand before me; 

and if you extract the precious from the worthless,

you will become my spokesman." 

 "We all stumble in many ways", and life can be so harsh for some, words fail to describe; but if we return to the Lord He will reveal the precious soul shaping lessons in even the most tragic circumstances, and those precious things will tune your heart to the needs of others and you will have a message to speak.

 

"The tongue is like a sharp razor." Ps. 52:2

"The tongue is a fire." Ja. 3:6

Which of us has not been betrayed by a lying tongue? Who has not felt loss, anguish and hurt by a deceitful tongue of another, or our own. 

But a soothing tongue, a healing tongue, is a tree of life. Ps. 15:4

 O Lord, may I guard my heart and curb my tongue!

   "This moral, spiritual interest in the poor, we should express and make effectual, by approaching them, by establishing an intercourse with them, as far as consists with other duties. We must live with them, not as another race, but as brethren. Our Christian principles must work a new miracle, it must expel the spirit of caste. The outward distinctions of life must seem to us not "a great gulf" but superficial lines, which the chances of a day may blot out, and which are broad only to the narrow minded."  William Ellery Channing. 

   "Our whole connection with the poor should tend to awaken in them the consciousness of their moral powers and responsibility, and to raise  them in spirit and hope above their circumstances. They should be aided to know themselves, by the estimate we form of them by our love and compassion. They should be rescued from self-contempt by seeing others impressed with the great purpose of their being. We may call the poor unfortunate, but never call them low. If faithful to their light, they stand among the high. They have no superiors, but in those who follow a brighter, purer light; and to withhold from them respect is to defraud their virtue of a support which is among the most sacred rights of mankind. Are they morally fallen and lost? They should still learn, in our unaffected concern, the worth of the fallen soul, and learn that nothings seems to us so fearful as its degradation." William Ellery Channing. 

   "There is no art so divine as that of reaching and quickening other minds. Do not tell me you are unequal to this task. What! you call yourselves educated, and yet lack the power to approach and aid your unimproved (Depressed, grieving, addicted, impoverished, imprisoned, sick and downcast) fellow-creatures? Of what use is education if it does not fit us to receive and give freely in our various social connections? How wasted has been our youth if it has taught us only the dialect and manners of a select class, and not taught us the language of humanity, not taught us to mix with and act on the mass of our fellow-creatures? How far are you raised above the poor, if you cannot comprehend, guide, or sway them? The chief endowment of a social being -- I mean the power of imparting what is true and good in your own souls -- you have yet to learn.                                      You cannot learn it too soon." William Ellery Channing.

 

"Love your neighbor as yourself". 

  "You are not immediately kindled into anger and wrath against yourself, nor do you express it with such violence, though you have often done yourself more injury by your own sins than all other persons ever could do you. You do not bear malice against yourself, nor hate yourself, though you have, perhaps, some evil qualities belonging to you, and are long in patience with yourself and you forgive yourself easily: learn then to be patient and forgiving to your neighbors." Isaac Watts. 

     "To wear away life in unproductive harmlessness, is innocent no more." Martineau. 

   Hunger, thirst, sickness, the refugee and foreigner, those in need of clothing and those imprisoned, are problems we will always have with us. On the great day of judgment, how we responded now will be all that matters then.  Matt. 25:31-46

   These are excerpts from Isaac Watts book about learning how to converse and debate. He's talking about our natural tendency to defend our position. 

 "It is exceedingly hard to dispute without gaining some invisible prejudice and good liking for the opinion we defend. So devoted are we to ourselves, that self love too easily engages our favor to the cause we have espoused, and for no other reason than because we espoused it. Though we may have had no kindness before for an opinion that we maintain for disputing sake, yet if a plausible and smiling argument for it occurs in our hasty thoughts, how prone are we to hug the creature of our brain, and be almost in love with the opinion for the sake of argument and we are insensibly captivated to esteem any thing that proceeds from ourselves. There is a certain wantonness of wit in youth, and a pleasing ambition of victory, which works in a young warm spirit, much stronger than a desire for truth. Upon the first sight of an objection against our arguments, our thoughts are strangely hurried away to ransack the brain for a reply, and we torture our invention to make our side have the last word."