It is not the style of clothes one wears,
neither the kind of automobile one drives,
nor the amount of money one has in the bank,
that counts.
These mean nothing.
It is simply service that measures success.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
When Persecution Threatens
Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth,
for I have put my hope in your laws.
Psalm 119:43
It is well known that men do, when persecution
threatens, either altogether deny the truth, or
weakly and lukewarmly confess it; but lest this
should happen to him,
David therefore prays here,
” O Lord, take not the word of truth utterly out
of my mouth,” i.e., make me, with an intrepid
spirit, always to confess the avowed truth boldly
and manfully.
Solomon Gesner (1559-1665)
from studylight.org commentaries
Life of the Soul
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise renews my life.
Psalm 119: 50
“Thy word hath quickened me.”
It is a reviving comfort which quickeneth the soul.
Many times we seem to be dead to all spiritual operations,
our affections are damped and discouraged; but the word of
God puts life into the dead, and relieveth us in our greatest distresses.
Sorrow worketh death, but joy is the life of the
soul. Now, when dead in all sense and feeling, ” the just shall
live by faith” (Hab.ii:4), and the hope wrought in us by the
Scriptures is “a lively hope” (1Peter.i:3). Other things skin
the wound, but our sore breaketh out again, and runneth;
faith penetrateth into the inwards of a man,
doth good for the heart; and the soul reviveth
by waiting upon God, and gets life and strength.
-Thomas Manton (1620-1677)
The Treasury of David Classic Reflections of the Wisdom of the Psalms
by Charles H. Spurgeon p.245
They Shall Reign With Him
… you see the sinless Son of God bearing the sin, and,
by consequence, the condemnation of his people. And
in that wondrous spectacle, you see brought to the
bar of Infinite Justice – tried, sentenced, and condemned,
in the person of their surety – all those who are in
Christ Jesus.
In Christ they were chosen – to Christ
they were betrothed – with Christ they were united –
by Christ they are saved, – and, sitting with Christ
on his throne, they shall reign with him for ever and
ever.
From No condemnation In Christ Jesus by Octavius Winslow (1808-1878)
p 8,9 First Banner of Truth edition 1991
Window To The Soul
“
The eyes are the window to your soul.”
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Matthew 6:22, 23
“The light of the body … – The sentiment stated in the preceding verses –
the duty of fixing the affections on heavenly things – Jesus proceeds to illustrate by a reference to the “eye.”
When the eye is directed steadily toward an object, and is in health, or is single, everything is clear and plain.
If it vibrates, flies to different objects, is fixed on no one singly, or is diseased, nothing is seen clearly.
Everything is dim and confused. The man, therefore, is unsteady. The eye regulates the motion of the body. To have an object
distinctly in view is necessary in order to correct and regulate action.
Rope-dancers, that they may steady themselves, fix the eye on some object on the wall, and look steadily at that.
If they should look down on the rope or the people, they might become dizzy and fall. A man crossing a stream on a log, if he will look
across at some object steadily, will be in little danger. If he looks down on the dashing and rolling waters, he will become dizzy, and fall.
So Jesus says, in order that the conduct may be right, it is important to fix the affections on heaven.
Having the affections there – having the eye of faith single, steady, unwavering – all the conduct will be correspondent.”
Albert Barnes (1798-1870)
Barnes, Albert. “Commentary on Matthew 6:22”. “Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible”.
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/matthew-6.html. 1870.
All The Real Light
All that we spiritually know of ourselves,
all that we know of God, and of Jesus, and
his Word, we owe to the teaching of the
Holy Spirit; all the real light, sanctification,
strength and comfort we are made to possess on
our way to glory, we must ascribe to him.
Leamington, May, 1840
from the preface of “The Work of the Holy Spirit” by Octavius Winslow
“To be glad instruments of God’s love in this imperfect world is the serviceA Large Place
“He brought me forth also into a large place;
he delivered me because he delighted in me.”
Psalm 18:19
And what is this “large place”? What can it be
but God Himself, that infinite Being in whom
all other beings and all other streams of life terminate?
God is a large place indeed. And it was through
humiliation, through abasement,
through nothingness that David was brought into it.
Madame Guyon (1648-1717)