Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from December 11, 1987

Be born in us today

If Jesus were born one thousand times in Bethlehem and not in me, then I would still be lost.

—Corrie Ten Boom in Each New Day

When small things are big

The day of small things can become the life of biggest and best things. A small word spoken at the right time may set a whole life straight. A gentle smile may brighten the way for the man with a heavy load. The small bit of time with the Book and the knee bent will hallow the day’s task. The still, small voice listened to may turn the world’s tide. The small in God’s hand becomes big.

—A. J. Gordon in The Bent-Knee Time

Holy gift exchange

Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man—His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God—when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.

—Vance Havner in The Vance Havner Quote Book

What other deadly sins?

Perhaps the bitterest commentary on the way in which Christian doctrine has been taught in the last few centuries is the fact that to the majority of people the word immorality has come to mean one thing and one thing only.… A man may be greedy and selfish; spiteful, cruel, jealous, and unjust; violent and brutal; grasping, unscrupulous, and a liar; stubborn and arrogant; stupid, morose, and dead to every noble instinct—and still we are ready to say of him that he is not an immoral man. I am reminded of a young man who once said to me with perfect simplicity: “I did not know there were seven deadly sins; please tell me the names of the other six.”

—Dorothy Sayers in The Whimsical Christian

Everyone matters

Men and women no longer take exercise in sport as they used to. Instead, people tend to sit in crowds and just watch other people play. There was a time when people provided their own pleasure but now the radio and television provide their entertainment and pleasure for them. And I fear that the tendency is even manifesting itself in the Christian Church. More and more we see evidence that people are just sitting back in crowds while one or two people are expected to be doing everything. Now that, of course, is a complete denial of the New Testament doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ, where every single member has responsibility, and has a function, and matters.

—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Revival

The danger of “life”

Christians must be careful that the fad for “liteness” does not affect their spirituality.

—Fr. Henry Fehren in U.S. Catholic (Nov. 1986)

Those darned mosquito bites

It is easy to trust in God when we have not to hunt for money, but immediately the penny that is not there looms large, we allow the mosquito of worry to irritate our whole life from rest in God.

—Oswald Chambers in Run Today’s Race

As a little child

Children grasp easily the mystery of Christmas, even though that mystery is so deep not even an adult will ever fathom it completely. To understand Christmas, in some ways, we must remain children all the time. We must be like little children—as Jesus said—to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:15). And we must be like truly good children to understand Christmas.

—Pope John Paul II in Draw Near to God

Crossroads

Bishop Walpole, the father of Hugh Walpole, the novelist, once said to a friend who was weighing a [life] call:

“If you are uncertain of which of two paths to take, choose the one on which the shadow of the cross falls.”

—Rupert Hart-Davis in Hugh Walpole, A Biography

Where’s everyone going, anyway?

Hamsters in cages run the rat race. They get in their wheels and run nine thousand miles, but never get anywhere. And it can be like that in the church: endless committee meetings and activities, routines and procedures that we do over and over. They may have value, but have become for us a rat race to the point that we forget the goal.

—Roberta Hestenes, “Renewal Amidst the Darkness,” in The Power to Make Things New

The “yes” of Christmas

I realized that songs, good feelings, beautiful liturgies, nice presents, big dinners, and many sweet words do not make Christmas. Christmas is saying “yes” to something beyond all emotions and feelings. Christmas is saying “yes” to a hope based on God’s initiative, which has nothing to do with what I think or feel. Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God’s work, and not mine.

—Henri Nouwen in New Oxford Review (Nov. 1986)

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