The Eye of Faith: “An idol worshipper once pointed a Christian to his idols and images, and said, ‘Here are my gods, where are yours? Show me them.’ The Christian replied, ‘I cannot show you, my God; not because I have no God to show … but because you have no eyes with which to see Him.’”
A Parting Shot: “Professor (‘Rabbi’) Duncan of New college, Edinburgh, addressing the departing students, is reported to have said; ‘What you need, gentlemen, are the three Gs – Greek, Grace, and Gumption. If you haven’t Greek, you can learn it. If you haven’t Grace, you can pray for it. If you haven’t Gumption, the Lord help you!’”
Not of Flesh: “Lord, I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely chequered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations:
‘Reboam begat Abia;’ that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
‘Abia begat Asa;’ a bad father begat a good son.
‘Asa begat Josaphat;’ a good father begat a good son.
‘Josaphat begat Joram;’ a good father begat a bad son.
I see, Lord, from that, that my father’s piety cannot be transferred; and that is bad news for me. But I also see that actual impiety is not always hereditary; and that is good news for my son.”
Eternal Vigilance: The devil held a great anniversary, at which his emissaries were convened to report the results of their various missions in the world.
I let loose the wild beasts of the desert on a caravan of Christians”, said one, “and their bones are now bleaching on the sands.”
“What of that?” said the devil; “their souls were all saved.”
“I drove the east wind,” said another, “against a ship ladened with Christians, and they are all drowned at the bottom of the sea.”
“What of that?” said the devil; “their souls were all saved.”
“For ten years I tried to lull a single Christian asleep”, said a third, “and at last I succeeded and left him so.”
Then the devil shouted, and all the night stars of hell sang for joy.
(Martin Luther.)