Ah, there is nothing more beautiful than the difference between the thought about sinful creatures which is natural to a holy being, and the thought about sinful creatures which is natural to a self-righteous being. The one is all contempt; the other, all pity.

Alexander MacLaren

Categorized in : Beautiful Self Differences

Being in Christ, it is safe to forget the past; it is possible to be sure of the future; it is possible to be diligent in the present.

Alexander MacLaren

christian faith god

He who has the Holy Spirit in His heart and the Scripture in his hands has all he needs.

Alexander MacLaren

christian heart hands

Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.

Alexander MacLaren

christian god peace

Do not let the loud utterances of your own wills anticipate, nor drown, the still, small voice in which God speaks. Bridle impatience till He does. If you cannot hear His whisper, wait till you do. Take care of running before you are sent. Keep your wills in equipoise till God's hand gives the impulse and direction.

Alexander MacLaren

voice running hands

The world takes its notions of God from the people who say that they belong to God's family. They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. They see us; they only hear about Jesus Christ.

Alexander MacLaren

people world jesus

If God sends us on stony paths, He will provide us with strong shoes.

Alexander MacLaren

shoes strong path

The Gospel is not a mere message of deliverance, but a canon of conduct; it is not a theology to be accepted, but it is ethics to be lived. It is not to be believed only, but it is to be taken into life as a guide.

Alexander MacLaren

ethics taken messages

No man loveth God except the man who has first learned that God loves him.

Alexander MacLaren

god-love men firsts

The gospel is not speculation but fact. It is truth, because it is the record of a person who is the Truth.

Alexander MacLaren

truth-is records facts

If you want to live in this world, doing the duty of life, knowing the blessings of it, doing your work heartily, and yet not absorbed by it, remember that the one power whereby you can so act is, that all shall be consecrated to Christ, and done for His sake.

Alexander MacLaren

done knowing blessing

It is not my strength that grows, so much as God's strength in me, which is given more abundantly as the days roll. It is so given on one condition. If my faith has laid hold of the infinite, the exhaustless, the immortal energy of God, unless there is something fearfully wrong about me, I shall be getting purer, nobler, wiser, more observant of His will; gentler, like Christ; every way fitter for His service, and for larger service, as the days increase.

Alexander MacLaren

infinite energy way

The apostolic church thought more about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ than about death and heaven. The early Christians were looking, not for a cleft in the ground called a grave but for a cleavage in the sky called Glory.

Alexander MacLaren

apostolic-church christian jesus

The prayer that begins with trustfulness, and passes on into waiting, will always end in thankfulness, triumph, and praise.

Alexander MacLaren

thankfulness prayer waiting

Fruitful and acceptable worship begins before it begins.

Alexander MacLaren

acceptable worship

True peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God and will be deep and passing all understanding in the exact measure in which we live in and partake of the love of God.

Alexander MacLaren

understanding god-love trouble

You must cast yourself on God's gospel with all your weight, without any hanging back, without any doubt, without even the shadow of a suspicion that it will give.

Alexander MacLaren

shadow doubt giving

Transiency is stamped on all our possessions, occupations, and delights. We have the hunger for eternity in our souls, the thought of eternity in our hearts, the destination for eternity written on our inmost being, and the need to ally ourselves with eternity proclaimed by the most short-lived trifles of time. Either these things will be the blessing or the curse of our lives. Which do yon mean that they shall be for you?

Alexander MacLaren

blessing heart mean

He that has his trust set upon God does not need to dread anything except the weakening or the paralyzing of that trust.

Alexander MacLaren

dread doe needs

Only he who can say, 'The Lord is the strength of my life' can go on to say, 'Of whom shall I be afraid?'

Alexander MacLaren

christian-inspirational lord christian

There can be no faith so feeble that Christ does not respond to it.

Alexander MacLaren

faith doe christ