The story has been told of a girl who was the daughter of one of the royal families of Europe, but had a big, bulbous nose that in her eyes destroyed her beauty and resulted in her seeing herself as an ugly person. Finally her family hired a famous plastic surgeon to change the contour … Continue reading “IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST”
HUMILITY, TEST OF
“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is” (Phillips Brooks).699 The Navigators are well known for their emphasis on having a servant attitude. A … Continue reading “HUMILITY, TEST OF”
HUMILITY, KNOWLEDGE AND
“Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocketwatch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked” (Lord Chesterfield, Letters to His Son).698
HUMILITY, DEFINITION OF
Andrew Murray gave a near-perfect definition of humility: Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have … Continue reading “HUMILITY, DEFINITION OF”
HUMANIST MANIFESTO
“Humanism” is a term widely used within the church to describe the prevailing philosophy of today—the world’s mold that Christians have to resist deliberately. But what, specifically, is “humanism”? Probably its clearest definition and most aggressive repudiation of Christianity appears in the Humanist Manifesto II (Sept. 2, 1973), which contains the following basic tenets: We … Continue reading “HUMANIST MANIFESTO”
HOSPITALITY AND MISSIONS
A Chicago businessman called his wife to get her okay for him to bring home a visiting foreigner as a guest for dinner that night. At the time, the wife had three children in school and one preschooler, so there were plenty of important things to do besides entertaining strangers. But she consented and the … Continue reading “HOSPITALITY AND MISSIONS”
HOSPITALITY AND ENTERTAINING
The following differentiation between “hospitality” and “entertaining” was made by Karen Mains in Open Heart, Open Home (Elgin, Ill.: Cook, 1976): Entertaining says, “I want to impress you with my home, my clever decorating, my cooking.” Hospitality, seeking to minister, says, “This home is a gift from my Master. I use it as He desires.” … Continue reading “HOSPITALITY AND ENTERTAINING”
HOSPITALITY AND CHURCHES
Singer John Charles Thomas, at age sixty-six wrote to syndicated columnist Abigail Van Buren: “I am presently completing the second year of a three-year survey on the hospitality or lack of it in churches. To date, of the 195 churches I have visited, I was spoken to in only one by someone other than an … Continue reading “HOSPITALITY AND CHURCHES”
HOPE, FALSE
Probably nothing in the world arouses more false hope than the first four hours of a diet.681
HOME BIBLE STUDIES
It is most significant that whenever spiritual awakenings have occurred throughout the Christian centuries, they have always been accompanied by a restoration of koinonia, of the confession of faults, and the bearing of one another’s burdens. During the Wesleyan awakening in eighteenth-century England, the great evangelist George Whitefield wrote to his converts: “My brethren, let … Continue reading “HOME BIBLE STUDIES”