by J.C. Ryle
Excerpt From “Holiness – It’s Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties And Roots”
Of course, I need not tell anyone who reads his Bible with attention, that a man may break God’s law in heart and thought, when there is no overt and visible act of wickedness. Our Lord has settled that point beyond dispute in the sermon on the mount (Mar 5:21-28). Even a poet of our own has truly said, ‘A man may smile and smile, and be a villain.’
by J.C. Ryle
by Vance Havner
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. John 17:15
How often have parents wished that they might keep their children pure and innocent, and how much they have dreaded what this wicked world might do to them. Saints in the Middle Ages tried to escape from the world to pursuer a holy life in some secluded retreat. But we are not kept from evil that way. The defense must be from within. Indeed, we must shun every worldly force and influence that lowers our resistance to sin, but we have to live in this world, though we are not of it, and we can be kept from evil in the midst of it. We cannot run from this present world nor hide in a cave from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife. We have to make our way through it all, but we can be kept by the power of God.
The boat can be in the water without the water being in the boat. Lord, do not take us out of the world, take us through!
by Vance Havner
