Advice to My 20 Year Old Self

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I think what might have been worthwhile to explain to myself at 20 is to recognize that every single person you meet is struggling. I didn’t know that then. You tend to see other people as completely formed individuals. I still do sometimes. But to recognize that everybody you meet – every single one of them, no matter how expensive their suit is, or how serious their expression is – is looking for significance. They are trying to do the best they can and they fail regularly. They are there within their own particular battle of their own life. So cut them some slack for that. Don’t let them off the hook, but recognize the shared nature of being a human being. Let people be themselves and make some allowances for them, and treat people a little more kindly as a result.

Col. Chris Hadfield
Former Commander of the International Space Station
An Interview: Lessons from an Astronaut
London Real

“Impossible” Forgiveness

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Father, forgive them … (Luke 23:34).

Liberators found the following crumpled among the remains of the Ravensbruck concentration camp:

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of goodwill, but also those of ill will. But do not remember the suffering they have inflicted upon us. Remember the fruits we brought thanks to this suffering – our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness.

This prayer echoes Christ’s prayer. After being wrongly accused, mocked, beaten and humiliated before the people, Jesus was “crucified … along with [two] criminals” (Luke 23:33). Hanging, with mutilated body and gasping for breath, from a rough-hewn cross, I would expect Jesus to pronounce judgment on His tormentors, to seek retribution or divine justice. However, Jesus uttered a prayer contradicting every human impulse: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (:34).

Winn Collier
Our Daily Bread, May 6, 2020
(abridged & edited)
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No Greater Mischief

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No greater mischief can happen to a Christian people, than to have God’s Word taken from them or falsified, so that they no longer have it pure and clear. God grant we and our descendants be not witnesses of such a calamity.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“Of God’s Word”
Table Talk
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Not Seeking a Following

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This author is aware that many will rejoice in these truths while not agreeing in many particulars. Fortunately, the author does not seek a following and would only ask each believer to own the Headship of Christ, and that He alone is sufficient for all things. What is of vital concern is that the glory of Christ be never debased, and that the perfections of His person and the completeness of His work be always honored. Our completeness in Him should be greatly treasured.

Russell H. Schaefer (1919-1999)
“The Mystery” Ministry of Paul
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Readjustment of Understanding

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Until or unless we are graced to observe that these revelations [of the Secret Administration] have no DELAYING effect whatever on the realization of our present hope, the necessary readjustment of understanding may become momentarily painful though there is no valid reason why it should.

Melvin E. Johnson (1897–1979)
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The Real Miracle of December 25th

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The real miracle of December 25^th is not the birth of Christ, but His conception:

It thus appears without the shadow of a doubt that the day assigned to the Birth of the Lord, viz., December 25, was the day on which He was “begotten of the Holy Spirit,” i.e., by pneuma hagion – divine power (Matthew 1:18, 20, marg.), and His birth took place on the 15^th of Ethanim, September 29, in the year following, thus making beautifully clear the meaning of John 1:14, “The Word became flesh” (Matthew 1:18, 20) on the 1^st Tebeth or December 25, “and tabernacled [Gr., eskenosen] with us,” on the 15^th of Ethanim or September 29.

E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913)
The Companion Bible Appendixes (Bible Student’s Press, 2010), Appendix 179, p. 231
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The Real Story of Jesus Christ’s Birth

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Ephesians via Romans

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A believer needs to be fairly well grounded in the doctrinal portions of Romans before approaching the Mystery of Ephesians. … Paul had been charged with introducing innovations, preaching a self-evolved message, of altering laws and customs, and therefore before he defines his gospel he turns aside to declare that it was entirely in harmony with the Old Testament Scriptures, and indeed was the fulfillment of its promises. In Romans 1:17 he picks out one verse from an Old Testament prophet and makes it live for all time: “The just shall live by faith.”

Charles H. Welch (1880-1967)
Ephesians Via Romans
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The Most Precious Thing in All Thinking

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I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.

George MacDonald (1824-1905)
The Pulpit Treasury (1883)
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Where Are the “Lost” Ten Tribes?

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Israel, sometimes called Ephraim, from the principal tribe, was exiled long before Judah (including Benjamin) was deported to Babylon for seventy years, when it returned to the land. The ten tribes were first taken to Assyria, yet they did not return to Palestine. The question is often raised today, where are they now? That they are not all in Assyria is evident from the fact that they, as well as the Jews, will be gathered back from the “land of the north” (Jeremiah 23:8), and from all the kingdoms and nations of the Earth (Jeremiah 24:9; 29:14, 8; 32:37; 46:28). When the two sticks representing the divided kingdom, will be united in the future, the sons of Israel will be gathered from every side, so it is evident that they are scattered like the Jews, all over the earth.

A.E. Knoch (1874-1965)
Unsearchable Riches, Volume 44
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God and His Son Glorified

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Man-made theological attempts to exalt Christ beyond what is specifically revealed in Scripture result in a radical demeaning of the value of His obedience and accomplishments on our behalf. Man, however sincerely, cannot add to Jesus’ greatness by making Him something that Scripture does not. In fact, any attempt to do so significantly subtracts from the greatness of the biblical message. When we let the Word of God speak for itself and allow every piece of the puzzle to fit together without squeezing it to fit our own traditions or preconceived notions, both God and His Son are glorified, reason is satisfied.

Mark H. Graeser; John A. Lynn; John W. Schoenheit
One God and One Lord, pages 368-369
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