Twentieth-century missionary and writer, E. Stanley Jones, author of the book Conversion, entreats us to imitate our Lord in three vital actions that were habitual in his life. Creating opportunity for God to communicate to us from his Word, speaking with him and hearing his voice through prayer, and sharing what we learn from him […]

Discipline, whether well or poorly applied, can never be the cause of conversion or earn salvation for us. In this quote from Conversion, written by Christian missionary and writer E. Stanley Jones, we learn that surrender must precede our attempt to discipline our lives. While salvation cannot be attained by discipline around an unsurrendered self, […]

Catherine di Giacomo di Benincasa of Sienna, Italy became a Dominican nun at the age of 18. Until her death at the age of 33, Catherine of Sienna lived a life marked by deep devotion to God. In these words from her work The Dialog, she concisely portrays how the things we choose to care […]

John Donne, the seventeenth-century poet, was somewhat of a “renaissance man”. A Roman Catholic who later converted to the Anglican church, was also, among other things, a lawyer, diplomat, traveler and preacher. Such experience seemed to give him a very broad view of life and eternity. In his poem, Hymn to God My God, in […]

In his book, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law encourages the reader to live a life that provides outward proof of an inward truth. Our conversion, he describes, must be evident to all and at all times. If we are to be new people in Christ, then we must show […]

The classic work, The Imitation of Christ, is commonly attributed to Thomas à Kempis, the 15th-century Augustine monk. There are some, however, that believe the work was written by the Dutch missionary preacher Gerhard Groote and edited by Thomas. In either case, the author here describes four actions of self-denial and submission to God’s will […]

John Wesley, in his sermon Christian Perfection, warns us against causing or furthering division in the church. According to him, disunity leads to separation. In this paragraph, Wesley reminds us that our apprehension at the thought of being separated from our brothers and sisters should far outweigh our desire to be proven right in opinions […]

In his volume, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis writes this take on the Apostle Paul’s admonition to “take every thought captive” (2 Cor 10:5). Thomas encourages us to be vigilant and to employ swift countermeasures at the first hint of temptation’s attempt to infiltrate our minds. We will do better in dealing with […]

Fifteenth-century Augustinian monk, Thomas à Kempis, is attributed with writing the classic work, The Imitation of Christ. In this passage the author describes how the temptations we suffer can be an indicator of our spiritual health, specifically the steadiness of our thinking and our trust in God. These words encourage us to recognize this fact […]