[Rev. E. W. Grigg, M. A., as quoted in the Christchurch Times, New Zealand]

How much value do we put upon character? Would we rather give all the money we possess than think a wrong thought, say an unkind word, or do a mean deed? Would we give all we have to save one person from spiritual ruin and loss? It is only when, moved by his sacrifice for us, we allow Christ Jesus to take full possession of our lives that we gain a true sense of values. Then we shall regard the salvation of the most degraded human personality infinitely more important than the amassing of material wealth. The world needs this new sense of values more than ever today. Men's confidence in material things has been sadly shaken by the world depression, and the church of God has a golden opportunity of leading them back to faith in Him, and to the emphasis upon spiritual rather than material values which Christ Jesus taught.

[From the Evening Democrat, Fort Madison, Iowa]

Living a Christian life is not an experience of passivity. Indeed, it is one of constant activity. An inactive Christian is an impossibility. The moment one becomes inactive he ceases to be a Christian.

The Scriptural admonition is to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only." There is much worthy of careful thought in that command. For to be a "doer" of the word is to be active.

There is much to be included in Christian activity. It is to keep one's attitude right—to keep thinking right about God, man, and creation. To claim to love God but to hate some individual is not true Christian activity. Such a person would be a hearer only. True activity is constantly to strive to exemplify the Christian code—God's law, with all that includes.

It might be assumed Christian activity included active participation in church work, all of which is true. But it includes vastly more than that—it is the constant and daily manifestation of God's law, so earnestly expounded and beautifully exemplified by Christ Jesus during the time of his ministry—that ministry which is the highest expression of the ideal of Christian activity the world has ever seen.

[Rev. James Reid, D.D., in the British Weekly, London, England]

One of the hardest things to combat is the spirit of jealousy. Most of us have had some experience of it. It takes a great soul to rejoice sincerely in the success of another when that success is won at the cost of his own. ...

If we are really seeking God's kingdom and not our own personal success ... there will be no place in our life for pettiness. We shall thank God for anyone whose work advances the kingdom. We shall rejoice in it and only seek to share his secret. There is no room for jealousy where love fills the heart. We never grudge the best to those we truly love. ... Reverence and gratitude should never be allowed to fade out of our hearts. When these go the real joy of life begins to fade. Our hearts become the prey of pride and discontent. What is even worse, we become selfish in our taking and self-indulgent in our using of the gifts of life. ... We have nothing that God does not give us. Let us think of this every day, and a new happiness will come into the common things of life.

But there is something even deeper to be remembered. However much we possess, only what is of God's spirit is real and lasting. It may seem strange, but those who are really being satisfied are not always those who possess the most. We may strive to fill life full of things, and yet our hearts be empty still. The world around us is crowded with unsatisfied people. They are always seeking for more and more, and yet they are hungry still. Life seems futile. They are not finding any real peace or contentment. The reason is that with all they possess they are not finding God. ...

The church in which we work may have the finest equipment and organization. But nothing is really happening if God's spirit is not at work in us. The real work of the kingdom of God is done in the secret places of men's souls. Are lives being changed through our influence? Are people who lose heart finding new hope in the struggle? Are they being linked with Christ? Are those who are estranged being reconciled in love? Is there love in us which is getting through to make God's love real to hearts that are starving? That is the only effective service. And only what God gives can produce these results. Only what comes into our life from Him can we pass on.

[A Correspondent, in the Times, London, England]

Much more unselfishness is often needed for rejoicing with those who rejoice than for weeping with those who weep. Deep though a man's sympathy with his suffering friend may be, he will not wish to make that suffering his own. He may without any unworthy selfishness be thankful that it has not fallen to him to suffer in that way. Almost involuntarily there may be included in his sympathy something of that sense of freedom from another's pain, and the relief that such freedom brings, to which Lucretius gave splendid expression in the lines where he pictured the security of one who from the shore watched the toil of the mariner overtaken by the storm.

But to see another's joy is to wish to possess it. And when such possession is not within reach, there may be a temptation to envy. For the sick man to rejoice with one who is blessed with health, or the unsuccessful man with one whom good fortune rather than merits have brought to affluence and power, may represent a hard-won triumph of grace over nature. The word of passing congratulation, sincere though it be, is not costly; but it is a noble payment, a giving of the self, when the gift of a responsive joy adds to another's happiness.

[Margaret P. Willey, in the Community Life, Cincinnati, Ohio]

We live in a world of appearances. ... We chase shadows, and we run from shadows, and the standard by which we govern our conduct and the deity before which we bow is commonly named "they say."

"They say" is a fetish with us, and even when representing the ill-considered opinions of the thoughtless and ignorant, holds for us the superstitious awe with which the heathen regards his idol.

"They say": "This is good," or, "This is bad," and it is so—to us. It is the Adam-man, not the spiritual one, who is responsible for these valuations, and he is subject to grave errors in judgment. "They say" is the vague term which covers the consensus of hasty conclusions, suspicions, gossip, scandals, and unrighteous judgments of the sense-minded. It is born of the realm of appearances, and its main sources of information are the avenues of the five senses.

Both those who speak hastily, pronouncing unrighteous judgments, criticisms, and condemnations, and those who repeat and spread them, are equally responsible for the fabric of lies and negative conditions from which society is struggling to extricate itself. These unrighteous conclusions, witnesses to error, are spread abroad on the wings of rumor, and men base their actions upon them and guide their lives accordingly.

Upon such flimsy foundations we build the edifice which was meant to be founded on the Word of God. The activity of the Word, which is a sure and safe foundation, produces no such confusion, bitterness, and unhappy conditions as does "they say."

It is not the writer's work to dwell on the aspect of lies or negative conditions, but rather to keep the vision fixed on Truth, the great positive good before which the mists of error melt away. ...

Jesus said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." What is it to judge righteous judgment? It is to see things in the light of Spirit, to see them as the great Teacher saw them. He looked always at the spirit rather than the letter of the law. He said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." ...

Let us base our conclusions on the Word of God, the righteous activity of Spirit, not on the vague and erroneous "they say," and bringing the shining light of love to bear on all problems of human relations, dissipate the mists of this shadowy realm of appearances and establish righteous judgment upon the earth.

[From the Post, Pasadena, California]

Those who are truly humble approach nearest to the heavenly throne; for humility can come only through self immolation, through the casting out of the evil in one's heart and the taking on of the perfectness that is the expression of God and His sacred works.

One who walks with God constantly and humbly wears the full armor that protects against every temptation and thus enables him to see his neighbor as his loved and loving brother, and to understand God in His boundless mercy and in His supremacy as Judge and Ruler over the issues of earth and heaven.

There is more rejoicing when one wandering sheep is restored to the fold than over ninety and nine sheep that did not go astray.

Int the words of the master Shepherd: "Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

[From Home Chat, London, England]

"Persistence wins." How often we are tempted to give up in God's cause. We begin even to doubt God, to think that even He has limitations. But the right key is there, if you will be persevering and trustful and, above all, prayerful. Work done in faith is never lost.

And, moreover, in God's work, in trying to approach other people, to get into their hearts, it is possible to find and use the right key. Only God can put the key into your hand. "My word ... shall not return unto me void." No. It shall accomplish that whereunto it is sent. Trust the promise. Try all your keys. Never despair.

[Rev. C. G. Fuller, as quoted in the New York Times, New York]

As the mental and spiritual tone of life is built up by enthusiastic adherence to religious truth, the physical tone of life is automatically built up also.