Growth of Passion

   An old man was once walking with a little boy. They came across four shrubs. The old man said to his youthful companion:

   "Pull up the least one."
   He obeyed with ease.
   "Now the next."
   He obeyed, but it did not come so easily.
   "And the third."
   It took all his strength to move its roots, but he succeeded.
   "Now the fourth."
   In vain the lad put forth all his strength. He only made the leaves tremble. He could not move the roots. They had gone strongly into the earth, and no effort could dislodge them.
   Then the wise old man said to the ardent youth:
   "This, my son, is just what happens with our passions. When they are young and weak one may by a little watchfulness over self and the help of a little self-denial easily tear them up, but if we let them cast their roots deep into our souls there is no human power can uproot them. For this reason, my child, watch well over the first movements of your soul and study by acts of virtue to keep your passions well in check."

Mosaic of The Kingdom

        Bishop Simpson gives this illustration of the composition of Christ's completed kingdom:

       In some of the great halls of Europe may be seen pictures not painted with the brush, but mosaics, which are made up of small pieces of stone, glass, or other material. The artist takes these little pieces, and, polishing and arranging them, he forms them into the grand and beautiful picture. Each individual part of the picture may be a little worthless piece of glass or marble or shell; but with each in its place, the whole constitutes the masterpiece of art. So I think it will be with humanity in the hands of the great artist. God is picking up the little worthless pieces of stone and brass, that might be trodden under foot unnoticed, and is making of them part of His great masterpiece.

Necessity And Progress

When God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and bid them go forward there was another urgency to reinforce this injunction. The chariots of Egypt were behind them; they must go forward or die.

Has not the greater part of human progress been due to necessities urging from behind and below - hunger, necessity for shelter, climates, hardships, trials. By all these God has ever been driving men up out of their Egypt of sloth and slavery toward a higher destiny.

"The Necessity of an Enemy Part 1", from the series
 "Fight to Win". Destined to Win with Pastor Frank Santora

Accidental Discovery

       Argand, the inventor of the famous lamp which bears his name, had been experimenting for some time in trying to increase the light given out by his lamp, but all to no purpose. On a table before him one night lay an oil-flask which had accidentally got the bottom broken off, leaving a long-necked, funnel-shaped tube. This Argand took up carelessly from the table and placed almost without thought, as he afterward related, over the flame. A brilliant white light was the magical result. It is needless to add that the hint was not lost by the experimenter, who proceeded to put his discovery into practical use by "inventing" the common glass lamp-chimney. Hundreds of discoveries which have been heralded to the world as the acme of human genius have been the result of merest accident, the auger, calico printing and vulcanization of rubber being among the number. 

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Use Technology for Peace

      The LORD will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4