Romans 2:1-12

Emerson complains in one of his essays that society tends to overlook our essential humanity and to think of us as being what we do. There should be no farmers, he argues, or carpenters, or painters; there should only be men who farm and paint and do carpenter work.

This distinction is fine but vastly important, for the most vital thing about any man is not what he does or what he has but what he is. And first of all, a man must be a man--that is, a human being free in the earth, free...

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 5:21-26

"God';s wrath," said George MacDonald, "is always judicial. It is always the wrath of the Judge administering justice. Cruelty is always immoral but true justice - never." Those who experience the fullness of God's wrath get precisely what they deserve. That may sound hard, but it is...

God is the only One in the universe who is perfectly qualified to judge. We can be everlastingly thankful that He has not entrusted the final judgment to us. Think of some of the disabilities under which an earthly judge works. It is impossible for him to be completely objective. He may be influenced by the prominence of the defendant or by his appearance. He may be influenced by bribes or by other more subtle considerations. He cannot always know if a witness is lying. Or if not lying, the...

The path of faith and that of well-doing are not diverse from each other; they are one. A man that is in the path of well-doing, and for whose deeds there is ever and anon dropping from the lips of God the expression, " Well done!" is already saved in an important sense. He has regained the footing from whence the world by transgression fell. He has certainly a large installment of salvation. But, it is faith that brought him into this heavenward path, and that enables him to continue...

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.For this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. § Whatever things were written before were writ- ten for our learning, that we through the...

We know that the judgment of God is according to truth. § When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. § Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?...

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from … he said … , “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”The ear tests words as the palate tastes food. § I believed and therefore I spoke. § I know whom I have believed. § I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.The goodness of...