Thoughts

Speaking about Christianity does not produce peace. Speaking about other people’s mistakes produces pain. Hardness results in bitterness whose product is a substitute for the peace a person has lost, which must often be sought again with many tears.

Easy talk and worldly jesting in order to appear witty and funny and please other people’s flesh produces dullness of spirit, and through this inner slothfulness the person is being robbed of all true outward labor for our Lord and Savior. Laughing over someone else’s folly is enjoying it in your own flesh.

The more anger that flows from a person, the greater will be the supply of it in his inner man. Unkind thoughts about others are like vultures that lead a soul into dark places. Ambiguous words show an image of an ambiguous heart. A superficial treatment of holy things is to treat your own soul foolishly. Flesh that is not denied produces thoughts of self-indulgence whose end is a corrupt mind and a lost soul. The man who lets other things supplant the love of God acts badly toward himself. Always apply the standard of righteousness to your own soul first. Let no one be comforted by the fact that you are no better than they. It is better to go through life stripped of everything than that many things should torment your soul. They do not bring you closer to God; on the contrary, they bind your thoughts and heart to these things and are an obstacle to your godly fear. Digging deeply into something outside of God is to lead one’s soul away from God and to these things. Many wishes bring disappointment and much dissatisfaction. The person who has his expectations from God will always be exceedingly content.

Bad nourishment results in a feeble and weak Christianity, and the person who does not pour out to others, his well will run dry. Wasting time and opportunity is the same as robbing yourself of joy and glory, and robbing others of love. Diminishing your prayers is avoiding God, but increased prayer is intimate fellowship.