And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’  Luke 19:13 This restless human longing to be the greatest, to be more, to stand first, to shine brightest, and to secure the chief seats at the right and left of the Lord—what is it all but human pride, carnal ambition, and vanity of our fallen nature? The trouble is not merely that men drive themselves to achieve great works. It is that their corrupt nature burns to occupy a place of distinction—to possess what belongs to God alone. Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ! Galatians 1:10 Greatness is never ascribed by God to fragile clay; only of pride do men seek to crown himself. Ever since the dawn of creation in the Garden, our poor souls have lusted to be as gods, claiming to know good and evil for ourselves. Yet, to entrust su...

“What is this for?” asked the aged gentleman. He had watched him for some time, standing almost motionless beneath the merciless sun of one o’clock in the afternoon, waiting for the passers-by to come near enough to receive a tract. There he stood, enduring the heat, his hand extended toward those who might take one. “Sir, it is for your hour of death.” “Oh, but I shall be gone in a little while.” “But where will you go when you depart?” “Why, I shall wake up in hell, where every religious person will be.” He handed him a tract. “Here, sir. You may find out for yourself what you are belittling.” “These people—pastors, priests—they will all be in hell. Those born-again rich leaders will be there. All of them. They are deceiving people.” “Sir, if these people are deceiving others, what makes you so certain that you are right, and that you yourself are not among the deceived?” “I do not look to these people for salvation.” “Quite right, sir. This is precisely why we need a Savi...

Journal Entry. Twilight of October 11th.  I stood in a place where darkness and light dwelt together. There was no sound, no color, only light. The moment seemed to rob my senses of all that they knew, while at the same time taking in what of this was new, both what to me was known and what to me remained unknown. There was nothing behind, above, nor beneath, only what lay before me in the distance: light. Not light that one sees, but light that one knows. I knew what light was. I knew that it illuminated, and that when it was too bright, I could do nothing but close my eyes. But this was a light I had never experienced. So brilliant, burning brightly, and yet I found peace in looking upon it, in basking in it. I could not understand how a light so bright could be so restful to behold. It was a brightness I could look at and touch and experience, not as I had ever known it before, but in a manner I had never known at all. And here I was, experiencing it. I moved forward w...

When we arrived at the park, our dear brother had already preached the Word. This pleased me greatly. The work had not waited for my coming; Christ was already being proclaimed. He afterward told me of a little encounter which had taken place whilst he was distributing materials amongst the people. Several Christians belonging to a particular church gathered around him and began asking what it was that he was giving away. Upon learning that he professed himself a believer, they did not immediately receive him as such, but began quietly examining him. Who is Christ? How is man saved? And so the questions continued. I confess, the account brought me much pleasure. These brethren were not satisfied merely because a stranger called himself a Christian and carried religious materials in his hands. They desired first to know what Christ he confessed and what Gospel he proclaimed. What Bereans! Our brother answered them; and only after hearing his answers did their countenances change. Then...

Journal Entry. First of October, 2026th. 11AM And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Genesis 2:22 Every time I behold my wife laboring tirelessly in the kitchen; every time she brings food unto me at my table; every time I hear that deep sigh which sometimes escapes her beneath the weight of her ailments; every time I look upon the food her hands have prepared; every time I behold her silently while she sleeps; and every time mine eyes fall upon those same hands which have fed and cared for me these two-and-thirty years, I am humbled before the Lord. How hath He put such a heart into this little, frail creature? Four children have we. Four lives hath she borne the daily burden of raising; and now, after all these years, she continues quietly to bear me also. Much of what I am enabled presently to do, I do because she hath willingly taken upon herself the heavier end of the load. Whilst I go about those things whi...

Journal Entry. The 5th of July, 2026th. 1:05AM I had always persuaded myself that to let go was impossible, until God was pleased to show me that it was not. Through all those years wherein I lived in sin, and even afterward, when the outward thing had ceased but the sin continued its life within my mind, this remembrance remained with me. Yet the LORD, in His own time, brought me unto a place of entire surrender; and I can truly say that I regret nothing which I surrendered there. Had the memory of it been some material thing which I could hold in my hands, I think I should long ago have cast it unto the sea, never to reach for it again. But it was not in my hands. It was in me. And there it clung like leprosy. It required the power of God to free both my heart and mind—not by causing me to forget, but by causing me to behold Christ as greater. Incomparably greater. I cannot number the times I besought God to take this thing away from me. Again and again I desired only tha...