Devotional Column

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 434, 15 May 1937, Page 2

Devotional Column

O God Our Father, help u s this day of speak and to do only such things as will leave no- regret. Grant us reverence for all that is good; teach us •io hate all that is selfish and base. In our dealings with those about us inspire in us the spirit of courtesy and goodwill. And make us masters of our own life, strong to conTol our desires and resolute to match our action to our highest though'; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. The Holy Spirit. Nothing .great, nothing really good', was ever done in this world by any human life that had not had a baptism of God’s Holy Spirit. One can think of multitudes of men and women to.day, equipped in every o’her way, having intelligence, capacity, and power of devotion, who fire living second-rates unimportant, and morally insignificant lives, for want of a baptism of the Spirit of Jesus The Image of God. When we say that man is created in the image of God we should. I be. lieve, be nearer the 'truth if we said that the human race was made in the image of God. If we could get rid of the 'limiba.tions. of merely individual life, if we could break down ‘the barriers which separate soul from soul, and be so truly “members one of another” as to lose our isolation without, loss of our personality—and that surely what we shall do when we are alf one in Christ—human life would be a perfect reflection of the life of God. The Bible.

When George VI was crowned <a.t Westminster the first thing he receivas an anointed and crowned' king was the Holy Bible, a book which has been well described as the world’s greatest book. It might be interesting on Bible Sunday to think over the testimonials to the Bible’s influence by some of the greatest thinkers and workers of to.day. The circulation of the Holy Scriptures has done more perhaps than anything else on earth to promote moral and religious welfare among old and young. King George V. So much of our time in this world we seem to be carrying our struggle in twilight or fog. Nothing but light from’ the Bible can lighten that twilight or dispel that fog. Stanley Baldwin. The existence of the Bible a s a Book for the people it' the greatest benefit whjch the human race has ever experienced. Every at'empt to belittle it is a crime against humanity. Kant. We live in a sick old world which cries from its soul out of the deepest need: Heal me, O Lordi, and I shall be healed! In all men, whoever .and wherever and whatever land however they may be, there is £ longing for exactly this which i s here within the Bible. Karl Barth.