The fruit of love is worked in us through the Spirit 'by hearing with faith.' The Spirit will not bear his fruit in us apart from our faith. Why is this?..The answer seems to be that the Holy Spirit loves to glorify the all-satisfying dependability of Christ and his Word. If the Holy Spirt simply caused acts of love in the human heart without any clear, ongoing causal connection with faith in Christ's promises, then it would not be plain that Christ is honored through love.

It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.

No value is attached to a mere profession of faith in Christ; only the love which is shown by works is counted genuine. Yet it is love alone which in the sight of Heaven makes any act of value.—The Faith I Live By,

We have just enough religion to make us hate one another," Jonathan Swift once observed, "but not enough to make us love one another.

In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.

Somewhere along the line we bought—or were sold—the idea that God is chiefly interested in religion. We believed that God's home was

I have never heard anything about the resolutions of the apostles, but a good deal about their acts.

Passive righteousness tells us that God does not need our good works. Active righteousness tells us that our neighbor does. The aim and direction of good works are horizontal, not vertical.

I asked long ago,'What must I do to be saved?' The Scripture answered, 'Keep the commandments, believe, hope, love.' I was early warned against laying, as the Papists do, too much stress on outward works, or on a faith without works, which as it does not include, so it will never lead to true hope or charity.

If faith produce no works, I see That faith is not a living tree. Thus faith and works together grow, No separate life they never can know. They're soul and body, hand and heart, What God hath joined, let no man part.

But Augustine knew the Bible's main mission: so that we can become people who love God and love others. If our reading of the Bible leads to this, the mission is accomplished. If it isn't …

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.