To implant fear in the minds of children is a crime. If parents try to rule the child by fear, then fear rules the child.
We are not quite sure that the Sermon on the Mount is the Sermon for the mart. We are not sure, and an unsure place is an unsafe place* We must go on or go back. We must be more Christian or less.
If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.
Our actions are the results of our intentions and our intelligence.
The Sermon on the Mount seems dangerous. It challenges the whole underlying conception on which modern society is built. It would replace it by a new conception, animate it with a new motive, and turn it toward a new goal.
Many live in dread of what is coming. Why should we? The unknown puts adventure into life. … The unexpected around the corner gives a sense of anticipation and surprise. Thank God for the unknown future.
Our intentions may be very good, but, because the intelligence is limited, the action may turn out to be a mistake – a mistake, but not necessarily a sin, for sin comes out of a wrong intention.
Prayer is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God.
Prayer is commission. Out of the quietness with God, power is generated that turns the spiritual machinery of the world. When you pray, you begin to feel the sense of being sent, that the divine compulsion is upon you.
At the cross God wrapped his heart in flesh and blood and let it be nailed to the cross for our redemption.