Herbert Henry Farmer
Showing 1 to 7 of 7 articles.
1.) Jesus' Need
"And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?"
(Matt. 26:40)
There is always that danger in religion,--the danger of regarding God as a servant, rather than as One utterly to be served. Of course, we do not put it to ourselves in those terms; we speak of a God ...read more
2.) Receiving the Reward
"They have received their reward"
(Matt. 6:2).
By demanding that worldliness should not be allowed even worldly success, we land ourselves with an insoluble problem: directly we discover that life does not work like that at all. The prosperity and success of the wicked have been a source of trouble to pious people in all ages. You find the ...read more
3.) Sympathizing With Others
"Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven"
(Matt. 9:2).
I do not find for one moment that my sinfulness makes it easier for me to fathom and to sympathize with the moral need of others. Quite the contrary I find that my own harsh judgments of myself continually make me pass harsh judgments on other people. I find that my own easy judg ...read more
4.) Testing Our Weakness
"And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water"
(Matt. 14:28).
None of us knows what his weaknesses and his powers are, nor how exactly life will test them; but it is quite certain that we shall never know what they are, nor will life's tests teach us anything, unless we aspire to the highest th ...read more
5.) The Nature of the Heart
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"
(Matt. 6:28-29).
The beauty of the flowers reveals something about the nature of God.
You remember that Jesus used to set great store by the chance words of men. ...read more
6.) The Tragedy of Success
"Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation"
(Luke 6:24).
To Jesus the terrible thing about having wrong values in life and pursuing wrong things, is not that you are doomed to bitter disappointment, but that you are not; not that you do not achieve what you want, but that you do. The way of these people, He says, i ...read more
7.) Two Worlds
"Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?...They say unto him, We are able"
(Matt. 20:22).
There is always a certain obliquity, a certain element of cross-purpose, a certain displacement of perspective and vision, between a leader and his followers. That is what makes leadership the most difficult and sometimes the most hear ...read more
