Category: Quote of the Day

Someone has suggested that a good text for an Easter sermon can be found in a phrase out of Acts 12:4: “Intending After Easter…” Everybody goes to church on Easter Sunday but most of them do not intend to keep it up. It is not a religious show on a big day but faithfulness to God every day that counts. Putting in an appearance on a special occasion and then being conspicuous for absence on most occasions is the bane of our church life today. Isaiah thundered against the hollow and meaningless observance of new moons and Sabbaths and ‘the solemn meeting.” Christmas and Easter Christians, the holly-and-lilies crowd, make poor soldiers of the cross and followers of the Lamb. The real test of our piety is what we intend to do “after Easter.”

Malachi faced an indolent and insolent generation who met his condemnation of sin with an oft-repeated “Wherein?” They were saying, in effect: “We’re not such bad people. You’re scolding us.” But there was a faithful remnant, a nucleus that feared the Lord. Every Sunday morning we have both groups in the congregation: the “Where-inners” – morning glories who bloom at 11 A.M. and fold up for the rest of the week – and the remnant. Our only hope lies in recruiting the remnant into an effective Gideon’s Band.