The Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - July 2012

We are all terribly weak and prone to error. When we realize this we will have more tolerance for the weaknesses of others. I have discovered that I am terribly weak and flawed. I can be hateful and unforgiving. Knowing this humbles me.

There is a risk in believing in God. This is the risk of ending up looking stupid. I am willing to take that risk. For in the risk lies a peace. In the peace lies a joy.

Let there be no small reason for your joy. Let your joy come from something that truly adds to you.

Walls are before me. Yet I shall find a way to pass beyond them.

Thank you God for life. It's good to be alive today. I could be unborn or dead. But I am still alive and able to praise you for your goodness and thank you for your love and kindness. Be with me today.

Now you see the connections. You now know the associations. You are no longer ignorant of the devil's devices. How will you put this knowledge to use? You know the truth. Are you now about to be set free by it? Does the emancipation automatically follow the knowledge? Or are you still trapped despite knowing the mechanism of your bondage? What, are you still trapped? Did not the knowledge of truth automatically lead to release? How did this happen? How are you still in bondage to something you have utterly worked out in your mind? Wait, the knowledge of sin alone cannot emancipate. It is not the knowledge of the devil's devices that helps us overcome them. It is something more. It is something called faith, it is really confidence in the strength of the only one who conquered Satan, and he is Jesus, and he is in you, and finding his strength in you is the only way to liberation.

There is no fear. As sin knocks on my door and enters my heart, and even as I move rhythmically to the chants and images of evil, there is another voice that speaks from within clearly and distinctly, saying, "Is this all? Is this really the way to use the object of your attraction? Is this really any way to appreciate the beauty that has drawn you to itself?"

Don't be so eager to seek the like-minded. Those who appear to conform to your thinking may not really do so. It is better to wait for those who come to you. Even they may not conform to your thoughts.

Walk slow. Walk terribly slow if you are uncertain. If you do not know, just wait. And wait a little more. And while you wait ask for direction.

Shall I revive my sin to see if it is still powerful? Shall I experiment with righteousness and its effect on sin? If I have gained in righteousness have I also not lost in sin? What harm can sin do in its weakened state? Sin is sin whatever the degree. Even a weak sin can make a man stumble much. Even a little sin can cause great guilt and erect a barrier between a man and his God. So sin is best avoided. Yet sin can never be entirely dispensed with in this life. Oh wretched man, who shall save you from your attraction to sin? One and only one can do it. He has already done it. So believe it. Jesus has saved you. Jesus is in you. Find him in you, and you shall find that elusive strength.

Through mistakes I learned. In sin I gained in righteousness. Shall I then keep those mistakes that made me learn and cling to the sin that led me to righteousness? Have they not outlived their usefulness?

Open the lid of my head and I shall pour out my knowledge. And the pouring shall not cease as long as God continues to pour Himself into me.

When sin knocks on my door, I need to ask myself, "Is there anything else that I can do, something equally stimulating and still greater in its usefulness, especially to some other person? How can I best utilize my life energy? Fun is fun, but knowing that one can be useful to another is greater than fun.

If you can love the one who ignores you then your love is indeed non-human. If you can care even for the one who rejects your attention, then you caring is certainly non-human. For a human to become non-human is the requirement of the divine.

If someone is your friend you should be able to endure what you would consider the worst behaviour of that friend. If you can tolerate that worst behaviour, then he or she is indeed your friend and worthy of a place at your side irrespective of circumstances.

Strength is to walk away from what you desperately desire and what you find inescapable. To escape from that which enslaves is a special strength, one that must be sought after with all one's might.

When there is something less important, more distracting and more compelling, settle for something more important, less distracting and less compelling. Safety and purity reside in the object that charms less but means more to your soul in the long run.

When hope is present, a challenger to that hope is also present. When faith is declared, a denouncer of that faith is also present. Where light is supplied, a source of darkness is also found. The challenge is to cling tight to hope, hold fast to faith and walk steadily toward the light, in spite of despair, unfaith and darkness competing endlessly for your soul.

Joy is allowable only as long as pain is not forgotten. There will be no empty joy ignorant of the strife of life. Such joy is unworthy of the enlightened. All joy is a celebration of the brief relief available to those who are engaged in the battle of life. Life is a battle and also strife. Yet it is not all pain and all strife. There are moments of joy but rarely without pain. There are moments that are light yet barely without strife. The gift is to relish the joy without discarding the pain.

Let me forget every pleasure. But let me not forget the pain of every pleasure, and the pleasure of every pain. As long as pain is my guide, I shall walk safely on the treacherous roads of life, where pleasures distract and emptiness overwhelms.

The journey started in pain. It is to be conducted in pain. It is to end in pain. Pleasure and joy are unwelcome to the student of pain. For they do not bring remembrance but forgetfulness of the precious knowledge gathered in pain. In that knowledge there is no empty joy but heavy pain.

The love for power is an endless pain. Will a little control be enough? The one who has learned to control will not want to relinquish control. He who unleashes power will not want to relent. The power seeker is doomed never to find contentment. The more he acquires the more he finds lacking. What he lacks he will seek at any cost. He shall walk on hearts and snuff out lives. He shall pay the bloodiest price to climb the ladder of power.

The wealth one amasses weighs one down. Beyond a point wealth turns into a burden. With wealth comes the responsibility for its management. It is impossible to manage wealth, for wealth finds a way to manage its possessor. Money masters the money lover and makes him endlessly desire it. In this slavery there is no joy. For no amount of money is enough, so it is always less than enough. The desire intensifies to madness. The madness culminates in total darkness.

No surprise lurks under the cover. Peel away the cloth covering and the body underneath is unsurprising. What God made then he still makes. The human body is not unlimited in its appeal. Once you have seen it in its many shapes, sizes and colours, there is nothing more to see. Once you have experienced its many textures and smells there is nothing more to experience. Those who seek to unlock the delights of the human body should soon curtail their efforts. For there is nothing, truly nothing in a human body worthy of a life-long, all-consuming devotion.

I cannot be certain that human beings in general know the language of love. They may love selfishly at best. Humans are attached to people, animals and things. Such attachment is also likely to be selfish. To love is to care beyond the self, beyond the expectation of an equal return and beyond rejection. Such love cannot be common. The world is in chaos because it does not understand or accept its Creator God, who alone is the exponent of true love.

Does Christ call his people to be uncomfortable? Does he want them to be uncomfortable in their confidence? The people of Christ must take comfort in Christ, and though he calls his own to experience a life of self-denial and suffering, there is much comfort to draw from the life for Christ.

I'm confident of God. If there is a block in my life, he knows when and why it happened, and he also knows when and how to unblock the way. The people of God need not panic and look at any dark, invisible force. They need not cry out a prayer of power and lay hold of mighty spiritual weapons to bring down the invisible wall. But they may stay in the darkness as long as God wants them to stay, and learn in the dark what only the dark can show and hear in the silence what only silence can speak. There is a beauty in accepting the blocks that God sends. Because every time he blocks, he finally unblocks. We need not doubt that.

Guilt is what kills. The accusation is what paralyses. Why should the one in Christ be subject to guilt? "It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?" said Saint Paul. There is no condemnation that the Christian should dread. He should just focus on loving God above every other thing. This is no mean feat achieved in human strength. This is an outcome of much prayer and endless desire. This is the work of God himself in the heart of the faithful believer.

The addiction breaks not when one realizes the damage it does. One may continue in an addiction despite the knowledge of the danger it poses. One's addiction breaks only when its charm wears off. And its charm may never wear off until something more charming comes along. An addiction can be overpowered only by another addiction, certainly one that is more powerful.

What shall I do with do with the half messengers of light? Should I entertain only the full messengers and discard the half messengers? Should I not feed from light wherever I find it? One is not given all the light. One is given only some of the light. Light is beyond complete understanding and retention. We may find light only here and there. And when we find it we should not reject it.

The benefit of evil is that when you see and experience it you want to walk away from it. In fact you want to run to what is good.

When trouble comes close, God is near. There is no time for seeking God like the time of trouble. In trouble we run to God. There is nothing as good as running to God. And because of this we must be grateful for trouble.

Are you going to destroy what you created, as the intention behind its creation is not good? Are you going to throw away something because you have corrupted it in your mind and do not perceive the good in it? Can you fling things away in life using such an approach? Everything a man perceives is not without a degree of impurity, for impurity is intrinsically a part of human thinking. If a man should discard everything that is impure, he may have to do away with himself. There is only one solution. One must live with everything, striving to perceive the good in everything and consciously discarding the evil in the mind regarding everything.

Today more than ever I realize that my times are in God's hands. There is much to know in this life, but what I cannot afford to be ignorant of is this, that my life and the lives of the people I care about, are in the hands of God. To acknowledge God in this way and to seek His grace and protection are the principal goals of this day.

Should you worry about the intention behind the thing? What Man intended for wrong God worked out for good. In the course of a man's life he makes many mistakes. But all his mistakes are used by God to lead him in the path of righteousness. 

If I could learn from the lowest, shall I also not learn from the highest? Yet the knowledge that is derived from the low can only be arrived at from the low. And there can be no higher knowledge without the lower.

Flesh has lost its appeal even if I continue to look at it. I still look at flesh for that has been my life-long habit. But now when I look at it, I can take my eyes off it.

We must be careful while censuring others. What we criticise in them may be found in us in a larger measure. Christ certainly warned about this possibility. We must censure others only if we know that we are not guilty of what we point out in them. And when we censure it is best to be gentle, for a harsh approach is likely to misfire, and the purpose of the censure, which is to correct another, will not be served.

This is no popularity contest. To reach most for God you must be willing to reach none. To be most effective in the work for God you must be willing to be least effective. To be of the highest use for God you must be willing to be of the lowest use.

You cannot be destroyed if God is with you. You cannot be brought down if God is in you. You may fail every now and then to rise to your expectations. But God is truly more tolerant of you than you are of yourself. He would not have died for you if you could have died for yourself. He knows your frailty and tolerates it better than you imagine. So walk tall and straight. You will reach your destination, for He who holds your hand will not let go of it.

Either God is real or he is simply not real. Either he does what he promises or he simply does not keep his promises. One will never know the truth until one takes the risk of believing in God and his promises.

We must fall on God utterly. Or we simply must not fall.

Don't worry. It's just an urge. The moment you release it it is gone. And when it is gone you do not see it as you did before. All trivial urges will gradually dissipate. To destroy a worthless urge you must release it.

If only God had said, "Don't worry about sin. I have taken care of it. Only be mindful of its harmful effects", it would have been a great consolation to those who have nearly lost their sanity over their obsession with sin. Sin must be understood and avoided. It should not be feared, and certainly should not be the cause of terrible despair in life. The Bible is lamentably not clear about this. and it takes years for a person to work out the actual truth.

Bluntness may appear attractive. But if it does not serve the purpose of making another person correct his mistake, it is of no use. In addition, if it causes injury to another person, it is most unhelpful. It is best to speak sensitively, as gentleness is a fruit of God.

It is he who restrains himself, who is most deserving of your attention. And it is he who is least willing to inconvenience you, who is the best reason for you to inconvenience yourself.

To see what has been seen already, why should one be passionate about that? But to see what has not been seen, that is something one should be passionate about.

Let the focus not be on how to receive. But let the focus be on how to give. If you are desperate to receive, be more desperate to give.

There is no point in keeping all that energy bundled in. There is no point in frittering it away on useless worldly endeavours. It is time to focus all the energy on the praise and glorification of God. To God alone the man of God is dedicated. So give yourself entirely to God till nothing, absolutely nothing of yourself is left in the world.

You should go out there and do your best even if nobody is watching.

 If you have nothing to do, do nothing. It is better than doing something evil for the sake of doing something.

To say hello to someone you have not spoken to in a while is good. To smile at even a stranger is good. Let humanity not forget this simple service of love.

How I look in unholy company is the least of my worries.

It may take one line of faith and one act of holy inspiration to see the invisible world that I have longed to see and toiled to find all my life.

Find a man who can heartily laugh at himself, and you may have found a man of prodigious inner strength.

It is more important to help people than to please them. Even if in the act of helping one fails to please, one must help rather than please.

Oh, these people are suffering because they are under a curse. Why, those people are happy because they are blessed. Is life reducible to these generalizations? Do people suffer only because they have been cursed? Do people suffer only because they have sinned and earned the disfavour of God? Do people not suffer for no apparent reason? Was not Job from the Bible one of these? Are people not blessed also for no apparent reason? Are not the godless happy and blessed? Do they not appear to live without a care? Who can understand these things? The godly man suffers many trials in his life. The godless is almost never tried. The honest lags behind. The corrupt surges forward. And that's because of the devil some say. Is this really the case?

I am interested in the mistakes that I make. I want to know whether these mistakes are allowable or not. If I should not allow these mistakes, then I must correct them quickly. The unavoidable mistakes do not cause me worry. There will always be room for those mistakes in life.

 

Not everything is achievable in a single day. Not everything is achievable in a year or two. Not everything is achievable even in a lifetime. So sit back and relax and do what can be done.

To be focused on victory always is self-defeating. To seek success always is unwise. There are lessons that only defeat can teach. There are strengths that only emerge from failure.

I shall expect favour in the most unfavourable situation. I shall hope in the moment of total despair. I shall celebrate victory in the moment of defeat. Thus I shall conquer the forces against me.

The joy found in cracks and crevices will not last. May joy be found in open places and not closed ones. Let joy be obtained from sources that will never run out. Let joy proceed from giving and not taking. For the one who takes will never obtain the unearthly joy that only the one who gives will know.

There are some fights that are simply not worth fighting. There are some places that should be simply avoided. The only way to identify such fights and such places is to have fought those fights and visited those places many times to know that such fights can only reduce strength and such places can only tarnish joy.

If you serve God rather than serve yourself, if you please Him rather than please others, if you desire His glory rather than work for your own glory, peace and happiness will not elude you any more. Also you shall discover your true purpose in life, and in fulfilling that purpose, life will rise to a standard that you never imagined possible before.