Charles Bridges

"Our Divine Master never intended, that we should confine our religion to the services of the sanctuary. As men of God, we should have it at heart and in hand, spreading a spiritual savour over the common walks of society, and stamping us with the mark of confessors of Christ in the midst of a world, who hold him still in the same contempt, as when eighteen centuries since they nailed him to the cross."1

Wow. Am I stamped with the mark of a confessor of Christ in such a way as to draw the contempt of the world? That is a serious question. Do I preach with my words and deeds the Rock of Offense, which makes men to stumble and fall? Do I live for Christ? Am I living as one stamped by His blood? Do I confine my religion? Am I slow to have it at heart and in hand in every sphere of society?

God help me.

1 Bridges, Charles. The Christian Ministry with an Inquiry into the Cases of its Inefficiency (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, reprinted 2006), 115-116.