“Real importance is one thing, apparent importance another. The events which move the world are not always those which men think most noteworthy. The men who most deeply influence their fellows are not those of whom everybody is talking. The currents of thought and feeling which will shape the future are not those which are welcomed by the organs and interpreters of current opinion.
When Christ appeared, the palace of the Caesar seemed to be more likely to govern the destinies of mankind than the manger of Bethlehem. No, brethren, depend on it, the apparent is not always, or even generally, the real.”
—H. P. Liddon, Christmastide at St. Paul’s (London, 1889), 101-102.
(HT: Ray Ortlund)
I was encouraged by the opening words of the second chapter of Iain Murray’s “The Old Evangelicalism” which states that on a snowy Sunday in 1850, an unknown preacher gave the message by which Charles Spurgeon came to Christ. In considering today’s OFI quote I just have to say thank God for all His faithful “unknowns.”
God bless u for allowing to be used of Him to touch many lives by ua daily devotions. shalom