Quotes from Charles R. Ringma

God will often require quick action, but he also requires stillness and reflection." —MEDITATING ON THE WORD

The true leader must always be able to disillusion." —NO RUSTY SWORDS

The reasons one gives for an action to others and to one's self are certainly inadequate. One can give a reason for everything. In the last resort, one acts from a level which remains hidden from us. So one can only ask God to judge us and to forgive us." —THE WAY TO FREEDOM

Either the Adam in me is tempted—in which case we fall. Or the Christ in us is tempted—in which case Satan is bound to fall." —TEMPTATION

We must face up to the truth that the call of Christ does set up a barrier between man and his natural life. But this barrier is no surly contempt for life, no legalistic piety; it is the life which is life indeed, the gospel, the person of Jesus Christ." —THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

It is what we do with blessings or difficulties that will determine the kind of person we are becoming.

Christ did not, like a moralist, love a theory of good, but he loved the real man.

Remembering becomes a power in the present because the God who once acted for me is the living God who today makes me sure of what he has done." —MEDITATING ON THE WORD

When a man encounters Christ, everything that Christ is and has is made the property of this man." —ETHICS

The community is the body of Christ in which every single member is guided by his Spirit.

In the temptation of Jesus, there really remains nothing except God's word and promise." —TEMPTATION

5 "In all that we say and do, we are concerned with nothing but Christ and his honour among men." —NO RUSTY SWORDS

It's true that the importance of illusion in human life is not to be underestimated, but for the Christian it is essential to have a hope which is based on solid foundations." —LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON

But just as the capacity to forget is a gift of grace, so memory, the recalling of the lessons we have learnt, is an essential element in responsible living." —LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON

Thus the very hour of disillusionment with my brother becomes incomparably salutary, because it so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one word and deed which really binds us together—the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.