Returning the favor

There's an old joke that runs "God made man in His own image...and we've been returning the favor ever since." As Calvin said, our hearts are idol factories. If we are not busy filling our minds with the person and work of the true God as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, we will paint a god of our own imagining. Hear the sage words of the venerable Bishop of Liverpool.

“Beware of manufacturing a god of your own: A god who is all mercy but not just, A god who is all love but not holy, A god who has a heaven for everybody but a hell for none. Such a god is an idol of your own. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible.”

Bishop J.C. Ryle, DD

John Charles Ryle (1816-1900) served the Church of England from 1841 to the year of his death. Thoroughly evangelical and uncompromising in his principles, he became widely known for his prolific writing and his faithful service as a pastor. The last twenty years of his life he served as Bishop of Liverpool.