Hosea Ballou Quotes

Why does God endow us with compassion?

Christians are supposed to be the most forgiving people on the face of the Earth.

When Jesus then is with the multitudes, He is not in His house, for the multitudes are outside of the house, and it is an act which springs from His love of men to leave the house and to go away to those who are not able to come to Him.

It is not Christian to go against someone. I am in favour of life.

If Jesus was here, do you think Jesus would show me any love? Do you think Jesus would love me?

I think that's the true litmus test for someone who has become closer to Jesus: their heart is more loving, accepting, childlike, less believing that they have all the answers and more believing in Him.

When we love like Jesus does, lives change for the better.

Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.

Teach a child what is wise, that is morality. Teach him what is wise and beautiful, that is religion!

Christianity taught men that love is worth more than intelligence.

Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.

To follow Jesus means to share his merciful love for every human being.

If we do not show love to one another, the world has a right to question whether Christianity is true.

But what had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus' love. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and a few years later, Lazarus died again. Jesus healed the sick, but eventually caught some other disease. He fed the ten thousands, and the next day they were hungry again. But we remember his love. It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers.

Therefore, as we strive to become as the Father is and as Jesus is, we are to become more gracious and merciful, more kind and considerate. Even more, we are to do this in a world which does little to encourage such qualities of character.

My favorite is Matthew 25: 'The Lord said, 'Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me.' I truly believe that.

Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand.

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

The irony is that 'looking down on everybody else' is a violation of the law of love, which, according to Jesus, is the absolute essence of righteousness.

We're only here to love God and each other. I'm not saying I've never gotten angry at anyone. I do. But you've got to forgive and move on.

The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.

You needn't love your enemy, but if you refrain from telling lies about him, you are doing well enough.

Jesus teaches us to forgive and I've got to trust him on that one.

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.

In my life, I'm just looking for that life of integrity that my father had. I have a good heart; I'm not a heartbreaker.