Qoute J. R. Miller

No fear of consequences should ever drive us to do a wrong thing.
It is better to suffer any loss, any cost, any sacrifice—than be eaten up by remorse!
Better be hurled down from a high place for doing right—than win worldly honor by doing wrong. Better lose our right hand—than lose our purity of soul.
Better to rot in prison—than to sin against God!
It was the prayer of a young queen, which she wrote with a diamond point on her castle window, "Keep me pure; make others great." That is the lesson of Joseph's victory over temptation; dishonor, loss, dungeon, death—anything before sin!
~ J. R. Miller

In a word, we are to live victoriously, truly, nobly, sweetly, cheerfully, joyfully—in spite of whatever may be uncongenial in our condition!
This is the lesson of all Christian life. We should not let the outside darkness into our soul. We should seek to be delivered from all morbidness and all unwholesomeness. We should not allow anything to crush us.
Remember, your task in living—is to keep sweet, to keep your heart gentle, brave, strong, loving, full of hope—under the worst that the years can bring you of injustice, hardship, suffering, and trial.
~ J.R. Miller

Thoughtfulness does not merely keep one from doing thoughtless things; it also leads to continued acts of kindness and good will. It ever watches for opportunities to give pleasure and happiness. It does not wait to be asked for sympathy or help—but has eyes of its own, and sees every need, and supplies it unsolicited. When a friend is in sorrow, the thoughtful man is ready with his offer of comfort. He does not come the next day, when the need is past—but is prompt with his kindness, when kindness means something.
~ J.R. Miller

One day we shall slip away from these scenes of earth. Our eyes shall be closed on all familiar things. Next moment—O rapture! they will be opened on the unveiled face of Jesus Christ! That is what 'death' will be to you—if you are God's child. You may now dread death—but it is only going to look at your Redeemer's face!
~ J. R. Miller

Men are cruel. They judge often harshly. They know only part of the truth concerning us. They are not patient with our infirmities. But we are safe in the hands of God. He knows the worst in us—but He also knows the best. We may trust our lives, therefore, to God's judgment, even if they are full of defects and flaws. He knows all, and will bring to light all the hidden things.
~ J. R. Miller

Laughter has its place in every wholesome, healthy, holy life. The man who never smiles—is morbid! He has lost the joy chords out of his life... He has accustomed himself so long to sadness—that the muscles of his face have become set in hard, fixed lines—and cannot relax themselves. His thoughts of life are gloomy—and the gloom has entered his soul and darkened his eyes! Where there is no laughter—all evils nest. Demons do not laugh! The man who never laughs, must not blame his fellows if they think there is something wrong with his life, something dark within.
~ J. R. Miller

"Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number of them who had been practicing magic brought their books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars!" Acts 19:18-19
The burning of these old Ephesian books suggests that we should have bonfires of our evil books. There are many books which ought to be burned! They carry in them Satan's poison! To read them is to debauch our own souls. To put them into the hands of others—is to ruin them.In India, a man took down a book from the shelf—and a viper came out of the book and stung him to death! Just so, there are many books in which deadly vipers lie hidden! We should be most careful in choosing the books we read. A good book is a great blessing—but a bad book is a curse!
~ J. R. Miller

"The Lord hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him!" Exodus 16
This is startling! Does God really hear every discontented word we speak? Does God hear when we grumble about the weather, about the hard winter, about the late spring, about the dry summer, about the wet harvest, about the high winds, about the storms? Does God hear when we complain about our circumstances, about the hardness of our lot, about our losses and disappointments? If we could get into our hearts and keep there continually, the consciousness that every word we speak is heard in heaven, and falls upon God's ears before it falls upon any other ear—would we murmur as we now do?
~ J. R. Miller

In all aspects of life—we see these abandoned buildings. Many homes present the spectacle of abandoned dreams of love. For a time, the beautiful vision shone—and two hearts tried to make it come true—but they gave their dream up in despair, either enduring in misery—or going their own sad and separate ways.
So life everywhere is full of beginnings, which are never carried on to completion.
There is . . .
not a soul-wreck on the streets,
not a prisoner serving out a sentence behind prison bars,
not a debased, fallen person anywhere—
in whose soul, there were not once visions of beauty, high hopes, holy thoughts and purposes, and high resolves of an ideal of something lovely and noble. But alas! the visions, the hopes, the purposes, the resolves—never grew into more than beginnings. God bends down and sees a great wilderness of unfinished buildings, bright possibilities unfulfilled, noble might-have-beens abandoned; ghastly ruins now, sad memorials only of failure!
~ J. R. Miller

Every one of us casts a shadow.
There hangs about us, a sort of a strange, indefinable something, which we call personal influence—that has its effect on every other life on which it falls. It goes with us wherever we go. It is not something we can have when we want to have it—and then lay aside when we will, as we lay aside a garment. It is something that always pours out from our lives . . .
as light from a lamp,
as heat from flame,
as perfume from a flower.
~ J. R. Miller

If you were to meet yourself on the street some morning—that is, the person God sees you to be—you would probably not recognize yourself! If the true chronicle of your life were written in a book, in the form of a story, and you were to read the chapters over—you probably would not identify the story as your own! We do not know our real self. We do not imagine there is so much about us that is morally ugly and foul, that is positively wicked. But God searches and knows the innermost and hidden things of our heart!
~ J. R. Miller

"The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." Acts 11:26

The lives of the converts were so different from their unbelieving neighbors, that they were called Christians. It is supposed that the name was given them in mockery or contempt by the heathen people of Antioch. But the name stuck, and is now used universally to describe those who follow Christ. It may not be the very best of names.

Perhaps disciples is better—disciples means learners, followers. We should all be disciples of Christ and should ever be learning of Him, growing in grace and likeness of Him as we follow Him. Perhaps believers is a better name. It carries in itself the thought that we are saved by believing on Christ. It is faith which works the victories in this world. Perhaps followers would be better. To follow Christ is to receive Him as Master and to cling to Him in obedience and devotion wherever we may go. ~ J.R. Miller Devotional Hours with the Bible

The one great work of Christ in Christian lives—is the fashioning of holiness in them. We are to grow away from our deformities, our faults and infirmities, our poor dwarfed, stunted life—and into spiritual beauty! The mark set before us is the likeness of Christ, which, at last, we shall attain! "We shall be like Him, because we will see Him as He really is!" 1 John 3:2
~ J. R. Miller "Counsel and Help" 1907