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Quotable Corner
"Non-discipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees every thing in the light of God's overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10). The cross-shaped yoke of Christ is, after all, an instrument of liberation and power to those who live in it with him and learn the meekness and lowliness of heart that brings rest to the soul." Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 263
"After a man is saved, God will continue His training efforts. 'Putting on Christ' and Christ 'being formed in us' and having 'the mind of Christ' certainly do not mean simply reading what Christ said and attempting to put it into practice. Rather they mean that a real Person, not something remote and abstruse, comes to you day after day and 'interfering with you very self' shapes you into a being with a life similar to God's own. The command to the Christian to be perfect is no hyperbole but precisely what Christ meant. He begins on earth a process that will be consummated in heaven, but it is a process and will not allow you successfully to play the hypocrite with your naked self. God will not allow you to take the attitude, 'I never expected to be a saint, I only wanted to be a decent ordinary Chap.' His plan is indeed to make you into a heavenly being. This may account for the rough time Christians go through, for He is turning every one of his children into 'a little Christ.' He is not like a trainer who teaches a horse to jump better; He is in the business of turning horses into winged creatures." Clyde Kilby, The Christian Word of C. S. Lewis, pp. 181-182.
"Wounded healers must forsake the prideful tendency to be defined only in terms of strengths and wholeness. They must will authenticity, especially where they're still weak and tempted. That liberates the witness of God's incredible sufficiency and makes real that sufficiency through others who mediate Christ's grace and truth." Andrew Comiskey, Pursuing Sexual Wholeness, p, 191
"The historical roots of the theory of evolution are quite complex. But apart from a newly awakened fascination with the "laws of history" (Herder, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche) there was, no doubt, another ingredient: the Industrial Revolution with its concept of advance by improved workability. The idea that in the vast factory of nature things which do not work well are discarded for things which work better arises out of the mood of the nineteenth century. The entire universe was made to fit the drab climate of Manchester. While the pic of Genesis, with its powerful poetic form, was rejected as "anthropomorphic," an evolutionist concept of how things came about is tinged with the ephemeral of the laboratory and the market place." Karl Stern, The Flight from Woman. p. 291
"When people are so self-convinced that the world needs their accomplishments more than their sanctity and prayer-depth, they never do face squarely the overwhelming figure of Christ and his message in life and word." Thomas Dubay, S. M., The Evidential Power of Beauty, p. 301
"Ministries which attack only the surface of sin and fail to ground spiritual growth in the believer's union with Christ produce either self-righteousness or despair, and both of these conditions are inimical to spiritual life." Richard F. Lovelace in "Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal"
"Every Christian experience is an experience of faith; that is, it is an experience of what we have not...We are not saved by the love we exercise, but by the love we trust." P. T. Forsyth in "Christian Perfection"
"The heart has reasons which reason knows nothing of." Blaise Pascal
"To believe in [Jesus Christ] and not to believe in what He believed, not to love what He loved and not to desire what He desired, is not to believe in Him." Alexander Schmemann in "Of Water & the Spirit"
"Because victory is his, therefore it is ours. If only we will not try to gain the victory but simply to maintain it, then we shall see the enemy utterly routed. We must not ask the Lord to enable US to overcome the enemy, nor even look to HIM to overcome, but praise him because he has already done so; he IS victor. It is all a matter of faith in him. If we believe the Lord, we shall not pray so much but rather we shall praise him more. The simpler and clearer our faith in him, the less we shall pray in such situations and the more we shall praise." Watchman Nee in "Sit, Walk, Stand."
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Monthly Archives: March 2011
Losing Control (thirteenth in a series)
In addition to our character traits, our natural abilities or skills such as leadership, administration, hospitality or those in the technical or mechanical realm must also be surrendered to the Lord. In his book, The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee gives the example of someone whose natural talent is public speaking – the ability to get up before a crowd of people and address them eloquently and without reservation. However, Nee notes, if that person uses her talent to preach without first surrendering it to the Lord, then she will inevitably end up calling more attention to herself than to Jesus. Continue reading
Losing Control (twelfth in a series)
One could say that the Christian life is a life-long course in “Christ-likeness.” In a sense, we are students and Jesus is our Teacher. Therefore, we are not simply learning about our faith – or about Jesus as an abstract subject – we are learning how to live our life in the way that Jesus would live it if he were in our circumstances, both good and bad, with our unique gifts, talents and opportunities. In becoming like Jesus each of us is becoming our own unique self, as God intended, formed in his image (Genesis 1:27). Sin is responsible for the degree to which we do not currently “resemble” God. But through the Holy Spirit we can regain what was lost to sin; we can come to resemble our Father as we become, more and more, like his Son. Continue reading
Losing Control (eleventh in a series)
It was after a miscarriage, a time when I was also exhausted and disillusioned from the effects of trying to minister to others out of my own will power rather than the authority and grace of Jesus Christ, that I came to my senses. I confessed my willful and prideful behavior and resolved that Jesus would be in charge of my life from that point on. This began my journey in “losing control.” Yet, while I had taken an important first step by recognizing my problem, I had no clue what to do next. Every thought, every instinct and reflex I possessed had been honed to think of myself first and foremost. How was I to put the brakes on something so deeply ingrained and respond differently? It was akin to expecting that a cat could stop stalking its prey. Continue reading
Careful For Nothing 