“A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love, and in order to divert himself, having no love in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest forms of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal. And it all comes from lying—lying to others and to yourself.”
Elder Zosima, in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Book II, Chapter 2
Category: Quotes (Page 3 of 9)
When it comes to hearing God, the Bible is the language of his heart. Nothing he says in any other way in any other context will ever override, undermine or contradict what he has said in the Scriptures. That’s why Jesus doesn’t just show up on the road to Emmaus and say, ‘Hi, it’s me!’ Instead, he takes considerable time to deliver a lengthy biblical exposition in which he reinterprets God’s Word radically, in the light of his own life, death and resurrection.
Pete Greig
How To Hear God (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2022), p. 36.
(I heard it on Lectio 365 for April 27)
‘It is Christ himself, not the Bible, who is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to him’
C.S. Lewis
The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Vol. 3: Narnia, Cambridge & Joy, 1950-1963, edited by Walter Hooper (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2007), p. 246.
“Loving, forgiving, and doing good to our adversaries is our duty. Yet we must do this without giving up and without being cowardly. We shall resist whenever our adversaries demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the Gospel. We shall do so without fear, but also without pride and without hate.”
-from a sermon preached by André Trocmé the sunday after France fell to the German attack in World War II
“To Know God means to look like Him and to live in a way that reflects his character.”
Rikk Watts
When unsure and seeking God’s calling on your life, Ray Bakke advises:
Follow Jesus, start loving your neighbors, and somewhere in there your calling will come.
Rick Villodas reports a helpful question from Bishop Robert Barron to consider when trying to discern God’s will:
Which path makes me most generous?
Of course, being in a trusting community with other followers of Jesus who can be with us in discernment is so important!
We must understand that God does not “love” us without liking us – through gritted teeth – as “Christian” love is sometimes thought to do. Rather, out of the eternal freshness of his perpetually self-renewed being, the heavenly Father cherishes the earth and each human being upon it. The fondness, the endearment, the unstintingly affectionate regard of God toward all his creatures is the natural outflow of what he is to the core – which we vainly try to capture with our tired but indispensable old word “love”.
– Dallas Willard
Andrew Walls has graduated on to that next level of existence that those of us who follow Jesus look forward to by faith. He was born in 1921! I never met him; but I heard him speak and read his books. He was quite a scholar of world Christianity, and I appreciated learning quite a lot from him. The Regent College Bookstore, where you can get audio of some classes that he taught there, shared a quote from him in its note on his passing. I think it is worth repeating, as an example of the orientation I found in his encouraging work.
“But since none of us can read the Scriptures without cultural blinkers of sorts, the great advantage, the crowning excitement which our own era of Church history has over all others, is the possibility that we may be able to read them together. Never before has the Church looked so much like the great multitude whom no man can number out of every nation and tribe and people and tongue. Never before, therefore, has there been so much potential for mutual enrichment and self-criticism, as God causes yet more light and truth to break forth from his word.”
Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History (1996), pg.15
Rest in peace, Andrew Walls! Thank you for your excellent scholarship.
We would rather be ruined than changed.
– W.H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die.
I tend towards reading (or listening to) scripture in wider and wider context. More at one time. Sometimes, however, a jewel can be lost in the wider scope of a ….narrative? Poetry? Whatever one wants to consider the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible, what we call chapter 28 is a gem that ends in an even more precious gem. Here it is, from the NIV translation.
1 There is a mine for silver
Job 28
and a place where gold is refined.
2Â Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3Â Mortals put an end to the darkness;
they search out the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.
4Â Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,
in places untouched by human feet;
far from other people they dangle and sway.
5Â The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
6Â lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
7Â No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon’s eye has seen it.
8Â Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.
9Â People assault the flinty rock with their hands
and lay bare the roots of the mountains.
10Â They tunnel through the rock;
their eyes see all its treasures.
11Â They search the sources of the rivers
and bring hidden things to light.
12 But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
13 No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, “It is not in meâ€;
the sea says, “It is not with me.â€
15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.
20 Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.
22 Destruction and Death say,
“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.â€
23 God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
24 for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
28 And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.â€
Wow. Once more.
And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.â€
This reminds me of the transfiguration of Jesus. God speaks, and He says Mark 9:7:
This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!â€
Simple, eh? As usual, the theory is simple but the practice more challenging. May you and I be blessed in the challenge.