If you have a genuine desire to please God, you will want to discern as much of His will as you can. You will be faithfully storing up Scripture, properly interpreted and related to other passages of Scripture, every day. You will not wait until the problem comes to go running for your Bible. The more that you learn through daily study and thoughtful, meditative assimilation of the truth into life, the more prepared you will be to meet it when the crunch comes on Thursday. ... Don't be concerned about how much or how little knowledge you have at the moment; just continually get all that you can. ~Jay Adams, What To Do On Thursday
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Love must be learned, and learned and learned again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked. ~Katherine Anne Porter
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Jesus did live in a family, and as Betsy Ricucci points out, that's all He had done at the time the Father proclaimed, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased" (Mt 3:17). "What had Jesus done to receive such praise? Nothing but live in His own home, honoring His parents and serving His father's carpentry business. Apparently that was enough to please God." ~Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
We live in slavery. True, we have (in Western countries) abolished the institutionalized forms of slavery... [but] Freedom is on everyone's lips. Freedom is announced and celebrated. But not many feel or act free. Evidence? We live in a nation of complainers and a society of addicts. Everywhere we turn we hear complaints... and everywhere we meet the addicts. We trade masters; we stay enslaved.
The Christian is the person who recognizes that our real problem is not in achieving freedom but in learning service under a better master. ~Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
Principles of Bible Interpretation... [selected points I found particularly helpful]:
* Avoid any brand-new interpretations. (The Spirit is at work in others besides you.)
* Pursue a well-rounded emphasis in the study of the whole counsel of God. (Some go overboard for one kind of study (e.g., prophecy)-- don't!)
* Don't sacrifice thoroughness and care for speed. (Take adequate time; it is better to come to no conclusion that to the wrong one.)
~Jay Adams, What To Do On Thursday
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
He knows those who take refuge in Him.~Nahum 1:7
Wonderful quotes to ponder and meander through on this lovely Friday morning Jess. Thanks much :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I especially enjoyed those from Jay Adams. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAll these quotes are really good - thank you for sharing!! The one about love and hate is so true in my own life.
ReplyDeleteJust a point, too, that I wanted to say... because I'm overly sensitive about this :)
In the example of people overemphasizing things in Scripture (from the last quote), and using prophecy of an example: that is definitely true, people do that with prophecy and I've known myself to do that (reformed charismatic).
But I've seen the other extreme, too, where people emphasize truth and doctrine and form too much (maybe idolize is a better word than emphasize) to the loss of the "experiential" times with God.
Nothing to do with your post really, but just thought I'd share - like I said, I'm overly sensitive to that!
Christen
Love the Eugene Patterson quote!
ReplyDeleteGood thing Martin Luther didn't heed the advice to avoid brand-new interpretations!
ReplyDeleteI'm biased because I am a Reform Jew, and Reform Judaism was "brand-new" 200 years ago.
Laurie B
Laurie,
ReplyDelete:) Touche!
Course, one has to put that in the context of only a limited few having access to Scripture vs. now when there have been hundreds of years worth of devoted study to the Scriptures by laypeople and clergy alike.
But-- it's a good comment & observation nonetheless. :)
~Jess
I have GOT to get my hands on The Sacred Marriage. I've been hearing a lot of good stuff about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the quotes.
Jesus did live in a family, and as Betsy Ricucci points out, that's all He had done at the time the Father proclaimed, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased" (Mt 3:17). "What had Jesus done to receive such praise? Nothing but live in His own home, honoring His parents and serving His father's carpentry business. Apparently that was enough to please God." ~Gary Thomas, Sacred MarriageLove this one. When God got ready to start the human race He started with a family and then when He got ready to save the Human race He again did it through the birth of a child into a *family*.
ReplyDeleteyou guys should listen to voddie baucham's message entitled "multigenerational promise". It has change the way I look at being a father.
ReplyDeletego to voddiebaucham.org
Danny, dad to Mac and Madeline lover of Jeni
love that first one!
ReplyDelete