Reflections

When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness.
~ Oswald Chambers, 1874-1917, Evangelist

Paul would not only be astonished by our lackadaisical attitude towards holiness, but he would be horrified that mostly we just don’t care – unity and holiness to Paul, is the greatest thing. Unity is easy if you don’t care about holiness. Holiness is easy if you don’t care about unity. … Paul was trying to hold these two things together throughout his ministry.
~ N.T. Wright, Research Fellow, Oxford

Deep in our timid hearts is a desire to be loved mildly, nothing more. That way, we retain control, we set the terms, we avoid risk. Our loving God, in His ferocious intensity, will have none of it.
~Ray Ortlund, contemporary pastor and author

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
~ Job 42:5-6

The Resurrecting power of God is at the Christian’s fingertips, yet they never access it because they are afraid to tell the truth about themselves.
~ Scott Sauls, Pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
~ Luke 5:8

This Sunday’s readings: Isaiah 6:1-10

Reflections

One who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all.
~ Brennan Manning: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.
~ Bette Midler

“All husbands are unfaithful in one way or another.” Lillian and Daisy glanced at each other with raised brows. “Father isn’t,” Lillian replied smartly.
Mercedes responded with a laugh that sounded like crackling leaves being crushed underfoot. “Isn’t he, dear? Perhaps he has stayed true to me physically—one can never be certain about these things. But his work has proved a more jealous and demanding mistress than a flesh-and-blood woman could ever be. All his dreams are invested in that collection of buildings and employees and legalities that absorb him to the exclusion of all else. If my competition had been a mortal woman, I could have borne it easily, knowing that passion fades and beauty lasts but an instant. But his company will never fade or sicken—it will outlast us all. If you have a year of your husband’s interest and affection, it will be more than I have ever had.
~ Lisa Kleypas, It Happened One Autumn

What is kinder—to believe the best of people and burden them with a nobility beyond their endurance—or to see them as they are, and accept it because it makes them comfortable?
~ Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Action expresses priorities.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

This Sunday’s readings: Exodus 20:1-6