This Sunday’s readings: Psalm 32

Reflections

In one long glorious acknowledgment of failure, he laid himself bare before God.
~ John Grisham, The Testament

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.
~ George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), 1819-1880, English Novelist & Poet

Sin is the human tendency not just to lurch and stumble and screw up by accident. Sin is our active inclination to break stuff, ‘stuff’ here including promises, relationships we care about, and our own well being.
~ Francis Spufford, English author, teacher

We are all serving a life sentence in the dungeon of the self.
~ Cyril Connolly (1903-1974), English author and literary critic

Malcolm Muggeridge talks about the dark little dungeon of my own ego. That is sin, a twist of self-centeredness that has us imprisoned. But God’s order is that we love him with all our being, and then that we love our neighbor and put ourselves last. Sin is the reversal of the order.
~ John Stott (1921-2011), English clergyman & author

God is so faithful. He says, ‘If you bring me your sin, if you uncover it before me, I will cover it. I will do the very thing that you’re trying to do in your own strength and power.’
~ Juan Sánchez, Pastor & Author

And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Not only was the sin itself pardoned, but the iniquity of it; the virus of its guilt was put away, and that at once, so soon as the acknowledgment was made. God’s pardons are deep and thorough: the knife of mercy cuts at the roots of the ill weed of sin.
~ Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892, Pastor

It has made me better loving you… it has made me wiser, and easier, and brighter. I used to want a great many things before, and to be angry that I did not have them. Theoretically, I was satisfied. I flattered myself that I had limited my wants. But I was subject to irritation; I used to have morbid sterile hateful fits of hunger, of desire. Now I really am satisfied because I can’t think of anything better. It’s just as when one has been trying to spell out a book in the twilight, and suddenly the lamp comes on. I had been putting out my eyes over the book of life, and finding nothing to reward me for my pains; but now that I can read it properly I see that it’s a delightful story.
~ Henry James, 1843-1916, Novelist

The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.
~ Thomas Merton 1915-1968

For what is idolatry if not this: to worship the gifts in place of the Giver himself?
~ John Calvin, 1509-1563, French-Swiss theologian and reformer

I can safely say … that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.
~ A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963, pastor and writer

God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.
~ Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758, author, theologian and pastor

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.
~ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Beauty awakens the soul to act.
~ Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321, Italian Poet

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
~ Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968, Minister