God’s New Humanity

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

“Though sin wars, it shall not reign; and though it breaks our peace, it cannot separate from his love. Nor is it inconsistent with his holiness and perfection, to manifest his favor to such poor defiled creatures, or to admit them to communion with himself; for they are not considered as in themselves, but as one with Jesus, to whom they have fled for refuge, and by whom they live by faith.”

John Newton

“My friend, if you think of your Christian life … with this sense of grudge, or as a wearisome task or duty, I tell you to go back to the beginning of your life, retrace your steps to the wicket gate through which you passed. Look at the world in its evil and sin, look at the hell to which it was leading you, and then look forward and realize that you are set in the midst of the most glorious campaign into which a man could ever enter, and that you are on the noblest road that the world has ever known.”

M. Lloyd-Jones

“Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade – not outside of it.  The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not right they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word.  But the person whose vocation it is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest: It is not right for us to leave the service of our tables to preach the word.”

Dorothy Sayers

“Power is for flourishing – teeming, fruitful, multiplying abundance.  Power creates and shapes an environment where creatures can flourish . . . Image bearing is for power . . . image bearing is for flourishing.  The image bearers do not exist for their own flourishing alone, but to bring the whole creation to its fulfillment. Why is power a gift? Because power is for flourishing.  When power is used well, people and the whole cosmos come more alive to what they were meant to be. And flourishing is the test of power . . . In enslavement, one human being asserts unlimited power over another, an assertion that requires not just the inflation of the slave owner’s power to unholy, godlike levels, but the eradication of the slave’s power.”

Andy Crouch, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant . . .”

Philippians 2: 5-7

“Discipline is like a vaccine. It inflicts lesser pain now to avoid greater pain later.”

Dan Doriani, The Life of a God-Made Man

“There’s one more voice you may need to adjust. It’s the voice in your head whispering, There’s not enough. Not enough resources, spots in the best schools, teacher’s attention, opportunities, friends who will provide the right type of influence. Not enough hours in the day, funds in the account, time to protect the planet, chances to do things over. Fear of scarcity is alive and blooming inside the minds of most parents. That’s what sends their voices into the pinched and panicky zone. Fear is behind the rushing, hovering, chiding, and pleading that sours our conversations with our children . . .   For as long as I have practiced therapy with families, parents have been worried about scarcity . . . Relinquish the fear and you open a door to enchantment.”

Wendy Mogel, Voice Lessons, 4.

“Salvation is  . . . membership in the family of God . . .The creation of a family with children is the reason for all of God’s activity.  This is how he intends to show his glory . . . Our sonship to God is the apex of creation and the goal of redemption . . . The story of Paradise lost becoming Paradise regained is the story of God’s grace bringing us from alienation from him to membership in his family . . . Our self-image, if it is to be biblical, will begin just here. God is my Father (the Christian’s self-image always begins with the knowledge of God and who he is!); I am one of his children (I know my real identity); his people are my brothers and sisters (I recognize the family to which I belong and have discovered my deepest ‘roots’).”

Sinclair Ferguson

“The Bible doesn’t say that men and women are unequal. Neither does the church. There are not second-class citizens in the New Jerusalem. It is husbands and wives that are unequal . . . And the difference there is not one of worth, ability or intelligence, but of role. It is functional, not organic.  It is based on the exigencies of the Dance, not on a judgment as to talent. In the ballet, in any intricate dance, one dancer leads, the other follows. Not because one is better (he may or may not be), but because that is his part. Our mistake, here as elsewhere, is to think that equality and diversity are irreconcilable. The common notion of equality is based on the image of the march. In a parade, really unequal beings are dressed alike, given guns of identical length, trained to hold them at the same angle, and ordered to keep step with a fixed beat. But it is not the parade that is true to life; it is the dance. There you have real equals assigned unequal roles in order that each may achieve their individual perfection in the whole. Nothing is less personal than a parade; nothing more so than a dance. It is the choice image of fulfillment through function, and it comes very close to the heart of the Trinity. Marriage is a hierarchical game played by co-equal persons. Keep that paradox and you move in the freedom of the Dance; alter it, and you grow weary with marching.”

Robert Farrar Capon

“Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes, in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But, the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

“Marriage is a great institution . . . but I ain’t ready for an institution yet.”

Mae West

“Many evangelicals act like they are still living in Jerusalem or Samaria. Consider, for example, the issue of . . . taking personal offense at the behavior and language of unbelievers. If I go to see a movie in Babylon, should I not expect the film to reflect Babylonian beliefs and values? As a Christian, I may disagree strongly with those beliefs and find the values utterly contrary to God’s law, but surely that should not be surprising. Nor, if I am living in exile in Babylon, does it make sense to be offended that Babylonians act like Babylonians, or that they fail to make films that reflect the beliefs and values of Jerusalem . . . It is hard to live in exile, hard to be surrounded by people who do not share our deepest convictions. It is much easier to be reactionary in Babylon, and more satisfying, too, because being offended by them makes us feel so very righteous. Besides, it is disappointing to be stuck in Babylon when what we really want is to live in Jerusalem. It is hard work to find creative and winsome ways to translate the gospel into terms they will understand. It requires discipline to develop skill in discernment, and single-mindedness to nurture biblical literacy in the midst of busyness that presses in on us. It takes time and energy – and perhaps a great deal of study and thinking – to give honest answers to honest questions . . . It takes perseverance to love sinners whose sin we find repugnant, and  humility to remember that our sin seems less wicked only because it is ours . . . Seeing ourselves as living in exile will help us better understand what that faithfulness consists of.”

– Denis Haack

“The world is drowning in its efforts at life; it does not need lifeguards who swim to it carrying barbells.”

– Robert Farrar Capon

How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.”

– C.S. Lewis

“The sin I once feared to lose became a delight to dismiss. You turned them out and took their place, pleasanter than any pleasure.”

– Augustine

“The deepest word that can be spoken about sanctification is that it is a progress towards true humanity. Salvation is, essentially considered, the restoration of humanity to men . . . The greatest saints of God have been characterized, not by haloes and an atmosphere of distant unapproachability, but by their humanity. They have been intensely human and lovable people with a twinkle in their eyes.”

– James Phillips

“[The difference between the husband and the wife] is not one of worth, ability, or intelligence, but of role. It is functional, not organic. It is based on the exigencies of the dance, not on a judgment as to talent. In the ballet, in any intricate dance, one dancer leads, the other follows. Not because one is better (he may or may not be), but because that is his part. Our mistake…is to think that equality and diversity are irreconcilable. The common notion of equality is based on the image of the march. In a parade, really unequal beings are dressed alike, given guns of identical length, trained to hold them at the same angle, and ordered to keep step with a fixed beat. But it is not the parade that is true to life; it is the dance. There you have real equals assigned unequal roles in order that each may achieve his individual perfection in the whole. Nothing is less personal than a parade; nothing more so than a dance. Marriage is a hierarchical game played by co-equal partners. Keep that paradox and you move in the freedom of the dance; alter it, and you grow weary with marching.”

– Robert Farrar Capon

“True shalom, comprehensive flourishing, mirrors the pattern of the Trinity itself, in which there is both unity and diversity. The choice between teeming and order, diversity and unity, is a false choice. True abundant life is found where “the one” and “the many” meet in “the three.” Healthy institutions provide the ordered context in which surprise and diversity can flourish, but they also provide the diverse and varied environment that makes order healthy rather than repressive.”

– Andy Crouch

“We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”

– Nicene Creed

“The Christian life after all is a life, it is a power, it is an activity. This is the thing we so constantly tend to forget. It is not just a philosophy, it is not just a point of view, it is not just a teaching that we take up and try to put into practice. It is all that, but it is something infinitely more. The very essence of the Christian life, according to the New Testament teaching everywhere, is that it is a mighty power that enters into us; it is a life, if you like, that is pulsating in us. It is an activity, and an activity on the part of God.”

– Martin Lloyd-Jones

“Hoping for others is hard, but not the hardest. Praying for others is hard, but not the hardest. The hardest task for people who believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ is in ‘living the sort of life that makes people say, ‘Ah, so that’s how people are going to live when righteousness takes over our world.’”

– Cornelius Plantinga

“The purpose of our lives is to remove the veil from the Father’s face and to display something of God’s glory to the world.”

-Dale Bruner

“I ask for thee for the daily strength, to none that ask denied, A mind to blend with outward life, while keeping at thy side, Content to fill a little space, if thou be glorified.”

-Anna Waring

There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all . . . it is God upon the throne that we love to preach.  It is God upon His throne whom we trust.”

– Charles Spurgeon

Come ye sinners, poor and wretched
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus, ready, stands to save you,
Full of pity, joined with power.
He is able, He is able;
He is willing; doubt no more.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requires
Is to feel your need of Him.
This He gives you, this He gives you,
‘Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.

– Joseph Hart

“A needy heart is a praying heart. Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer . . . If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life . . . Learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life.”

– Paul Miller