Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11
“We have incredible powers of self-deception and denial. Jesus sees and knows the truth about us that we most need to know. And because he loves us and is bent on blessing us, he is willing to tell us the truth, even though it might be uncomfortable for us to hear.”
Nancy Guthrie, Blessed
“The creative action of the Christian’s life is to prepare his death in Christ.”
Flannery O’Connor, Memoir of Mary Ann
“What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”
Frederick Buechner, Godric
“One of the main ways we move from abstract knowledge about God to a personal encounter with him as a living reality is through the furnace of affliction. … While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life’s joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world’s sorrows, tasting the coming joy.”
Tim Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
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