Scripture: Revelation 2:1-7
Repentance creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you are able to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions of your sin. The sin under all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ.—Tim Keller
Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love. So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing. Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand “the kingdom of God.” Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves.—James K.A. Smith
Hupomonē is not the grim patience which resignedly accepts things, and which bows its head when troubles flow over it. Hupomonē is the courageous gallantry which accepts suffering and hardship and loss and turns them into grace and glory.—William Barclay
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