Quotes-December 2012
Between Christmas and being on vacation, it has been a while since I have posted. We are still on vacation but I hope to have time to post some more about favorite books of the year for our family, my New Year’s goals, and thoughts on staying connected. But for now, here are my favorite quotes of the month.
These next two quotes come from I Exalt You, O God: Encountering His Greatness in Private Worship by Jerry Bridges. This book was given to me by a friend for my birthday back in September and I am enjoying its daily readings as a way to start my day.
p.2 “To attempt to worship God in only the narrow sense of praising him without also seeking to worship Him in our whole way of life is hypocrisy. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they were going through the outward motions of worship, but their hearts were not committed to God.”
p. 10 “I agree with John MacArthur, who wrote: Music and liturgy can assist or express a worshipping heart, but they cannot make a non-worshiping heart into a worshiping one. The danger is that they can give a non-worshiping the sense of having worshiped. So the crucial factor in worship in the church is not the form of worship, but the state of the hearts of the saints. If our corporate worship isn’t the expression of our individual worshipping lives, it is unacceptable.”
From the Message, Romans 13
p. 391 “But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day to day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God.”
Here are my last quotes from Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ by Dallas Willard. I finally finished it but feel like I need to read it again sometime in the future.
p. 194 “It is the God-given vision of us as whole in him that draws all poisons from our relationships to others and enables us to go forward with sincere forgiveness and blessing toward them. Only in this way can we stand free from the wounds of the past and from those who have assaulted or forsaken us.”
p.215 “There is in fact, an inner affinity between the law and the soul. That is why rebellion against the law makes the soul sick and distances it from God. That is why love of the law restores the soul. Law is good for the soul, is an indispensable instrument of instruction and a standard of judgement of good and evil. Walking in the law with God restores the soul because the law expresses the order of God’s kingdom and of God’s own character. That is why it converts and restores the soul. Grace is also essential, but not grace as formless spurt of permissiveness that thrust the law aside.”
p. 248 “So we do not in general, control our beliefs or those of others. We never choose to believe, and we must not try to get ourselves or others to choose to believe. That is God’s work. We can try to understand and try to help others to understand. And beyond that-God must work. Once we understand this and stop trying to get people to choose to believe or to do things they really don’t believe, he will certainly work as we do our part.”
It is always good for me to go back at the end of the month and see what I have read. Hopefully a second run at it will help me apply more of what I read to my life. What have you been reading and learning this past month?