Archive for the ‘Quotes’ Category
Quote: Tozer Devotional – Faithful Use of God-given Resources
Such a great reminder to us which is applicable in any culture and economic level of living.
One thing taught large in the Holy Scriptures is that while God gives His gifts freely. He will require a strict accounting of them at the end of the road. Each man is personally responsible for his store, be it large or small, and will be required to explain his use of it before the judgment seat of Christ.
. . .Then there are talents. These are included in the total store granted us by our Heavenly Father. Whether we have one talent or many, we must render up account finally, and the factor that will decide for us is not how many talents we had but what we did with them. The story of the man who hid his talent in the ground makes disquieting reading for the careless Christian who is failing to make use of his gifts. Some with modest gifts have made a brilliant record of spiritual achievement; others with far greater abilities have played through the summer of life like the grasshopper in the fable and have let their gifts lie unused while time idled by. This, we repeat, is tragedy, and that it is common does not make it any the less tragic.
Money is another item. American Christians make so much of it and spend it so lavishly that they have unconsciously learned to take it as a matter for granted and have forgotten that they will be strictly judged for their use of it. The Lord still stands by the treasury and observes what is placed therein. This has been turned into a joke by humorists who are ready always to find something funny in every reference to money. But it is safe to predict that there will be little laughter when the Lord with eyes like a flame of fire looks into our accounts and makes His just audit. We might do well right now to do a little auditing ourselves while there is time to make amends for our failures.
Quote: Remaining Faithful, Henri Nouwen
Many people live with the unconscious or conscious expectation that eventually things will get better; wars, hunger, poverty, oppression, and exploitation will vanish; and all people will live in harmony. Their lives and work are motivated by that expectation. When this does not happen in their lifetimes, they are often disillusioned and experience themselves as failures.
But Jesus doesn’t support such an optimistic outlook. He foresees not only the destruction of his beloved city Jerusalem but also a world full of cruelty, violence, and conflict. For Jesus there is no happy ending in this world. The challenge of Jesus is not to solve all the world’s problems before the end of time but to remain faithful at any cost.
Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread For The Journey: A Daybook Of Wisdom And Faith
Quote: Tozer – On Pursuing Quality
Another good reminder from discerning Christian author.
The emphasis today in Christian circles appears to be on quantity, with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality. Numbers, size and amount seem to be very nearly all that matters even among evangelicals. The size of the crowd, the number of converts, the size of the budget, the amount of the weekly collections: if these look good the church is prospering and the pastor is thought to be a success. The church that can show an impressive quantitative growth is frankly envied and imitated by other ambitious churches.
<…>A little acquaintance with the Bible should show this up for the heresy it is. To judge anything spiritual by statistics is to judge by another than scriptural judgment. It is to admit the validity of externalism and to deny the value our Lord places upon the soul as over against the body. It is to mistake the old creation for the new and to confuse things eternal with things temporal. Yet it is being done every day by ministers, church boards and denominational leaders. And hardly anyone notices the deep and dangerous error.
Quote: Lost but Not Abandoned
Fascinating statement from Tozer about God’s love and concern for lost people.
Man is lost but not abandoned. The coming of Christ to the world tells us both of these things.
Had men not been lost no Savior would have been required. Had they been abandoned no Savior would have come. But He came, and it is now established that God has a concern for men. Though we have sinned away every shred of merit, still He has not forsaken us. ”For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Quotes on Education and Learning – part 1
First part in series of education and learning quotes collected on the Internet.
“Education costs money, but then so does ignorance.” – Sir Claus Moser
“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” – John Cotton Dana
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Brooks Adams
“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.” – Anatole France
“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” – Chinese Proverb
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” – C. S. Lewis
“I may have said the same thing before… But my explanation, I am sure, will always be different.” – Oscar Wilde
“The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn
“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.” — Carl Rogers
Sources:
- English Teachers Network, http://www.etni.org.il/quotes/education.htm
Discovery – Quote
“The real journey of discovery consist not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes,” Marcel Proust (1871-1922).
The quote was found at asa100.com.
C. S. Lewis Quotes
Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.
C. S. Lewis
Sipping my morning coffee and enjoying delicious cheese-cake that my wife coocked yesterday and which I declined to eat because I was full (or fool?) and directing my Firefox to open for me seminary website all I found was 403 Forbidden message, no matter what bookmark I clicked.
Waiting on God is Good
This morning I read this devotional that reminded me of sweet waiting on God in midst of difficulties of life.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
“Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”—I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.
“Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.”—Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.—Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
“You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.—See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
Lam. 3:26; Ps. 77:9; Ps. 32:22; Luke 18:7, 8; Prov. 20:22; Ps. 37:7; 2 Chron. 20:17; Gal. 6:9; Jas. 5:7
I think many if not every Christian got to learn this lesson of trusting patiently and waiting prayerfully and joyfully. Yes latter part of it “to wait joyfully” is somewhat difficult to master. Excellent encouragement can be received from other Christians who walk(ed) closely with the Lord. Yesterday I listened to John Piper’s reading part of Jonathan Edwards’s sermon on Romans 2:10. Levels of happiness in heaven? Well, listen to it yourself. Piper explains his reason of recording it: “The reason I recorded it is that I regard this section as the best thing I have ever read on the issue of varying degrees of reward and happiness and holiness in heaven. It is vintage Edwards. He has thought this through in an amazing way. It opens our eyes to the possibilities of heaven that we have never thought of before.”
Good to Be Near The Lord
As I read these words my heart is touched with realization of his great mercy in Jesus Christ, our true and eternal high-priest.
For me it is good to be near God.
O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.—For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.—Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.—Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us, . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.
Ps. 73:28; Ps. 26:8; Ps. 84:10; Ps. 65:4; Lam. 3:25; Isa. 30:18; Heb. 10:19, 20, 22
Source: Daily Light for Sep. 24, 2007
Quotes: Future, Learning, Success
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there. — Charles F. Kettering (page 78)
He who asks a question is a, fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. — Chinese proverb (page 9)
Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius. — An Wang (page 43)
Source: Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future by Rolf Erikson (Chicago: American Library Association, 2001). Originally found online on Google Books.
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