I penned this short note in June 1, 2011. It still feels like I wrote this today.
Standing on the edge of a cliff, I see the open wide world ahead of me. So many possibilities, hundreds of opportunities, plenty of room to dream on. My resolve is to spend the whole candle of my life in pursuit of the things of God. No looking back, no regrets.
Kyle Strobel on spiritual formation:
Many [people] are not concerned to actually understand the depths of spiritual formation, nor are they all that interested in really developing a way of life. Rather, they just want some simple answers to fix their broken lives. When push comes to shove, much that goes by the term “spirituality” is really just an extension of our own desire to have a “better,” more fulfilling life. Just as we approach health issues, our posture is about getting it fixed as easily and quickly as possible: Isn’t there just a pill I can take?
Some might call us spoiled. We live in an era of significant and substantial resources for Christians on living the Christian life. We have ready access to books, DVD series, online material, seminars– all in the interest of encouraging us in our daily walk with Christ. The laity, the people in the pew, have access to more information than scholars dreamed of having in previous centuries.
Yet for all our abundance of resources, we also lack something. We tend to lack the perspective from the past, perspectives from a different time and place than our own. To put the matter differently, we have so many riches in our current horizon that we tend not to look to the horizons of the past.
John Piper on pastors who use churches as studios:
Serve your people with your best energy. Serve your people with full affection. Serve your people with focused attention. Feed your flock with the food they need. Don’t give them generic messages for a generic audience. And if God means for you to have a wider impact because of what you are saying to your sheep, let others draw that out. You just be so faithful. Love your people. Serve your people. Feed your people. Beware of the addicting dangers of being widely known. Don’t pursue that. Pursue truth. Pursue edification and worship. Pursue your flock and let the ripples take care of themselves.
A. W. Tozer on the most moving story in all of literature:
A group of literary men was talking about pathos in literature. They were discussing books that moved you to tears. Matthew Arnold said of Burns that his poetry was so poignantly beautiful, piercingly pathetic, that it was hard sometimes to read because it wounds you so deeply. Somebody asked Mr. Dickens what literature he thought had the most pathos. “Oh,” he said, “there is no question– the story of the Prodigal Son. There is nothing like it in all literature.”
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity:
Everyone had warned me not to tell you what I am going to tell you in this last book. They all say “the ordinary reader does not want theology; give him plain, practical religion.” I have rejected their advice. I do not think the ordinary reader is such a fool. Theology means “the science of God,” and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available. You are not children; why should you be treated like children?
Jojo Agot 