Quotes this week that have got me thinking....
- "Under conviction of worldliness, many well meaning persons have simply transferred their huge egos from the world to the church. BEWARE OF SPIRITUAL AMBITION. We are most useful to God when poured free of self and full of Christ." --Beth Moore
- "The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If i wonder if I am being of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord....in the Christian life, godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to thave the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of Jesus." "Blesses are the poor in Spirit..." Matthew 5:3 (prior quote--Oswald Chambers)
- "Must life be considered a failure for someone compelled to stand still, forced into inaction and required to watch the great, roaring tides of life from shore? No--victory is then to be won by standing still and quietly waiting. Yet this is a thousand times harder to do than in the past, when you rushed headlong into the busyness of life. It requires much more courage to stand and wait and still not lose heart or lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up opportunities for work and leave honors to others, and to be quiet, confident and rejoicing while the busy multitiude goes happily along their way. The greatest life is: "after you have done everything, to stand" " (Eph. 6:13) --J.R. Miller
- "I am learning that if I am having trouble submitting to my husband, it actually comes down to the fact that I am having trouble submitting to my Lord." --my friend, Kathy Franklin
- "For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved." --Richard E. Stearns version of Matthew 25:42-43
4 comments:
These are great Maria! Thanks for sharing. Very thought provoking.
The one I am pondering is the one about conscious influence. It is such a fine line. I think you do have to be conscious of your influence. Think about Paul's example. He was not someone who was quiet and timid. Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel. He was bold in his faith. I think it all comes down to motives.
A.W. Tozer in the "Pursuit of God" states the definition of "poor in spirit" this way: "The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the "poor in spirit". They have reached and inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem. That is what the word "poor" as Christ used it actually means."
AW Tozer--he sure has a way with words! thanks for the comments!
I think the quote on 'conscious' influence is that it just flows so naturally from you that you are not even conscious of it...that your self awareness of doing so is gone.
I'm wondering if the point of O. Chambers was that if you are too hung up on 'how you are looking' or 'how you are doing' as a Christian, than you've missed it altogether. I don't think Paul was too hung up on this--he was intently, zealously keeping his eyes on the task at hand...the task God had called him to of preaching the Gospel. I don't think Paul was being 'conscious'; I think he was being obedient.
and yes, I think it all comes down to motives.
thanks for your comments :)
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