Quotes of Note

Each Monday, we share quotes we found encouraging, convicting, thought-provoking,  or all of the above.

Persis:

This is from Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalm 103:13 -

"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." To those who truly reverence his holy name, the Lord is a father and acts as such. These he pities, for in the very best of men the Lord sees much to pity, and when they are at their best state they still need his compassion. This should check every propensity to pride, though at the same time it should yield us the richest comfort. Fathers feel for their children, especially when they are in pain, they would like to suffer in their stead, their sighs and groans cut them to the quick: thus sensitive towards us is our heavenly Father. We do not adore a god of stone, but the living God, who is tenderness itself. He is at this moment compassionating us, for the word is in the present tense; his pity never fails to flow, and we never cease to need it.

Rebecca:

Why should a Christion treat animals humanely? Why should they value all of nature? From Nancy Pearcey:

Genuine respect for animals and the rest of nature . . . derives from the conviction that all creation comes from the hand of God and therefore has intrinsic dignity and value. Scripture teaches that humans are stewards of creation, responsible to a higher authority for the way we care for the world around us (Gen. 1:28). Proverbs 12:10 says, "The righteous care for the needs of their animals." Humanity is not the highest rung of an evolutionary ladder, free to use nature any way we want for our own benefit. Instead we will answer to the Creator for the way we treat his creation.

[Love Thy Body, page 103.]

Kim:

For my Greek Exegesis class, we are reading D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallacies. It is a truly eye-opening, thought-provoking book. In the introduction, Carson outlines the reasons why examining fallacies is helpful, and he provides a potential danger:

The first is that persistent negativism is spiritually perilous. The person who makes it his life's ambition to discover all the things that are wrong -- whether wrong with life or wrong with some part of it, such as exegesis -- is exposing himself to spiritual destruction. Thankfulness to God for both good things and bad things and for his sovereign protection and purposes even in bad things will be the first to go. It will be quickly followed by humility, as the critic, deeply knowledgable about faults and fallacies ( especially those of others!), comes to feel superior to those whom we criticizes. Spiritual one-upmanship is not a Christian virtue. Sustained negativism is highly calorific nourishment for pride. I have not observed that seminary students, not to say seminary lecturers, are particularly exempt from this danger. (p.22)

What Carson is talking about here is the tendency to allow knowledge to puff us up, and it isn't restricted to those studying Greek or those in seminary, for that matter. For anyone who is perceived to be in a position of authority, there is always a fear of spiritual one-upmanship. There is a lot of "sustained negativism" online. We probably see it daily.

Deb:

Sometimes, it can be tempting to give up -- to stop putting forth the effort to walk in obedience and grow in the knowledge of God and His grace. Especially with the rapidly changing cultural environment and the increasing polarization among fellow Christians, my personal motivation and inspiration can wane significantly.

Mike Leake in Torn to Heal encourages us to hold onto God's promises and His Word even when we're navigating the toughest times in life:

Yet God is in the process of redeeming us. The process is slow and it is painful, but God will stop at nothing to bring it about. Completely. All things, both good and ill, work together for our greatest good — conformity to Jesus. This includes our pain… He will stop at nothing to fully redeem us. He does this by changing our desires. And this is good (p. 16).