Category: Quotes

Marriage brings the property of one person over to the other, as they both now share the resources…

…the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its husband Christ. Thus He presents to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle…. Christ, that rich and pious husband, takes as a wife a needy and impious harlot, redeeming her from all her evils, and supplying her with all His good things. It is impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have been laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her husband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which she can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and hell, saying: “If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine”
–Martin Luther

I am so glad that He chose me even though I didn’t deserve it!

In many of our prayers, we speak to God, but we don’t ask Him to speak back to us. In fact, we might be afraid to hear from God, knowing that He might say something to us that we don’t want to hear. He might tell us “no” to the request we have asked, or He might ask us to do something that we don’t really want to do. Because of this, we might be like the children of Israel, who once said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” They wanted someone to be a go-between, a mediator, for them with God. But instead of asking the request of the children of Israel, I believe we should pray this prayer from 550 years ago:

Let not God speak to us or we will die? Not so, Lord, not so do I pray. Rather with Samuel the prophet I entreat humbly and earnestly: “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” Do not let Moses or any of the prophets speak to me; but You speak, O Lord God, Who inspired and enlightened all the prophets; for You alone, without them, can instruct me perfectly, whereas they, without You, can do nothing. They, indeed, utter fine words, but they cannot impart the Holy Spirit. They do indeed speak beautifully, but if You remain silent they cannot inflame the heart. They deliver the message; You lay bare the sense of the message. They place before us mysteries, but You unlock their meaning. They proclaim commandments; You help us to keep them. They point out the way; You give strength for the journey. They work only outwardly; You instruct and enlighten our hearts. They water on the outside; You give the increase. They cry out words; You give understanding to the hearer.
…Speak, therefore, Lord, for Your servant listens. “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” Speak to me for the comfort of my soul and for the amendment of my life, for Your praise, Your glory, and Your everlasting honor.
–Thomas à Kempis

Even several hundred years ago, Martin Luther knew that all Christians were to be workplace pastors to those around them (in other words, you are to be a minister where you work):

It is pure invention that bishops, priests, and monks are to be called the “spiritual estate”; while princes, artisans, and farmers are the “temporal estate.” That is indeed a fine bit of lying and hypocrisy…. All Christians are truly of the “spiritual estate,” and there is among them no difference at all but that of office….. There is really no difference between laymen and priests, princes and bishops, “spirituals” and “temporals,” as they call them, except that of office and work…. A cobbler, a smith, a farmer, each has the work and office of his trade, and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bishops, and everyone by means of his own work or office must benefit and serve every other, that in this way many kinds of work may be done for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, even as all the members of the body serve one another.
–Martin Luther

Jesus is the only “pattern” we must follow. And because He really lives His life in us, we too can “walk even as He walked” (1 John 2.6), and “do as He has done” (John 13.15), “love as He has loved” (Eph. 5.1-2), “forgive as He forgave” (Col. 3.13), “have this mind, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2.5), and therefore we are able to follow the example He has left us (1 Pet. 2.21), lay down our lives for the brethren as He did (1 John 3.16). It is only because He became like us that we can become like Him.
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We see now what it meant for the Son of God to empty himself and become poor. It meant a laying aside of glory; a voluntary restraint of power; an acceptance of hardship, isolation, ill-treatment, malice and misunderstanding; finally, a death that involved such agony — spiritual even more than physical — that his mind nearly broke under the prospect of it. It meant love to the uttermost for unlovely human beings, that they through his poverty might become rich. The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity — hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory — because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.
–J. I. Packer