Jesus describes Himself as a door, a gate, a portal. In other words, an escape hatch. He has come to free us from a meaningless existence and liberate us to a life filled with adventure. He has come to lead us out of the mundane and into the extraordinary. Strangely enough we find it hard to trust Him, while all the time He has been trying to lead us out of the dark dungeons we have created for ourselves and let us run free in the light of day. When we come to Him, he translates us into an entirely new realm of living. His promise is that in Him we will find the life that our hearts have always longed for. Jesus was crucified as a criminal, but what His accusers didn’t know was that He was planning and fulfilling history’s most extraordinary prison break.
Presumption
Bob Goff
Some people speak with a great deal of authority about what God is doing right now. I’m always amazed because I can never figure out God that quickly. I usually understand what God is doing by seeing it through the rearview mirror. Only then can I connect the dots, and even then, it’s a pretty dodgy sketch. Maybe that’s why the Bible described what we are often doing as looking through a mirror dimly. The Bible says that right now we only know “in part” and that one day, after we’ve gone, we’ll know “in full.” That makes more sense to me because it means our understanding will always have gaps and gaps are good because they leave room for God to fill in the spaces.
Howard G. Hendricks
One of the great killers in Bible study is the statement, “I already know that.”
Michael Maiden
People with a spirit of offense will watch your life with a jaundiced critical view of all you say and do. They’re ready to pounce on the first thing you say or post they disagree with by unleashing personal attacks are unfollowing you. That is toxic, manipulative behaviour. Remind yourself that God loves them too, and refuse the impulse of responding to them in an ungodly way. Never be seduced into changing your core values, just to gain or keep followers.
Ed Stetzer
April 14, 2020
Tribalism conforms to the pattern of this world and does not fight for the basic truth that should unite all Christians. …secondary issues have conflated the spiritual and the natural in a way that weakens our witness and embroils us in deep conflict that distracts from and distorts the gospel of Jesus. Unflinching devotion to a tribe not only pushes us to fight against issues that are not connected to the gospel and don’t advance the mission of God, but it also affects how we view others who disagree with us. They become opponents we have to beat rather than lost people made in the image of God whom we are to love and extend God’s grace to. Our true fight is not against those who are hurting in the world; it is against the sinful and demonic forces of darkness.
(Christians in the Age of Outrage)
Thomas a Kempis
Do not be influenced by the importance of the writer, and whether his learning be great or small, but let the love of pure truth draw you to read. Do not inquire, Who said this? but pay attention to what is said.
Madeleine L’Engle
We all tend to make zealous judgments and thereby close ourselves off from revelation. If we feel that we already know something in its totality, then we fail to keep our ears and eyes open to that which may expand or even changes that which we so zealously think we know.
Max Lucado
We are presumptuous not when we marvel at His grace, but when we reject it.
Leon Morris
God has kept some things back from us. Let us not proceed as though all has been revealed.