Quotes On My Mind Today...

Instead of brain-dumping, I thought I'd share these quotes which are all rattling around in my heart and mind... from a variety of books I'm currently reading... hopefully they'll speak to you as well:

If you have a genuine desire to please God, you will want to discern as much of His will as you can. You will be faithfully storing up Scripture, properly interpreted and related to other passages of Scripture, every day. You will not wait until the problem comes to go running for your Bible. The more that you learn through daily study and thoughtful, meditative assimilation of the truth into life, the more prepared you will be to meet it when the crunch comes on Thursday. ... Don't be concerned about how much or how little knowledge you have at the moment; just continually get all that you can. ~Jay Adams, What To Do On Thursday

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Love must be learned, and learned and learned again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked. ~Katherine Anne Porter

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Jesus did live in a family, and as Betsy Ricucci points out, that's all He had done at the time the Father proclaimed, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased" (Mt 3:17). "What had Jesus done to receive such praise? Nothing but live in His own home, honoring His parents and serving His father's carpentry business. Apparently that was enough to please God." ~Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

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We live in slavery. True, we have (in Western countries) abolished the institutionalized forms of slavery... [but] Freedom is on everyone's lips. Freedom is announced and celebrated. But not many feel or act free. Evidence? We live in a nation of complainers and a society of addicts. Everywhere we turn we hear complaints... and everywhere we meet the addicts. We trade masters; we stay enslaved.

The Christian is the person who recognizes that our real problem is not in achieving freedom but in learning service under a better master. ~Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

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Principles of Bible Interpretation... [selected points I found particularly helpful]:
* Avoid any brand-new interpretations. (The Spirit is at work in others besides you.)
* Pursue a well-rounded emphasis in the study of the whole counsel of God. (Some go overboard for one kind of study (e.g., prophecy)-- don't!)
* Don't sacrifice thoroughness and care for speed. (Take adequate time; it is better to come to no conclusion that to the wrong one.)
~Jay Adams, What To Do On Thursday

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The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
He knows those who take refuge in Him.

~Nahum 1:7