A New Direction

The will is a complex and mysterious part of our being.  For some it is swayed like the willow tree by the wind of desire.  Others are firmly planted in roots of discipline.  I am of the latter group, and with deep roots at that.  But as strong as my will is, right now I'm struggling to care about... anything, really.  So I don't have much in me trying...

And so I'm learning to trust.  With my motivation gone I'm learning to ask in faith to walk by His side because I can't wield my own will to submit.  My Father must be the one to gently bring about what my lack of care cannot.

His grace is not opposed to my effort, but is sufficient when I am weak.

Trying trust,
Lane

So I didn't just put those books on the sidebar because they look pretty... I'm actually reading them, believe it or not.  And God is definitely using them in my life so I decided to share a couple of quotes that have been particularly challenging for me...

"Loss is like a terminal illness.  There is nothing we can do to spare ourselves from such sickness, except perhaps put it off for a while.  But there is another sickness that we can heal -- the sickness of our souls.  In matters of the soul, I do not want to treat symptoms but to heal the illness."
-Jerry Sittser, A Grace Disguised, page 18

"Both artists and athletes understand the nature of true freedom.  They give up their freedom to do whatever they want, subject themselves to strict discipline, and in the end gain the freedom to perform at the highest levels of artistic and athletic achievement.  Loss of freedom actually leads to freedom.  It is the freedom of obedience, gained by following a strict regimen of practice."
-Jerry Sittser in The Will of God as a Way of Life, page 62

"'Our sanctification [does] not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own.  The most excellent method... of going to God [is] that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men, and purely for the love of God.'"
-Brother Lawrence quoted in Jerry Sittser's The Will of God as a Way of Life, page 89

And it is terribly difficult to just put a quote or two but:

"Why does God seemingly require relinquishment before bringing something into being?  Part of the answer lies in the fact that frequently we hold on so tightly to the good that we do know that we cannot receive the greater good that we do not know."
-Richard Foster in Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, page 51

"'The death of my own will' -- strong language.  But all of the great devotional masters have found it so.  Soren Kierkegaard echoes Woolman's experience when he notes, 'God creates everything out of nothing -- and everything which God is to use he first reduces to nothing.'"
-Richard Foster in Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, page 52

I must say that times have changed.  I'm not talking about the fast-paced world that we live in, but the stage of life I'm in.  It's kind of this "out of college, yet not fully in the real world" phase.  And to be honest, it's kind of dull. 

I just slowly thumbed through a precious scrapbook of mine that helped me to vividly remember the life I lived at IU.  And how sweet it was!  It seemed like there was so much excitement to life and so much hope.  Life was precious and at the same time a little carefree.  There were sunny days filled with friends, and adventures in the wilderness.  There were late nights spent studying and weekends of relaxation.  There was tight-knit community bonded together through a shared stage of life.  And, of course, there was that special someone who made more of a difference than anything else. 

Thankfully, she still does.

Remembering,
Lane

My hope is that this blog is more than a reflection of my thoughts, which in light of the supposed 80,000 new blogs created each day hopefully seperates me from the ontourage of people who think that they are worth being heard.  In some ways I do want to be heard, but my hope is that my heart, along with those whose hearts are also shared, is a reflection of what God desperately wants to say to us.  After saying that, I recognize my own need to be careful in my selections.  At any rate, I wanted to post some thoughts that have impacted and expressed my own heart.

On morality and "elements of truth in other religions":

"But (Jonathan) Edwards did raise the question, When can the breadth of the benevolent effects of self-love be broad enough, so that it can be called true virtue?  In 1755, 17 years after he preached the sermon on 1 Corinthians 13, Edwards gave an extremely radical answer.  He said, Only when it embraces the good of the whole universe of being.  Or more simply, Only when it embraces God.  For until then, self-love embraces "an infinitely small part of the existence" because it does not embrace God.

If there could be a cause [like self-love] determining a person to benevolence towards the whole world of mankind, or even all created sensible natures throughout the universe, exclusive of the union of heart to general existence and love to God--not derived from that temper of mind which disposes to a supreme regard to him, nor subordinate to such divine love--it cannot be of the nature of true viture.

...What Ewdwards aims to do is show that God is central and indispensible in the definition of true virtue--to keep God at the center of all moral considerations, to stem the secularizing forces of ethical thinking in his day.  Edwards could not conceive of calling any act truly virtuous that did not have in it a supreme regard to God.  This is why Edwards seems to me so utterly relevant to our day, and why he is a model of God-centered thinking."

-John Piper in Future Grace, pages 389-90

The reason why I have been compelled to post this is because of my whole-hearted agreement with Piper (and Edwards) that in today's spill canvas of ethics we as followers of Christ must in all things, especially moral considerations, include and embrace God.  The religion that says, "We are just like Christians.  We believe in loving our neighbors as ourselves" has no "element of truth" for us to consider.  God must be the center of all motivation, and therefore, in theory and practice, no faith except Christianity can claim any truth in regards to virtue. 

So why was this so important to share?  My hope is that it spurs you on to firmly grasp the truth God has only shared in His Word as it has me.  What a wonderful gift.

In full agreement,
Lane