P. 125 - I now envision God not so much as a policeman upstairs watching my every move but rather as a Spirit within, coaxing me to realize fully what I was created to be in the first place.
P. 167 - Of all the statistics coming out of Russia, the most astonishing to me is the finding of a recent poll in which 61 percent of Russians identified themselves as Christians - this despite the most determined attempt in history to obliterate faith.
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither," wrote C.S. Lewis. The Soviet experiment of the twentieth century vividly illustrates the second part of his formula. As if a symbol of repentance, a sparkling new Cathedral of Christ the Savior now overlooks the Kremlin, replacing one that Stalin destroyed to make way for a swimming pool.
Chapter 12 "eyes of faith" starts with a quote by William Law,
"One man succeeds in everything, and so loses all. Another meets with nothing but crosses and disappointments, and thereby gains more than all the world is worth."
Yancey explains: Taking God's assignment seriously means that I must learn to look at the world upside down, as Jesus did. Instead of seeking out people who stroke my ego, I find those whose egos need stroking; instead of important people with resources who can do me favors, I find people with few resources; instead of the strong, I look for the weak; instead of the healthy, the sick.
Is not this how God reconciles the world to himself? Did Jesus not insist that he came for the sinners and not the righteous, for the sick and not the healthy?
No comments:
Post a Comment