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“‘Be not anxious for the morrow’: either that is cruel mockery for the poor and wretched, the very people Jesus is talking to who, humanly speaking, really will starve if they do not make provision to-day… or it is the unique proclamation of the gospel of the glorious liberty of the children of God, who have a Father in heaven, a Father who has given his beloved Son. How shall not God with him also freely give us all things?”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“1. Draw me from created good,
From self, the world, and sin
To the fountain of Thy blood,
And make me pure within
Chorus: If Thou hast drawn a thousand times
(Oh draw me Lord again)
Around me cast the Spirit’s bands
(Oh draw me Lord again)”
— Benjamin Beddome
“In spite of errors and abuses, Christians in the past had sound intuitions about the centrality of fasting in the Christian life. In the early Church, fasting was not an isolated practice reserved for a day or a season. It was a clue to all Christian living, a perspective on the whole of discipleship. To be a Christian meant to participate in a great feast. It meant also to observe a great fast.”
—Peter J. Leithart
“The simple, possessive pronoun, ‘your’ on Sinai, and now the simple possessive pronoun ‘our’ on the New Testament mountain, join the people of God to God. God was not introduced to Israel, coldly and formally as ‘Yahweh, the God,’ but warmly as ‘Yahweh, your God.’ And now in the same spirit, God is given to us not only as the Father, but as ‘Our Father.’ The ‘our’ means we belong and are at home. It is a possessive pronoun, meaning that God the Father owns us yet gives himself to us so that he is ours and we are his. In the simple word ‘our’ is the joy of the whole gospel. We will never be able to calculate the honor that has been done us by being allowed to say, ‘Our Father.’’’
—F.D. Bruner, Matthew, A Commentary
“Nine Ascending steps of loving one’s enemy: 1.) take no evil initiative; 2.) do not avenge another’s evil; 3.) Be quiet; 4.) suffer wrongfully; 5.) surrender to the evil doer more than he demands; 6.) do not hate the evil doer; 7.) Love him; 8.) Do him good; 9.) Entreat God on his behalf.”
—John Chrysostom, 5th Century Church Father
“There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet.”
— Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
“I once heard the worst thing
A man can do is draw a hungry crowd
To tell everyone his name, pride and confidence
But leaving out his doubt
I’m not sure I bought those words
When I was young, I knew most everything
These words have never meant as much to anyone
As they now mean to me
The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town
‘Cause nothing happens here
That doesn’t happen there
So when you run, make sure you run
To something and not away from
‘Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane
To chase you down”
— The Avett Brothers “The Weight of Lies”
“I used to float, now I just fall down
I used to know but I’m not sure now
What I was made for
What was I made for?”
— Billie Eilish lyrics, “What was I made for?”
“Sex is sinful to the degree that, instead of drawing you closer to other human beings in their humanness, it unites bodies but leaves the lives inside them hungrier and more alone than before.”
— Frederick Buechner
Q. 135. What are the duties required in the sixth commandment?
A. The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies, and lawful endeavours, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any; by just defence thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit; a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreation; by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness; peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches and behavior: forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil; comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent.
— Westminster Larger Catechism