The Wisdom of Faith

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”

~Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French existentialist philosopher

“God writes straight with crooked lines.”

~Portuguese Proverb

“[‘Acknowledge God in all your ways’ (Proverbs 3:6)] has far more to do with one’s experience of God than with comprehension of doctrinal points about God.”

~John F. Evans, professor of Hebrew and Presbyterian clergyman

“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”

“A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author and literary critic

“Isn’t it interesting how simply being in proximity to God creates a moral self-awareness…? [T]here is something about God that is so pure, even if unspoken, that when near Him, it becomes so plain that nothing is like Him, especially in terms of righteousness.”

~Jackie Hill Perry, Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him

“It is easier for us to get to know God than to know our own soul...God is nearer to us than our own soul, for He is the ground in which it stands...so if we want to know our own soul, and enjoy its fellowship, it is necessary to seek it in our Lord God.” 

“The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.”

~Lady Julian of Norwich (c. 1343-c.1416), theologian, anchoress, and mystic

“I have come to one conclusion: All that I am, all that I aspire to be, all that I was before, is by the grace of God.”

~Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 2016 Dartmouth Commencement Speaker

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 3:1-12 (ESV)

Proverbs 3

1 My son, do not forget my teaching,

  but let your heart keep my commandments,

2 for length of days and years of life

  and peace they will add to you.

3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;

  bind them around your neck;

  write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 So you will find favor and good success

  in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

  and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

  and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

  fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your flesh

  and refreshment to your bones.

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth

  and with the firstfruits of all your produce;

10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,

  and your vats will be bursting with wine.

11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline

  or be weary of his reproof,

12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,

  as a father the son in whom he delights.

Hebrews 12

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

 nor be weary when reproved by him.

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

 and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.