Theology That Bites Back
“As a red sky at evening predicts fair weather, so also bitter betrayals are often the prelude to great blessings. Some of the greatest blessings in my life have happened in just this way. What I wouldn’t have wished for for anything is now ranked with those things that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 96
“Trimmers, patchers, managers, and other unreliable friends will not hesitate to tell you to lie if lying might make a problem disappear. They will not think of it as a lie, but what it actually is matters. A lie can never be fixed with another lie, not even a flattering one. Any kind of lie, even a peacemaking one, will sap the strength of your ministry. We are to speak the truth in love—but it must be the truth.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 95
“Your central qualifications for ministry are not found in your graduate studies, or in your library, or in the leadership webinars you attend. They are found around the dinner table, in your love for your wife, in kitchen laughter, in your glad sacrifices for your children, and in singing in the car.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 92
“An army might enjoy some tranquil times marching from one battle to another—but the battles are why they are there. The wrong kind of conflict is always to be avoided, but the right kind of conflict is the point.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 91
“There will also be ministry sinkholes where countless hours go and where gratitude is rarely in evidence. This is a problem, but it should be their problem, not yours. The ministry is before the Lord, not before man. Let the Lord repay you, let the Lord thank you.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 90
“In 2 Tim. 2:3-6, the apostle Paul compares the work of ministry to three vocations, each of which involves a goodly amount of sweat—soldiers, athletes, and farmers. The calling of ministry is not for buttercups, and if buttercups can do it, it isn’t ministry.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 89
“This is equivalent to Luther’s comment (which may be apocryphal) that he would rather be governed by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian. Quite so, but we must also remember there are two other options as well. Beware of false dichotomies. There is also the option of the foolish Turk and the wise Christian.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 85
“Christian orthodoxy requires us to deny that the mind and the brain are synonymous. For the secularist, the brain is the driver of the car. For the Christian, the brain is the clutch and transmission that the (invisible) driver of the car, a driver named Soul, Heart, or Mind, uses to make the car go. For the Christian, the glow-brain reductionism of the secularist is like taking x-rays of the clutch in an attempt to find out what song the driver is humming and why he is so happy to get to his destination. A great deal of what makes us go will never be reducible to brain scans.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 84
“When the secular counselor gets to the brain, he has found the roof of the cavern. When the Christian counselor gets to the brain, he has found the bottom step of a staircase that leads up to the top of the tower that looks out over the sea.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 84.
“It is quite possible to glean wisdom from a donkey (Num. 22:31), but this is very different from seeking wisdom among the donkeys.”
Concise and to the Point, p. 81
