Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches measles.
Francis SchaefferRead
The command is to love him, not just to think about him, or do things for him. We are not to stop with a proper legal relationship - for example, to think of a man as legally lost, which he is, in the sight of a holy God - without thinking of him as a person. Saying this, we can suddenly see that much evangelism is not only sub-Christian, but subhuman - legalistic and impersonal.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love requires personal engagement rather than mere legal obligation or impersonal actions.
In this quote, Francis Schaeffer emphasizes the importance of truly loving others as individuals rather than simply adhering to legal duties or superficial interactions. He warns against a mindset that approaches relationships in a detached, bureaucratic manner, suggesting that genuine love and evangelism should be rooted in a heartfelt connection to others as persons, not mere legal entities.
Themes
LoveRelationshipEvangelismPersonalConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about the importance of personal engagement in faith, one might use this quote to emphasize how love requires depth beyond legalistic views.
More from Francis Schaeffer
All quotes →In two areas above all others the Christian demonstration of love and communication stands clear: in the area of the Christian couple and their children; and in the personal relationships of Christians in the church. If there is no demonstration in these two places, on the personal level, the world can conclude that orthodox Christian doctrine is nothing but dead, cold words.
Francis SchaefferRead
Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person as a Christian. What a Christian portrays in his art is the totality of life. Art is not to be solely a vehicle for some sort of self-conscious evangelism.
Francis SchaefferRead
There are two main reasons why we may not be bringing forth the fruit we should. It may be because of ignorance, because we may never have been taught the meaning of the work of Christ for our present lives.
Francis SchaefferRead
We should not view men with a cynical eye, seeing them only as meaningless products of chance, but, on the other hand, we should not go to the opposite extreme of seeing them romantically. To do either is to fail to understand who men really are--creatures made in the image of God but fallen.
Francis SchaefferRead
You must not lose confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor. If our confidence in God had to depend upon our confidence in any human person, we would be on shifting sand.
Francis SchaefferRead
Similar quotes
It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe - the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor - loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.
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Some people are trapped by the belief that love comes in finite quantities, and that our kind of love exhausts the supply upon which they need to draw. I do not accept competitive models of love, only additive ones.
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We talked, she and I. She asked about my work and it was a pretense, she was not interested in my work. And when I answered, it was a pretense. I was not interested in my work either. There was only one thing that interested us, and she knew it. She had made it plain by her coming.
John FanteRead
Love yourself first and everything falls into line.
Lucille BallRead
And do so, love, yet when they have devised_x000D_ _x000D_ What strainèd touches rhetoric can lend,_x000D_ _x000D_ Thou, truly fair, wert truly sympathized_x000D_ _x000D_ In true plain words by thy true-telling friend;_x000D_ _x000D_ And their gross painting might be better used_x000D_ _x000D_ Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abused.
William ShakespeareRead
Give love and unconditional acceptance to those you encounter, and notice what happens.
Wayne DyerRead