Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.
J. I. PackerRead
What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of himself.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the purpose of life as knowing God.
J. I. Packer's quote reflects the belief that the ultimate aim of human existence is to seek a relationship with God. It suggests that understanding and knowing God is the highest form of fulfillment and brings the greatest pleasure, both to humans and to God himself. In this context, knowledge of God is portrayed not just as intellectual awareness but as a profound, personal relationship that shapes our lives and purposes.
In practice
In a sermon about the importance of spiritual life.
Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.
He that has learned to feel his sins, and to trust Christ as a Saviour, has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity.
We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of thankfulness, joy, and zeal.
The fruit of wisdom is Christlikeness, peace, humility and love. And, the root of it is faith in Christ as the manifested wisdom of God
Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be ADOPTION THROUGH PROPITIATION, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.
Only when it is seen that what decides each individual's destiny is whether or not God decides to save him from his sins, and that this is a decision that God need not make in any individual case, can one begin to grasp the biblical view of grace.
I'm a capitalist. I believe in capitalism. But capitalism only works if you have safety nets to deal with people who are naturally left behind and brutalized by it.
The philosophy I love is very selective. It is really just the bit that is involved in a search for wisdom, and this means a short roll call of names; Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epicurus, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche.
Karma means that all actions have consequences. Grace means that in a moment of atonement -taking responsibility, making amends, asking for forgiveness - all karma is burned.
True humility-the basis of the Christian system-is the low but deep and firm foundation of all virtues.
I'm not sure if the passage of time affects our core identities so much as reveals them to us.
Do not delay in coming to grace, but hasten, lest the robber outstrip you, lest the adulterer pass you by, lest the insatiate be satisfied before you, lest the murderer seize the blessing first, or the publican or the fornicator, or any of these violent ones who take the Kingdom of heaven by force (cf. Mt. 11:12). For it suffers violence willingly, and is tyrannized over through goodness.
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