Holiness is not for wimps and the cross is not negotiable, sweetheart, it's a requirement.
Interpretation
Holiness requires strength and commitment, not weakness or compromise.
This quote emphasizes that achieving holiness and faithfulness to the teachings of the cross requires a strong will and unwavering dedication. It conveys that one cannot approach spiritual growth with timidity or a willingness to negotiate principles; instead, one must embrace the challenges and sacrifices involved in living a truly devout life.
In practice
In a sermon about commitment to faith, this quote could remind the audience of the strength required in their spiritual journey.
I am not like a pebble on the beach - a grain of sand on the seashore or just one of millions of human beings past, present and future. No, I am a unique human being loved by God as if I were an only child - the only fruit of his creative powers.
I must not permit the evil capabilities of human nature to sour my faith in the tremendous good that is possible despite the frailty of that nature.
The sinner who suddenly realizes God's love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death.
Our memories are our own, and we cannot blame anything or anyone in the past for any pain dwelling there. If we open the door to them or keep hashing over past incidents in our minds, we have only ourselves to blame.
Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.
Love has been defined, analyzed, explained and excused. It has been the cause of wars, feuds, heroism, martyrdom, inordinate passion, and beautiful friendships. It pulls two people of opposite temperaments together into a married state and permits them to live happily. It makes friends understand each other without the necessity of words.
Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is.
Imaginative truth is the most immediate way of presenting ultimate reality to a human being... ultimate reality is what we call God.
Power tends to confuse itself with virtue, and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor.
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
A traveller must have the back of an ass to bear all, a tongue like the tail of a dog to flatter all, the mouth of a hog to eat what is set before him, the ear of a merchant to hear all and say nothing.
Oddly, I feel more protected when I write in Italian, even though I'm also more exposed.
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