QuoteProject
The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice-and so the pain-of the cross.
John Stott
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True peacemaking stems from love, yet it risks becoming mere appeasement without justice. Forgiveness requires effort and reflects the deeper truths of love and justice.

In this quote, John Stott emphasizes that the foundation of genuine peacemaking is love; however, if justice is overlooked, this love can degenerate into mere appeasement, which lacks true substance. He asserts that both forgiveness and the act of seeking forgiveness come at a significant cost, highlighting that authentic Christian peacemaking is intertwined with love, justice, and the inherent suffering that comes from embodying the teachings of the cross.

Themes

PeacemakingLoveJusticeForgivenessAuthenticity

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech on conflict resolution, one might refer to this quote to emphasize the importance of love and justice in achieving peace.

More from John Stott

We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.
John StottRead
Mission arises from the heart of God Himself and is communicated from His heart to ours. Mission is the global outreach of the global people of a global God.
John StottRead
An unchurched christian is a grotesque anomaly. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community.
John StottRead
Saving faith is resting faith, the trust which relies entirely on the Savior.
John StottRead
It is a great comfort to know that our judge will be none other than our savior.
John StottRead
To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God's love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us and from paralyzing fear because He reigns. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship.
John StottRead

Similar quotes

This life of ours...human life is like a flower gloriously blooming in a meadow: along comes a goat, eats it up---no more flower.
Anton ChekhovRead
All things are manifestations of one thing only.
Paulo CoelhoRead
...which causes me to wonder, my own purpose on so many days as humble as the spider's, what is beautiful that I make? What is elegant? What feeds the world?
Louise ErdrichRead
It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disasters to discuss the matter.
ThucydidesRead
I stand before you as a writer without any ground of being out of which to write: really blown about from country to country, culture to culture till I feel - till I am - nothing. As it happens, I like it that way.
Ruth Prawer JhabvalaRead
The scientists who attack mainstream religion, rather than striving for peaceful coexistence with it, damage science, and also weaken the fight against fundamentalism.
Martin ReesRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.