The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.
Philip YanceyRead
Politics draws lines between people; in contrast, Jesus' love cuts across those lines and dispenses grace. That does not mean, of course, that Christians should not involve themselves in politics. It simply means that as we do so we must not let the rules of power displace the command to love.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of love and grace over political divisions.
Philip Yancey's quote illustrates the contrast between the divisive nature of politics and the unifying essence of Jesus' love. While he acknowledges the necessity for Christians to engage in political realms, he warns against allowing political power dynamics to supersede the fundamental Christian command to love. This message serves as a reminder that love should guide our actions, regardless of societal divisions.
Themes
LovePoliticsGraceUnityChristianity
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting about local policies, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of compassion in decision-making.
More from Philip Yancey
All quotes →If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace.
Philip YanceyRead
In the stories of extravagant grace given to us by Jesus, there are no loopholes disqualifying us from God's love.
Philip YanceyRead
Parents learn the uses of power and its limits. They can insist on certain outward behavior but cannot change inner attitudes. They can require obedience but not goodness - and certainly not love.
Philip YanceyRead
Prayer is to the skeptic a delusion, a waste of time. To the believer it represents perhaps the most important use of time.
Philip YanceyRead
We grow up hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us.
Philip YanceyRead
Similar quotes
It's sobering to contemplate how much time, effort, sacrifice, compromise, and attention we give to acquiring and increasing our supply of something that is totally insignificant in eternity.
Anne Graham LotzRead
O youth or young man, who fancy that you are neglected by the gods, know that if you become worse, you shall go to worse souls, or if better to the better... In every succession of life and death, you will do and suffer what like may fitly suffer at the hands of like. This is the justice of heaven.
PlatoRead
Most of the great results of history are brought about by discreditable means.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Every fact in the universe will fit every other fact in the universe. A lie never did, never will fit anything but another lie made to fit it. Never, never!
Robert Green IngersollRead
One can quite understand vegetarianism. One can quite understand meat-eating. But it is difficult to understand why a person who is a flesh-eater should object to one kind of flesh, namely cow's flesh. This is an anomaly which call for explanation.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Any power must be an enemy of mankind which enslaves the individual by power and by force, whether it arises under the Fascist or the Communist flag. All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded to the individual.
Albert EinsteinRead