My life goal is to see the world's one billion people with disabilities embraced and encouraged by the church.
Joni Eareckson TadaRead
Programs, systems and methods sit well in the ivory towers of monasteries or in the wooden arms of icons. Head knowledge comes from the pages of a theology text. But the invitation to know God - truly know Him - is always an invitation to suffer. Not to suffer alone, but to suffer with Him.
Interpretation
True knowledge of God involves shared suffering, not just intellectual understanding.
This quote emphasizes that genuine knowledge of God goes beyond theoretical comprehension found in religious texts; it invites individuals into a deep relationship where they experience suffering alongside God. This suffering is not meant to be faced in isolation, but rather in companionship with the divine, suggesting that understanding God deeply often entails encountering life's challenges together with Him.
In practice
During a sermon about faith, this quote can be used to illustrate the depth of divine relationship.
My life goal is to see the world's one billion people with disabilities embraced and encouraged by the church.
Heartache forces us to embrace God out of desparate, urgent need. God is never closer than when your heart is aching.
...we will stand amazed to see the topside of the tapestry and how God beautifully embroidered each circumstance into a pattern for our good and His glory.
My wheelchair was the key to seeing all this happen—especially since God’s power always shows up best in weakness. So here I sit … glad that I have not been healed on the outside, but glad that I have been healed on the inside. Healed from my own self-centered wants and wishes.
If you truly believe in the value of life, you care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done, so that in the end, the glory goes to God and not to the person.
Why does the writing make us chase the writer? Why can't we leave well enough alone? Why aren't the books enough?
A person is not merely a single subject distinguished from all the others. It is especially a being to which is attributed a relative autonomy in relation to the environment with which it is most immediately in contact.
This Christmas may we be consistent in living the Gospel, welcoming Jesus into the centre of our lives.
My thoughts are starts I can't fathom into constellations.
O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.
When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself, 'if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of.'
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