We pick out a text here and there to make it serve our turn; whereas , if we take it all together, and considered what went before and what followed after, we should find it meant no such thing.
John SeldenRead
All things are God's already; we can give him no right, by consecrating any, that he had not before, only we set it apart to his service - just as a gardener brings his master a basket of apricots, and presents them; his lord thanks him, and perhaps gives him something for his pains, and yet the apricots were as much his lord's before as now.
Interpretation
We acknowledge that everything belongs to a higher power, and by dedicating it to that power, we simply recognize its rightful ownership.
This quote reflects the philosophical perspective that all things ultimately belong to God, and when we dedicate something to Him, we are not actually granting Him ownership, but rather recognizing the inherent relationship of everything to the divine. The analogy of a gardener bringing apricots to his master illustrates the act of offering as a recognition of gratitude and stewardship, emphasizing that ownership is not transferred but acknowledged.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of stewardship in faith communities.
We pick out a text here and there to make it serve our turn; whereas , if we take it all together, and considered what went before and what followed after, we should find it meant no such thing.
Of all the actions of a man's life, his marriage does least concern other people, yet of all the actions of our lives, 'tis the most meddled with by other people.
They that govern the most make the least noise.
Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.
Pleasures are all alike simply considered in themselves: he that hunts, or he that governs the commonwealth, they both please themselves alike, only we commend that, whereby we ourselves receive some benefit.
I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will.
My father was a man who didn't consider himself learned. He was a man who liked to be a farmer. He enjoyed his dairy farm and felt the calling. So there was a dedication. I was dedicated as a child to the service of God, and so there was this continual centering of a greater purpose than your own.
It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.
In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them.
It doesn’t matter how old I get, but as long as I continue to live I’ll always discover something new about myself.
To know God as the sovereign disposer of all good, inviting us to present our requests, and yet not to approach or ask of him, were so far from availing us, that it were just as if one told of a treasure were to allow it to remain buried in the ground.
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