I question whether, as channels for damnation, Satan has upon earth more apt instruments for breeding infidelity, and for causing men to regard the gospel with contempt, than those who profess to believe it, and then act as though the belief were a matter of no consequence whatsoever.
- Charles Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry, p. 21
O blessed retirement, friend to life’s decline,
Retreats from care, that never must be mine,
How happy he who crowns in shades like these
A youth of labor with an age of ease;
Who quits a world where strong temptations try,
And, since ‘tis hard to combat, learns to fly!
- Oliver Goldsmith, from The Deserted Village
It seems that we humans were designed to find our purpose and meaning not simply in ourselves and our own inner lives, but in one another and in the shared meanings and purposes of a family, a street, a workplace, a community, a town, a nation.
- N. T. Wright, Simply Christian, p. 31
Whether well paid or not, the chief satisfactions are those that involve reaching out to others, trying to make things better… Those who develop a passion for their work gain pleasure from it, and are rewarded with satisfactions that can’t be taken away.
- Derrick Bell, Ethical Ambition, p. 25
Speech is like salt: too little, and we do not taste the flavour of the food; too much, and we are left with the unpleasant taste of the salt. Like salt, our lives and speech are to bring out the ‘flavour’ of Jesus Christ. Too much of ourselves – too much of our talk – will likewise leave an unpleasant taste.
- Sinclair Ferguson, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 60
A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way… A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace.
- Eugene H. Peterson, Living the Message, Reflection for January 13
I found this post (over at Provocations) so inspiring I just had to link to it. At the age of 40 Alphonsuz Rodriguez’ life just unraveled: “His wife died in childbirth, followed shortly by the deaths of his mother and his other children, and the family business failed.” But did he turn his back on God? No!
Rather than shaking his fist at God for such multiple misfortune, Alphonsus decided to dedicate the rest of his life in service to God.
The lesson here is: overcome evil with good. When misfortune, affliction, failure, calamity and what-have-you strike, serve God all the more!
What is man? A vessel that the slightest shaking, the slightest toss will break… A body weak and fragile, naked, in its natural state defenceless, dependent upon another’s help and exposed to all the affronts of Fortune.”
(Seneca, quoted in Alan de Botton’s The Consolations of Philosophy)
The New Testament says something similar; the difference is it subscribes to the idea of providence, not fortune.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
The “spirituality” of the 24/7 global marketplace goes like this:
He who dies with the most toys wins.
Look out for #1.
Nobody gives a damn: remember that!
Get the most, give the least.
The bottom line is the top priority.
(Catherine M. Wallace, Selling Ourselves Short)
A young friend who studied in seminary asked me this morning for my advice on his plan to take up law. I said I fully endorse it, and here are my reasons:
First, it is a financially viable profession. Whether a profession is one that can financially support your needs and the needs of your family is an important consideration. The Bible says in I Timothy 5: 8 that “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In choosing a profession it is not wrong to do so with a view towards how one can fulfill his obligation to provide for his family.
Secondly, it is an influential profession, i.e., lawyers can exert a lot of influence in society either for good or for ill. Many lawyers get to become politicians, legislators, judges, law professors, authors of books, columnists in influential newspapers, conference speakers and business leaders. They get to prosecute or defend significant cases that can change the destiny not only of individuals but of communities, etc. In other words, if you want to make a significant contribution to society being a lawyer can be one way to do precisely that. The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:7 “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Many Christians have a tendency to withdraw from the “world” and its concerns, and to live in a world of their own. But that is not our Lord’s teaching. Jesus taught that we are to be in the world though not of the world (John 17:14-18). Yes, Christians are pilgrims on earth, but during their time of exile they are to “seek the good of the city”. And one way to do that is to be a Christian lawyer.
Thirdly, it can be a God-glorifying profession. Some people think the law is not a field where you can earn an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work, and that an honest lawyer is an oxymoron. I think that depends on the person. Just yesterday a lawyer friend of mine was telling me of a prosecutor who is now a judge. He told me that when this judge was still a prosecutor he was in financially dire straits and would sometimes call my lawyer friend to sell “chorizo” and kitchen utensils. And my lawyer friend out of pity would buy these things from him. This lawyer friend would sometimes have certain documents notarized by this prosecutor and would send money along with the documents as some sort of tip. But this prosecutor (now judge) would always return the money because prosecutors at that time were not allowed to accept payment for documents subscribed under oath before them. My appreciation for this judge grew by leaps and bounds. Formerly I knew him (quite unfairly) to be nothing more than an extremely strict judge. Now I know that he is someone who is living proof that you can glorify God wherever you are – even in the legal profession.
“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” (I Corinthians 7:17)
