FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Thursday, June 28, 2007,8:32 p.m.
A COUPLE OF GREAT QUOTES
Through the medium of this blog, a bunch of people have been lately asking questions like, How can I be closer to God even if I don't feel Him? I'm hurt - how do I get healing? And other things along those lines. Here's a great quote from William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-44) in his Readings in St. John's Gospel (first series):
"Both for perplexity and for dulled conscience the remedy is the same; sincere and spiritual worship [John 4:23-24]. For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to His purpose - and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. Yes - worship in spirit and truth is the way to the solution of perplexity and to the liberation from sin."
Here's another couple of quotes that are great (I'm reading a new book on worship by Warren Wiersbe - really good, especially what he gleans from other people and shares all in one place!).
"Whoever seeks God as a means towards desired ends will not find God."
- A.W. Tozer
"The worship of God is not a rule of safety - it is an adventure of the spirit, a flight after the unattainable."
- Alfred North Whitehead
And a quote from Wiersbe himself in response to the idea that you must put all your troubles and hurts and worries aside to come to the throne of worship: "I may be wrong, but I carry my cares and burdens with me right into the worship service, because it's there that I can get the perspective I need to deal with them successfully. (Real Worship, page 22)"
I think I might go one step further and wonder how you could put aside your burdens to worship when we're supposed to be worshipping all the time. I love the idea of gaining the perspective by looking at the throne of the Almighty.
Lastly, a quote that speaks to worship being both about attitudes (awe, reverence, respect) and actions (bowing, praising, serving): "Worship is not an unexpressed feeling, nor is it an empty formality. True worship is balanced and involves the mind, the emotions, and the will. It must be intelligent; it must reach deep within and be motivated by love; and it must lead to obedient actions that glorify God. (Real Worship, page 20-21)"
Anyway, I thought they were all good - hopefully there's something there to chew on for a bit.
"Both for perplexity and for dulled conscience the remedy is the same; sincere and spiritual worship [John 4:23-24]. For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to His purpose - and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. Yes - worship in spirit and truth is the way to the solution of perplexity and to the liberation from sin."
Here's another couple of quotes that are great (I'm reading a new book on worship by Warren Wiersbe - really good, especially what he gleans from other people and shares all in one place!).
"Whoever seeks God as a means towards desired ends will not find God."
- A.W. Tozer
"The worship of God is not a rule of safety - it is an adventure of the spirit, a flight after the unattainable."
- Alfred North Whitehead
And a quote from Wiersbe himself in response to the idea that you must put all your troubles and hurts and worries aside to come to the throne of worship: "I may be wrong, but I carry my cares and burdens with me right into the worship service, because it's there that I can get the perspective I need to deal with them successfully. (Real Worship, page 22)"
I think I might go one step further and wonder how you could put aside your burdens to worship when we're supposed to be worshipping all the time. I love the idea of gaining the perspective by looking at the throne of the Almighty.
Lastly, a quote that speaks to worship being both about attitudes (awe, reverence, respect) and actions (bowing, praising, serving): "Worship is not an unexpressed feeling, nor is it an empty formality. True worship is balanced and involves the mind, the emotions, and the will. It must be intelligent; it must reach deep within and be motivated by love; and it must lead to obedient actions that glorify God. (Real Worship, page 20-21)"
Anyway, I thought they were all good - hopefully there's something there to chew on for a bit.
