Confucius believed that through self-cultivation, one can mold one's character because it is plastic and malleable. Virtue does not come from one's natural ability or innate capacity, but from one's single-minded effort and disciplined practice. Work is therefore not an expression of an individual's own passions and values, but of one's persistent dedication to loving one's family and community.
Never wish to be a want.
Unlike Americans, who value egalitarian relationships, the Chinese recognize the hierarchical nature of relationships that have uneven power dynamics. Since it is easy for those with power to become paternalistic or patronizing when they serve others, we must learn Christ's humility and self-emptying. As we fill our different roles, we need to fulfill our responsibilities with love and a humbleness to serve. This Chinese understanding of humility serves as a helpful counterbalance to American approaches to urban ministry and development. As guests in any community, we need to approach our neighbors empty of expectations and plans. Instead, we must become reliant on the people of peace whom God sends out. When doing ministry, our joy and strength cannot be based on our own success or power. We receive these gifts only when being guests of the King and recognizing our limitations while in exile.
In a jaded world, it takes a certain type of person to remain a romantic - someone with resolute faith in goodness.
Although Iβm a bit tentative about it all, I would like to say that if my death saved your life I would gladly engage in such an exchange. But if I must make that exchange knowing that you are likely to reject it, and that you will turn on it and brutally ridicule it until the beauty of my sacrifice is altogether destroyed, I cannot imagine taking such an action. Yet, God does that every single day.
I think that the stories that God has told and the things that He has done seem utter implausible to us only because we lock Him into the tiny rubrics that the stories He has told and the things that He has done invite us outside of.
One of the greatest plagues that besets our humanity is our inability to believe in the totality of who we are and the utter vastness of what we can achieve. And because of this crippling disbelief, we settle for the lesser lives that we were never built for. Yet despite the enormity of our skepticism, it is well within our reach to smash such a crippling disbelief for, in fact, that is the very thing that we were built to do.
One of the greatest plagues that besets our humanity is our inability to believe in the totality of who we are and the utter vastness of what we can achieve. And because of this crippling disbelief, we settle for the lesser lives that we were never built for. Yet despite the enormity of our skepticism, it is well within our reach to smash such a crippling disbelief for, in fact, that is the very thing that we were built for.
I think that the stories that God has told and the things that He has done seem utterly implausible to us only because we lock Him into the tiny rubrics that the stories He has told and the things that He has done invite us outside of.
When we fall to the bottom of the hole that weβve spent our lives digging, we will find that God was there waiting for us long before we showed up. And in one hand Heβs holding all of the shovels that we used to dig it, and in the other Heβs got a ladder.
Love is like a beautiful glass, transparent, precious and clear. Once broken, you can imagine how it looks. Can be fixed but it's never same again.
Faith is accepting [Godβs offer of love]βeven if it means holding his hand in the dark.
The greatest sacrifice is to unreservedly give the whole of oneself to another, knowing full well that such a gift must be wholly rejected, blithely tossed aside and trampled underfoot as some worthless filth because (much like ourselves) the depravity of the recipient is such that they can only be saved through the death of the giver. And I donβt know of any human who would do that, but I know a God Who did.
We wonder why God waits to step in after itβs too late. Thatβs because with God there is no such thing as too late.
We see the world as fragmented, because we blink. But God, who never blinks, sees the entire universe as we cannot see it. Whole.
With faith, you can overcome your fears.
Faith can cure fear.
Face your fears with faith.
Only the blood of the blameless Lamb, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, can wash the stain of sin to be made as clean as cotton.
Only Christ Jesus can clean your heart.
