Easter 1960

Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who forgives' you - out of love - takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice.

The price you must pay for your own liberation through another's sacrifice, is that you in turn must be willing to liberate in the same way, irrespective of the consequences to yourself.

Quote from "Markings" by Dag Hammarskjold

Mirrors

"I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see." - Jimi Hendrix

I think sometimes I get so caught up in my thoughts and struggles that I forget there are others in this world that are a lot worse off than me. This quote reminds me that I have to break out of my own head and put my focus them. By getting out of self and helping them with their struggles it helps me overcome my own.

Identity Is Bestowed

Deep within the Arrows stay, poisoning our self-perceptions, until someone comes along with the power to take them away, free us from all the false selves we use to weather the world’s weather, and restore to us our true identity. Identity is not something that falls on us out of the sky. For better or for worse, identity is bestowed. We are who we are in relation to others. But far more important, we draw our identity from our impact on those others—if and how we affect them. We long to know that we make a difference in the lives of others, to know that we matter, that our presence cannot be replaced by a pet, a possession, or even another person. The awful burden of the false self is that it must be constantly maintained.

We think we have to keep doing something in order to be desirable. Once we find something that will bring us some attention, we have to keep it going or risk the loss of the attention.

And so we live with the fear of not being chosen and the burden of maintaining whatever it is about us that might get us noticed and the commitment never to be seen for who we really are. We develop a functional self-image, even if it is a negative one. The little boy paints his red wagon a speckled gray with whatever Father left in the can after putting a new coat on the backyard fence. “Look what I did!” he says, hoping for affirmation of the wonderful impact his presence has on the world. The angry father shames him: “What do you think you’re doing? You’ve ruined it.” The boy forms an identity: My impact is awful; I foul good things up. I am a fouler. And he forms a commitment never to be in a place where he can foul things up again. Years later, his colleagues wonder why he turned down an attractive promotion. The answer lies in his identity, an identity he received from the impact he had on the most important person in his world and his fear of ever being in such a place again.

Excerpt from The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge

http://www.ransomedheart.com/ministry/default.aspx

Strong Language

John used the strongest language of any of the apostles, and he
said that if we claim to have fellowship with God and yet are in
darkness, we lie. There are a great many folk today who say they
have fellowship with Him, and they’re not settling the things that
are wrong in their lives. My friend, if you are going to walk with
God, you are going to walk in light. And if there is sin in your
life, you are not walking with Him. You cannot bring Him down
to your level.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ, his Son, cleanseth [keeps on cleansing] us from
all sin. (1 John 1:7)

He died to save us from the guilt of sin. I have been saved –
that’s justification. I am being saved – that is sanctification. That’s
what the old theologians call deliverance from the pollution of
sin.

Excerpt from How to have a Fellowship with God by Dr. J. Vernon McGee


http://www.thruthebible.org/site/c.irLMKXPGLsF/b.4104243/k.B4BD/Booklet_Downloads.htm

Sin is Adultery

The word sin has lost its meaning in our culture. Wonderful tasting foods are marketed as "sinfully delicious." Sin is sexy, fun, and thrilling and greatly misperceived as "something fun and enjoyable that God doesn't want me to do." We rarely think of sin as the source of all we hate in life...of all that steals, kills, and destroys.

Sin at the core is choosing my will and ways, despite what God declares about his will and ways that lead to love and life. Basically, when I don't trust that his ways will get me the life that satisfies, I choose my will and ways-that's sin. To most, it feels like no big deal because it's the way of the world.

To God...it feels like adultery.

excerpt from Soul Revolution by John Burke