February 9 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

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GOD GAVE THE INCREASE
Saints are never giants
Who hoped to do God favors.
They are only souls
Whose needs took root
In shallow dust,
Becoming redwoods grown
From dandelion spores.

—Calvin Miller in
A Symphony in Sand

DOWNSIZING GOD
Our evangelical culture tends to take the awesome reality of a transcendent God who is worthy to be feared and downsize Him so He could fit into our "buddy system." The way we talk about Him, the way we pray, and, more strikingly, the way we live shows that we have somehow lost our sense of being appropriately awestruck in the presence of a holy and all-powerful God. It's been a long time since we've heard a good sermon on the "fear of God."

If God were to show up visibly, many of us think we'd run up to Him and high-five Him for the good things He has done.

—Joseph M. Stowell in
Moody (Nov./Dec. 1997)

THE RIGHT KIND OF FEAR
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.

—Oswald Chambers in
The Highest Good

READING AHEAD
It is a good thing that we are not God; we do not have to understand God's ways, or the suffering and brokenness and pain that sooner or later come to us all.

But we do have to know in the very depths of our being that the ultimate end of the story, no matter how many aeons it takes, is going to be all right.

—Madeleine L'Engle in
Glimpses of Grace

THE BIG PICTURE
God's mercy was not increased when Jesus came to earth, it was illustrated! Illustrated in a way we can understand. Jesus knows.

—Eugenia Price in
Share My Pleasant Stones.

SIN'S GOOD NEWS To deny sin is bad news, indeed. The only good news is sin itself. Sin is the best news there is, ...