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The Way of the Way
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Once a man was on a beach, where countless thousands of starfish had washed up, their life and water ever so slowly ebbing into dust.
Someone came along, and asked him, "What are you doing? Had you the rest of your life to spend doing this, you would not scratch the surface of the dying starfish. You cannot help more than a drop in the bucket. Why do you think that it matters?"
The man calmly, patiently, bent over, took a starfish, and threw it up in the air, arcing as it came down to splash back into the life giving water.
"It mattered to that one."
Teaching is not fallible men claiming divine authority.
It is divine authority claiming fallible men.
Righteousness is not, do what is right and you will be justified.
It is, be justified, and you will do what is right.
The beginning is not man reaching up to God.
It is God reaching down to man.
God is not a reflection of the best in man.
Man is a reflection of the best in God.
Wisdom is not mind establishing the place for faith and building it up.
It is faith establishing the place for mind and building it up.
You do not come to see the world as you should and therefore know God.
You come to know God, and therefore see the world as you should.
The Cross was the point where the power of sin and death crushed God.
It is the point where God crushed the power of sin and death.
The foundation is that God loves you and your neighbor.
The foundation is that you shall love God and your neighbor.
Only those who believe can obey.
Only those who obey can believe.
A wise man will pursue love.
A man of love will pursue wisdom.
Christ shared in our life and died our death,
That we may share in his death and live his life.
The believer abides in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit.
The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit abide in the believer.
Inside of your heart, there is a void that can be filled only by God.
Inside of God's heart, there is a void that can be filled only by you.
If you have nothing that you are ready to die for, then you have nothing that you are ready to live for.
If you will not lose yourself, then you can not find yourself.
If you can not accept that your own wisdom is not the final measure, then you can not become wise.
If you can not let go of efficiency, then you can not use what has been entrusted you properly.
If you do not fear God, then you will not know either courage or peace.
If you do not renounce everything to gain Christ, then you can not truly gain anything.
If you do not see the net sum of all your good works as ----, then you can never produce good works.
Once a man came out of a church service, visibly moved. He walked along with the town cynic, and began to speak.
"There's a new preacher, and his message is totally different."
"Really? What did the old one say?"
"He said that we have all sinned, and that Jesus died for our sins, and that, unless we accept his forgiveness for our sins, we're all going to go to Hell."
"And what does the new one say?"
"He says that we have all sinned, and that Jesus died for our sins, and that, unless we accept his forgiveness for our sins, we're all going to go to Hell."
"Bah! Doesn't sound like much of a difference to me."
"Oh, there's a world of difference. He says it with tears in his eyes."
The just shall live by faith.
Not, "The just shall live by works," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which works are a result.
Not, "The just shall live by meaning," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which meaning is a result.
Not, "The just shall live by rational explanation," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which rational explanation is a result.
Not, "The just shall live by mystery," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which mystery is a result.
Not, "The just shall live by power," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which power is a result.
Not, "The just shall live by security," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which security is a result.
Not, "The just shall live by happiness," to which faith is a means. "The just shall live by faith," of which happiness is a result.
The just shall live by faith.
The more haste, the less speed.
The more prudishness, the less purity.
The more rules, the less order.
The more will, the less power to obey.
The more excess, the less satisfaction.
The more license, the less freedom.
The more wrong means, the less right ends.
It is necessary, not only to believe that God has given the right ends, but also that he knows the best means to those ends.
There is the Law for the lawless.
There is no Law for the righteous.
The Law is not a tool to help people obey. It is a mirror to show people that they can't obey.
It is meant to show people that however hard they try, they need something greater: that the Something Greater is how they are to obey.
Alas, for how many have tried to obey with the Law?
The one man perfect in virtue was the Man of Sorrows, and we are not greater. In this world, virtue is no escape from suffering.
Yet vice is anything from the path of joy. Joy, indeed, is a part of virtue, and can not truly be separated from it.
Virtue is hard to begin with, but ends in joy.
Vice is easy to begin with, but ends in misery.
What does Heaven look like?
He who is proud will see that every man present is present, not because of, but despite what he merits.
He who is rebellious will see people serve an absolute King.
He who desires self-sufficiency will see that joy is offered in community.
He who seeks wealth, prestige, power, and other ways to dominate others, will find his effort in Heaven to be like buying a gun in a grocery store.
He who strives will see that there is no one to strive with.
He who despises the physical will see a bodily resurrection.
He who desires his own interpretation and his own set of beliefs, will see absolute truth in crystalline clarity.
To those who will not let God change their character to virtue and love, even Heaven would be Hell.
Does one use an ice cube to start a fire?
Does one use a chainsaw to mend a torn garment?
Does one use nerve gas to heal paralysis?
Then why do people use worry to create security, or wealth and power to create happiness, or excess to create satisfaction, or distortions of pleasure to surpass pleasure in its proper function?
Perhaps the reason that the Tempter is the Father of Lies, is that only a master of illusion could make sin appear desirable.
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The Way of the Way
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