This Is A Hard Saying...

In all of my Bibles, I have written three quotes in the blank pages at the back. These are quotes I do not want to forget. I read them often, and I read them to other people as well. I want to share them with you.

But before I do, let me just tell you that these quotes are horrible, hard, tough, invasive, hurtful, maddening, offensive - I could go on. I have lived troubled days, and spent sleepless nights, all thanks to these three quotes. Sometimes they nearly drive me mad. I often have wept before the Lord, just because of these three quotes.

Paul tells Timothy, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance." I have to tell you that these three sayings (quotes) are hard sayings - still worthy of acceptance. I do not remember, or maybe never knew, who said them. Maybe you do. But I fear that if I did know, they might not be my best friend.

Before I list these quotes for you, I pray that they will have the same effect on you that they have had on me. I pray that they drive you to your knees in surrender and tears and repentance. I pray that they produce good fruit in you. Now, the sayings...

"Jesus has no tenderness whatever toward anything that is ultimately going to ruin a man in the service of God."

"Our Lord never puts personal holiness to the fore when He calls a disciple; He puts absolute annihilation of my right to myself and identification with Himself - a relationship with Himself in which there is no other relationship."

"If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on your way, certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, it is an indication that there are whole tracts of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze."