Home > Work > Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You
161 " It’s not a form of barter. It’s grace. "
― John Ortberg , Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You
162 " In solitude we remember we are not what anybody thinks of us - we are sheep tended to by the Shepherd.-John Ortberg "
163 " gratification of mind and body will actually dismantle your soul. "
164 " leak out "
165 " my soul will never find rest until it rests in God. "
166 " Our ceaseless craving for more, though it can kill us when unredeemed, may be a hint of the joy that we were made for when the soul finds its center in God. "
167 " John of the Cross, writing from his prison cell, says in the dark night the soul is pained but not hopeless. “God’s love is not content to leave us in our weakness, and for this reason he takes us into a dark night. He weans us from all of the pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness. . . . No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the dark night.” We "
168 " There is a pain that means things are coming apart. But then, sometimes there is a pain that means that things might be able to come back together. Surgery can be as painful as stabbing, but it leads to healing. I knew I was beginning to heal. "
169 " Long pause . . . “You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God. "
170 " As Parker Palmer puts it, “The divided life is a wounded life, and the soul keeps calling us to heal the wound. "
171 " Jesus made this diagnosis a long time ago when talking about temptation. “The spirit” — notice the language again — “is willing, but the flesh [the body] is weak.” This is very true and largely ignored and forgotten in our day. Habits eat willpower for breakfast. So there is the will, there is the mind, and there is the body. They are working badly, sometimes in ways that are kind of humorous to us, but often in ways that are horrible and unspeakably tragic. "
172 " Here’s the deal: The more you think you’re entitled to, the less you will be grateful for. The bigger the sense of entitlement, the smaller the sense of gratitude. We wonder why in our world we keep getting more and more and more and keep being less and less and less grateful. This is precisely why. "
173 " The soul without God for eternity is in an abyss. "
174 " When you give your soul rest, you open it to the peace Jesus intends for you. "
175 " Our souls are on loan to us. One day, God will review with us what our souls have become. That is what "
176 " Your soul is not the same thing as your emotions "
177 " When Jesus says the man’s soul will be required, he uses language from the business world; it’s a term that would describe a loan that had fallen due. Our souls are on loan to us. One day, God will review with us what our souls have become. That is what will matter from our lives. "
178 " The idea here is that Jesus engaged in certain practices that allowed God’s grace to keep replenishing his spirit: • He prayed. • He had a circle of close friends — the twelve who went through life with him. He shared everything with them; people underestimate the role of friendship in Jesus’ life. • He engaged in regular corporate worship at synagogue. • He fed his mind with Scripture. • He enjoyed God’s creation — mountain, garden, and lake. • He took long walks. • He welcomed little children and hugged them and blessed them. • He enjoyed partying with non-religious types. Notice that the last one — one you might not have thought about — was so much the case that it actually gave rise to rumors about him: The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and people say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of immoral people. "
179 " Significance as it relates to the word sign — our lives were meant to be signs that point beyond ourselves to God. "
180 " Sin ultimately makes long-term gratitude or friendship or meaning impossible. Sin eventually destroys my capacity even for enjoyment, let alone meaning. It distorts my perceptions, alienates my relationships, inflames my desires, and enslaves my will. This is what it means to lose your soul. "