In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, 'That is mine!'.
God created hand, head, and heart; the hand for the deed, the head for the world, the heart for mysticism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the distinct purposes of our physical actions, intellect, and emotions.
Abraham Kuyper's quote reflects on the balance and integration of our physical actions ('hand'), intellectual capabilities ('head'), and emotional or spiritual depth ('heart'). It suggests that each of these elements has its own purpose: the hand represents our ability to act and engage with the world, the head symbolizes our understanding and knowledge, and the heart signifies our deeper emotional and spiritual experiences, especially in relation to the divine or mystical.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about balancing life skills, you might say, 'As Abraham Kuyper once said, God created hand, head, and heart ...'
More from Abraham Kuyper
All quotes βA charity which knows only how to give money is not yet Christian love. You will be free of guilt only when you also give your time, your energy, and your resourcefulness to help end such abuses for good, and when you allow nothing that lies hidden in the storehouse of your Christian religion to remain unused against the cancer that is destroying the vitality of our society in such alarming ways.
When the principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then the battle is your calling, and peace has become sin. You must at the price of dearest peace lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy with all the fire of your faith.
There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is a beauty which God grants when by His grace men are born again. That kind of beauty never vanishes but blooms eternally.
Do not bury our glorious orthodoxy in the treacherous pit of a spurious conservatism.
Similar quotes
We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being.
Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.
When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.
No one, it has been said, will ever look at the Moon in the same way again. More significantly can one say that no one will ever look at the earth in the same way. Man had to free himself from earth to perceive both its diminutive place in a solar system and its inestimable value as a life -fostering planet. As earthmen, we may have taken another step into adulthood. We can see our planet earth with detachment, with tenderness, with some shame and pity, but at last also with love.
Our chaotic, confused world has no greater need than to hear the message of good news - the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is no such thing as a good tax.