To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
When God issues a call to us, it is always a holy call. The vocation of dying is a sacred vocation. To understand that is one of the most important lessons a Christian can ever learn. When the summons comes, we can respond in many ways. We can become angry, bitter or terrified. But if we see it as a call from God and not a threat from Satan, we are far more prepared to cope with its difficulties.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the sacred nature of life's challenges, including death, and encourages a faithful response to such calls from God.
R. C. Sproul's quote reflects on the profound nature of life's transitions, particularly death, as a divine calling rather than a mere misfortune. It suggests that recognizing these moments as holy summonses from God enables individuals to face them with faith and grace, rather than succumbing to negative emotions like anger or fear. This perspective transforms our approach to life's most daunting experiences, instilling a sense of purpose and acceptance.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be fitting in a sermon on the importance of facing life's trials with faith.
More from R. C. Sproul
All quotes →I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
Similar quotes
I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have - I can reflect light into the dark places of this world - into the black places in the hearts of men - and change somethings in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.
Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.
Only a fool would leave the enjoyment of rainbows to the opticians. Or give the science of optics the last word on the matter.
Human beings are no longer born to their place in life...but are free to employ their faculties and such favorable chances as offer, to achieve the lot which may appear to them as desirable.
Philanthropic and religious bodies do not commonly make their executive officers out of saints.
Not even Ares battles against necessity.