Being able to articulate the gospel with accuracy is one thing; having its truth captivate your soul is quite another.
J. D. GreearRead
The gospel has done its work in us when we crave God more than we crave everything else in life - more than money, romance, family, health, fame - and when seeing His kingdom advance in the lives of others gives us more joy than anything we could own. When we see Jesus as greater than anything the world can offer, we'll gladly let everything else go to possess Him.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of valuing a relationship with God above all worldly desires and achievements.
J.D. Greear's quote highlights the transformative power of faith in creating a deep desire for God that surpasses all other ambitions or desires, such as wealth, love, or success. It suggests that true fulfillment comes from prioritizing one's spiritual life and finding joy in the growth of faith, both personally and in others, rather than in material possessions or accolades.
In practice
In a sermon about spiritual priorities, one might use this quote to illustrate a life devoted to God.
Being able to articulate the gospel with accuracy is one thing; having its truth captivate your soul is quite another.
There would be no one there to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistance with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
The Constitution that I interpret and apply is not living, but dead, or as I prefer to call it, enduring. It means, today, not what current society, much less the court, thinks it ought to mean, but what it meant when it was adopted.
True repentance begins with KNOWLEDGE of sin. It goes on to work SORROW for sin. It leads to CONFESSION of sin before God. It shows itself before a person by a thorough BREAKING OFF from sin. It results in producing a DEEP HATRED for all sin.
For the rest, whatever we have got has been by infinite labor, and search, and ranging through every corner of nature; the difference is that instead of dirt and poison, we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light.
She thought it was part of the hardship of her life that there was laid upon her the burthen of larger wants than others seemed to feel – that she had to endure this wide hopeless yearning for that something, whatever it was, that was greatest and best on this earth.
War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.
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