Devotional Quotes

Submitted by Jennifer Power

I want to apologize for my lack of blog posts lately. I am finishing up my degree from Lincoln Christian University in just 10 days, and I would love to take a few minutes today to share some quotes from the book Devotional Classics: A Renovare Resource for Spiritual Renewal which I am reading for a class I am taking on Christian Spirituality. I highly recommend this book to anyone desiring to go deeper in the Kingdom of God and of life in His Spirit. It is wonderful to experience the wisdom of the ages and can be dangerous to read only modern writers. These quotes reflect the cries of my heart and the work God is currently doing in my own life, and I pray you will find some encouragement and motivation from taking a few minutes to read them today.

Gregory of Nyssa (331-396):

“This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because like slaves we servilely fear punishment, nor to do good because we hope for rewards, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by some business-like arrangement. On the contrary, disregarding all those things for which we hope and which have been reserved by promise, we regard falling from God’s friendship as the only thing dreadful and we consider becoming God’s friend the only thing worthy of honor and desire. This, as I have said, is the perfection of life.”

Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510):

“Our self-will is so subtle and so deeply rooted within our own selves and defends itself with so many reasons, that when we try to fight against it, we manage to lose in the end. We end up doing our own will under many covers – of charity, of necessity, or of justice. But God’s love wills to stand naked and without any cover since it has nothing to hide.”

“When God finds a soul that rests in him and is not easily moved, he operates within it in his own manner. That soul allows God to do great things within it. He gives to such a soul the key to the treasures he has prepared for it so that it might enjoy them. And to this same soul he gives the joy of his presence which entirely absorbs such a soul.”

“I do not want to turn my eyes from you, O God. There I want them to stay and not move no matter what happens to me, within or without.”

John Wesley (1703-1791):

“We should always remember that love is the highest gift of God. All of our revelations and gifts are little things compared to love. There is nothing higher in religion. If you are looking for anything else, you are looking wide of the mark. Settle in your heart that from this moment on you will aim at nothing more than that love described in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. You can go no higher than this.”

“Sins of omission are avoiding to do good of any kind when we have the opportunity. We must beware of these sins and, instead, be zealous of good works. Do all the good you possible can to the bodies and souls of your neighbors. Be active. Give no place to laziness. Be always busy, losing no shred of time. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Also, be slow to speak. It is said, ‘In a multitude of words sin abounds.’ Try not to talk too much, or for a long period of time. Not many people can converse profitably beyond an hour’s time. Especially avoid pious ‘chit-chat’ or religious gossip.”

Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667):

“First, Do not think better of yourself because of any outward circumstance that happens to you. Although you may – because of the gifts that have been bestowed upon you – be better at something than someone else (as one horse runs faster than another), know that it is for the benefit of others, not for yourself.”

“Fourth, Nurture a love to do good things in secret, concealed from the eyes of others, and therefore not highly esteemed because of them. Be content to go without praise, never being trouble when someone has slighted or undervalued you.”

“Thirteenth, Take an active part in the praising of others, entertaining their good with delight.”

William Temple (1881-1944):

“The only way to deliver me from my self-centeredness is by winning my entire heart’s devotion, the total allegiance of my will to God – and this can only be done by the Divine Love of God disclosed by Christ in his life and death.”

“We are not our own ends. Our value is our worth to God, and our end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy him forever.’”

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963):

“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time or so much of your money or so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself; my own shall become yours.