Doubts
To the wise, doubts can be the best credentials of another’s heart; they are worth ten times the faith of most. For it is truth, and higher truth, such honest doubters are always seeking.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 145
Category: Truth
10 Posts
Legalism
It is much easier to persuade men that God cares for certain observances, than that he cares for simple honesty and truth and gentleness and lovingkindness.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 130
Don’t Try to Win
When arguing a philosophical point, you must leave your opponent room. Let him have a hand in the convincing of himself.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 106
The Living Truth
No teacher should strive to make others think as he thinks, but to lead them to the living Truth, to the Master himself, of whom alone they can learn anything, who will make them in themselves know what is true by the very seeing of it.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 86
Our Business
Our business is not to think correctly, but to live truly. Then first will there be a possibility of our thinking correctly.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 85
Abolishing Sin
Let me start out right here with a protest against the totally false view that Christian Universalists have lax views of sin or doctrine. No view so effectively proves God’s hatred of sin as this view that teaches that He cannot and will not tolerate its existence forever!
— Thomas Allin and Mark T. Chamberlain, Every Knee Shall Bow: The Case for Christian Universalism, p. 17
Meaning
There must be truth in the scent of the pinewood; someone must mean it.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 64
Truths to Remember
When things get hard in a marriage, it can feel like the foundations of your life are giving way. It is good to remember that our foundation is firm, based on the finished work of Jesus Christ for us. There are some things that remain true, at all times and for all of God’s children no matter what. It’s good to let your mind and your heart rest in these truths. Read these aloud. Remember:
I am loved.
I am secure.
I am forgiven.
God is with me.
… For the storms will come, beloved. The wind will howl and the waters will rise. And Jesus, who calmed the storm, who is indeed able to calm all storms, is now and ever will be your help in times of trouble.
— John and Stasi Eldredge, Love and War, p. 174
God’s Timing
God seems to take pleasure in working by degrees. The progress of the truth is as the permeation of leaven, or the growth of a seed.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 19
Stories
I believe in stories. The world has enough dogma. It’s stories we need more of, stories that reverence the still, small voice that sings our life. As Anthony de Mello observed, “The shortest distance between a human being and Truth is a story.” Jesus, himself, told stories about the most common things in the world: a lost sheep, a seed that falls on rocky ground, a woman who sweeps her house in search of a coin, a man whose son runs away from home.
All personal theology should begin with the words: Let me tell you a story.
— Sue Monk Kidd, Firstlight, p. 34-35