If I speak what you wouldn't and perhaps
couldn't speak there is a reason for that. I have walked in places where you
would not dare to go. I have dwelt among demons that you would not allow
anywhere near you. I have penetrated the darkness when all that you want to do
is to stay outside and look at it. So I shall speak of what I have seen with
the boldness of the man who has surely seen what he speaks of. He who shakes
his head at me should do so for that is the grace that has been allowed him.
A man should tell the truth as he hears it.
He must speak to anyone who is willing to listen. If he must he should speak in
empty places where people are few. He must speak even if no one is willing to listen.
He must speak and continue to speak in the hope that someone will listen.
May I walk beside you? The journey is long,
and my mind will soon wander away. Let's walk together now before everything
fades away.
It is through abuse that you learn how to use. It is through sin that you develop a hunger for righteousness. It is
after encountering the devil that you long to meet God.
I will not scratch your back today. You may
scratch mine if you like. Maybe then your scratching will be unselfish.
Be grateful for everything, even for the
beggarly gift. You are not entitled to anything, and yet you have been given.
Forgive not because forgiveness is good for
you. Such forgiveness is worthless. Forgive because everyone whom you will ever
forgive is as weak and flawed as you are. People need your forgiveness as much
as you need theirs.
It is good not to ridicule anyone or
anything. We are all quite ridiculous anyway.
Speak the truth even if everybody speaks
it. Speak it especially when nobody speaks it.
Rejection is not always bad. In some cases
it is an absolute must.
What startles me from my complacency? This
is the only thing worth looking forward to.
God should reward me for the many
expletives I did not say to those who richly deserved them. I could have cut
them down without any mercy. But I refused to do so because of God and because
of decency, my own decency. That deserves an award.
If you can turn an absolutely rotten thing
that some rotten person said to you into something strikingly brilliant and
beautiful, then you are surely a man of God, because it is only God who can
make something beautiful out of something utterly rotten.
God rewarded me well when I was at my worst.
Can it therefore be said that he shall reward me more when I improve my
behaviour? And if he rewarded me more when I behaved better, then he surely
rewarded me for my improved behaviour. I know that God is gracious, and if he
rewarded a man for his behaviour then that reward cannot be gracious as it is
merited. Thus I conclude that a perfectly gracious God cannot and should not
base his reward on behaviour. Needless to say my conclusion is based on human
wisdom, which is not as wise as God's foolishness.
To conquer the thing you fear you must do
the thing you fear. Then you must wait and learn.
There is wretchedness in the goodness. And
as the wretchedness grows sharper in focus one is increasing in goodness.
To impress someone is the lowest of all
joys. But to live to one's full potential in obedience to God, that is the
highest joy in this life.
Whether one is viewed 300 times or 3 times
when one broadcasts a message does not really matter. Whether one has said what
one wanted to say in the manner that one wanted to say it, that matters.
You've got to get a little angry sometimes,
at least to know the use of anger. Anger is never useless. It may be needless.
Do misunderstand. Only then shall you
understand.
Never react immediately. Delay your
reaction by days, months, preferably by a year or two.
Learning to be silent is more important
than learning to speak.
So what if the world finds my faith
laughable? I shall not laugh along with the world.
I shall let you remain only to remind me of
how unsatisfactory you are, of how futile the pursuit of the unsatisfactory is.
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