Sayings Of Samuel Godfrey George , March 2016, Part 1

"It is not a sickness that will lead to death", said Jesus about his friend Lazarus. Still Lazarus died. Yet it was not a death that was to be final. Jesus did raise him from death a few days later. So Lazarus did not die the first time. He died later, as all humans do. And that death will be ended later permanently. The statement of Jesus has a deeper level of meaning. He referred to the human condition, which can be described as a sickness. Yet it is a sickness that will not end in death. By death, he meant spiritual death. Because of the redemptive work that he was about to do, the moral sickness of human beings will not end in spiritual death, for a spiritual rebirth will take place on account of Christ's atonement for human sins and his subsequent victory over death. This spiritual rebirth will pave the way for the resurrection of all human beings after their physical death. This is a promise that we find repetitively in the New Testament, and also in the Old Testament, when Job declares in the middle of his suffering, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God". So the sickness that will not lead to death, is the seemingly hopeless human condition, which will be transformed into a state of eternal life by the power of God.

Sin drove me to God. Once sin became visible as sin, the road to God appeared along with it. And the strength to walk the road was directly proportional to the enormity of my sin.

When in trouble I observe myself and learn from all my fears.

God does not expect us to cut off our hands or gouge out our eyes, whenever we employ them in sin. When Jesus Christ spoke of physical dismemberment of this kind, he was graphically highlighting the terribleness of sin. Sin is highly detrimental to the human being. Its effects are cancerous in nature. It spreads in many ways and consumes our whole being. But to think that it is only the hand or the eye that sins is simplistic. It is in the heart that sin is born. It is in the mind that sin is allowed to play. If sin begins anywhere, it comes from a place deep inside of a human. So let us just say this. Sin is terrible. It's consequences are many. It's pollution is thorough. But Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all our sins. So as long as we confess our sins and accept God's forgiveness, we can rest assured that we are saved from the penalty for sin, which is eternal separation from God. Having done that, let us then not be worried about the consequences of sin anymore.

God's love has nothing in it to scare us, so we should not respond to it with fear.

No surprise lurks under the cover. Peel away the cloth covering and the body underneath is unsurprising. What God made then He still makes. The human body is not unlimited in its appeal. Once you have seen it in its many shapes, sizes and colours, there is nothing more to see. Once you have experienced its many textures and smells there is nothing more to experience. Those who seek to unlock the delights of the human body should soon curtail their efforts. For there is nothing, truly nothing in a human body worthy of a life-long, all-consuming devotion.

The wealth one amasses weighs one down. Beyond a point wealth turns into a burden. With wealth comes the responsibility for its management. It is impossible to manage wealth for wealth finds a way to manage its possessor. Money masters the money lover and makes him endlessly desire it. In this slavery there is no joy with or without money. For no amount of money is enough, so it is always less than enough. The desire intensifies to madness. The madness culminates in total darkness.

The love for power is an endless pain. Will a little control be enough? The one who has learned to control will not want to relinquish control. He who unleashes power will not want to relent. The power seeker is doomed to never find rest. The more he acquires the more he finds lacking. What he lacks he will seek at any cost. He shall walk on hearts and snuff out lives. He shall pay the bloodiest price to climb the ladder of power.

I let people in not because I trust them. I trust God who sends them to me. I know he is always in control of everything that happens in my life. If people misbehave God will be in control of that misbehaviour as well. And he will let me serve him without being ruffled by such conduct.

I don't need the admiration of the devil. The rebuke of God will do for me.

God is with you. He responds to every call. That is all that matters.

Everything happens for a reason, especially the bad things.

Casting my cares on God means that I stop worrying about what I entrusted to him.

Celebrate what you have. That will take your mind off what you do not have.

Today I remember women who are married to drunken men. I ask God to protect these women from their brawling, violent husbands. May these women find strength to live their lives bravely in the face of domestic discord and endless turmoil. May God grant them the will to go on. May God hear their prayers and save their husbands from self-destruction. May God help these women to take care of their children in difficult circumstances.

 

Those who trust in God should allow God's will to be done. They should let God make something right, even when they are motivated to correct the situation themselves. They should place their burden before God and wait expectantly for him to take care of it. And they should wait as long as it takes.

I welcome back everyone who ran away from me, just like God welcomed me when I ran away from him.

Where there is honesty, there is no need to conceal.

 

Controlling emotions is a sign of strength. But denying the pain is certainly counter-productive.

 

This world is big and its people are diverse. There are many things that divide us. It is not right to stay in one place, and to have one frame of mind, and to have one approach of the heart, and then try to bring together the pieces that don't fit.

 

There is something to learn from everything, and there is something to be gained by going everywhere. I don't want to stay in my pond always.

 

I look at what is beautiful and what unites rather than divides. I seek the middle position.

 

I avoid sensationalism of all kinds. I avoid extreme positions and irreconcilable differences. I want to look at what is beautiful and rejoice in that. I want to look at what unites people and not at what tears them apart. I want to do whatever I can to bind people together in love.

 

In loving people one will have to learn to deal with indifference and rejection. When you want to love people, you will try to know them. And you will find out that some people don't want to be known by you, and don't want anything to do with you. If you accept this and respect their choice, and move on to someone else who accepts your love, you have indeed learned an important lesson in the art of loving.

 

God will not be what we want him to be. We want God to be kind to us all the time. We want him to smile at us always, no matter what we do. We want him to pet us, and let us do the things we like. We want God to be the father who never denies a gift to us. We want God to look the other way when we do something wrong. We want God to stay out of our way while we do the things that matter most to us. But God will not be like that.