Like A Muddy Foam or A Feeble Trickle

Here are some quotes that a friend of mine recently shared with me. Please, be encouraged and challenged along with me. They are all written by Tom Holladay unless otherwise indicated.
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." ~ C.S. Lewis in "The Four Loves"

"Jesus doesn't want you to try your hardest; Jesus wants you to learn to trust in him. Jesus set the bar so high that the only way it could be reached was by living and thinking in an entirely new way. Christianity is not trying harder; Christianity is trusting Jesus."

"I am spellbound by the intensity of Jesus' emotions; not a twinge of pity, but heartbroken compassion; not a passing irritation, but terrifying anger; not a silent tear, but groans of anguish; not a weak smile, but ecstatic celebration. Jesus' emotions are like a mountain river, cascading with clear water. My emotions are more like a muddy foam or feeble trickle. Jesus invites us to come to him and drink. Whoever is thirsty and believes in him will have the river of his life flowing out from the innermost being (John 7:37-38). We are not to be merely spellbound by what we see in the emotional Jesus; we are to be unbound by his Spirit so that his life becomes our life, his emotions our emotions, to be "transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory." ~ G. Watler Hansen in "The Emotions of Jesus"

Based on Matthew 5:30 ("If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.") "Jesus is telling us not to let anything get in the way of the radical heart change he wants to work in our lives. Throughout the Bible, the 'right hand' is a picture of that which is most important, most precious, most valued. what you allow into your heart is serious business. So take it seriously. Be willing to say, I will do anything it takes to ensure that my heart is in the right place.' What you allow into your heart affects every relationship. So when you recognize some unforgiveness, some bitterness, some lust in your heart, don't try to just taper it off. Cut it off as quickly as possible because what's happening in your heart is having a negative impact on your relationships with God and others. Jesus reminds us of how crucial this is when he says, 'Cut off your right hand.' Take your heart seriously and act radically."

"True fellowship cannot be forced or scheduled; it must be chosen and accepted."

"Without people around you who are different from you, you'll never truly grow."

"True love sacrifices. The greatest sacrificed may not be the once-in-a-lifetime sacrifices; they may well be the daily sacrifices. You give up your way and seek another person's good. No one else may even know you did it, but you'll know you acted in response to Jesus' love for you."

"That best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." ~ William Wordsworth

"Jesus Christ can give a power in your relationships that you never dreamed possible - power to love and grow, power so that you are not relationally worn down at the end of every day."

"God wants us to depend on him for the power to love. So he challenges us to love in a way we can only accomplish through daily dependence on his power."
"Questions about priority are questions about faith. If I have faith that God will care for me, it frees me to live with a certain set of priorities; if instead I feel that it's up to me to take care of myself, my priorities will go in a completely different direction."

"God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships."

"When you love the Lord, you love Him with a unique voice - a voice different in tone, different in soul, from any other voice God hears in all of creation. Love God uniquely with the personality he's fashioned into your life."