Theology I – God’s Attributes: Sufficiency

The best leaders I have encountered all speak of waiting on God and the necessity of it, yet it is so hard to do, such a hard discipline for our ever straining flesh. Maybe the problem is that we don’t really understand it. In that vain I thought this was a great quote:

“To wait is not merely to remain impassive. It is to expect–to look for with patience, and also with submission. It is to long for, but not impatiently; to look for, but not to fret at the delay; to watch for, but not restlessly; to feel that if he does not come, we will acquiesce, and yet to refuse to let the mind acquiesce in the feeling that he will not come.”

Dr. A.B. Davidson, Waiting on God (quoted in The Hidden Life of Prayer by David McIntyre)

I originally read this quote here.

The best leaders I have encountered all speak of waiting on God and the necessity of it, yet it is so hard to do, such a hard discipline for our ever straining flesh. Maybe the problem is that we don’t really understand it. In that vain I thought this was a great quote:

“To wait is not merely to remain impassive. It is to expect–to look for with patience, and also with submission. It is to long for, but not impatiently; to look for, but not to fret at the delay; to watch for, but not restlessly; to feel that if he does not come, we will acquiesce, and yet to refuse to let the mind acquiesce in the feeling that he will not come.”

Dr. A.B. Davidson, Waiting on God (quoted in The Hidden Life of Prayer by David McIntyre)

I originally read this quote here.

One of the great joys in life is knowing and accepting who you are – I found great relief in starting to see who I was and then liking, well loving, being me. Aaron posted this and I simply wondered how many of us walk around with masks on for fear of offending someone – and how much we should avoid conflict or disagreement for the sake of others, no matter how obnoxious they are? It appears that there is some justification in the Bible for being nice, but also some for being honest – which should we favour?

Theology is a cause of many divisions and great pride in the Body of Christ. We should approach this subject on bended knee with great humility of heart.

“Closely akin to moral pride is doctrinal pride, the assumption that whatever my doctrinal beliefs are, they are correct and anyone who holds another belief is theologically inferior…It doesn’t matter if we are Arminians or Calvinists, whether we subscribe to Dispensational or Covenant theology, or perhaps have embraced some form of eclectic theology, we tend to think our doctrinal beliefs are the correct ones and look with some disdain on those whose beliefs are different from ours. And then to complete the spectrum of this type of pride, there are those who don’t consider doctrine important and so look with disdain on those of us who do…

…If your Calvinism or Arminianism or dispensationalism, or your view concerning the end times, or your disdain for all doctrinal beliefs causes you to feel doctrinally superior to those who hold other views, then you are probably guilty of the sin of doctrinal pride. I’m not suggesting that we should not seek to know about the truths of scripture and develop doctrinal convictions about what the scriptures teach; I am saying that w should hold our convictions in humility, realizing that many godly and theologically capable people hold other convictions.”

Jerry Bridges in Respectable Sins (p92-92)

This is the first draft of the first section:

God Father 1

Also available here;

Theology is a cause of many divisions and great pride in the Body of Christ. We should approach this subject on bended knee with great humility of heart.

“Closely akin to moral pride is doctrinal pride, the assumption that whatever my doctrinal beliefs are, they are correct and anyone who holds another belief is theologically inferior…It doesn’t matter if we are Arminians or Calvinists, whether we subscribe to Dispensational or Covenant theology, or perhaps have embraced some form of eclectic theology, we tend to think our doctrinal beliefs are the correct ones and look with some disdain on those whose beliefs are different from ours. And then to complete the spectrum of this type of pride, there are those who don’t consider doctrine important and so look with disdain on those of us who do…

…If your Calvinism or Arminianism or dispensationalism, or your view concerning the end times, or your disdain for all doctrinal beliefs causes you to feel doctrinally superior to those who hold other views, then you are probably guilty of the sin of doctrinal pride. I’m not suggesting that we should not seek to know about the truths of scripture and develop doctrinal convictions about what the scriptures teach; I am saying that w should hold our convictions in humility, realizing that many godly and theologically capable people hold other convictions.”

Jerry Bridges in Respectable Sins (p92-92)