ENVY IS BEST TREATED BY GRACE

'The best way to train our eyes to see without envy is to take the grace of God as our interpretative key in all that we see or consider: others' existence is a gift, as is mine; their life and all that is needed for life is a gift, and so is mine - and their life and their flourishing is a gift also to me.'

Andrew Davison, Blessing, p.76.

GOD'S JUSTICE

'When God punishes sinners, He does not inflict His evil on them, but leaves them to their own evil. 'Behold', saith the Psalmist, 'he hath been in labour with injustice, he hath conceived toil; brought forth iniquity. He hath opened a pit and dug it; and he is fallen into the hole he made. His sorrow shall come down upon his crown.' [Psalm 7:154-16] When therefore God punishes, He punishes as a judge those that transgress the law, not by bringing evil upon them from Himself, but driving them on to that which they have chosen, to fill up the sum of their misery.'

Augustine of Hippo in Andrew Davison, Blessing, p.61.

THE PERFECT HUMANITY OF JESUS

'When Pilate displayed Christ to the people with the words 'Here is the man!' (John 19:4 - 'Behold the man' in the AV), he did not appreciate how profoundly true his words were: there indeed, before them, was the full, perfect, axiomatic, emblematic human being, the one who teaches us what it means to be human.'

Andrew Davison, Blessing, p.50. 

WHAT BLESSING MEANS

'Blessing concerns life and abundance of life, and the affirmation or even intensification of the proper goodness of a thing, situation or person.'

Andrew Davison, Blessing, p.50.

ANTISEMITISM

'What vitiates nearly all that is written about antisemitism is the assumption in the writer's mind that he himself is immune to it. 'Since I know that antisemitism is irrational,' he argues, 'it follows that I do not share it.' He thus fails to start his investigation in the one place where he could get hold of some reliable evidence - that is, in his own mind.'

George Orwell, 'Antisemitism in Britain' in Essays, p.286.

WE BLESS WHAT IS GOOD

'...blessing is intrinsically orientated to the recognition of goodness. We have a sense of what can not be blessed because blessing is about goodness.'

Andrew Davison, Blessing, p.20.

THE BLAME GAME

'...if society becomes corrupt (like a dark night or stinking fish), there is no sense in blaming society for its corruption. That is what happens when human evil is unchecked and unrestrained. The question to ask is: where is the church? Where is the salt and light of Jesus?'

John Stott, The Living Church, p.143.

FAITH & WORKS

'Faith is not opposed to knowledge. It is opposed to sight. And grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning.'

Dallas Willard, Hearing God, p.188.