Tag: <span>Thielicke</span>

Love, with heat and moisture, irons out a wrinkle, mends a broken heart. It even unifies a division, straightens a crooked or double mind. An animal may respond to love, so might a tree; these have some form of life in them. But, a man or woman cannot survive without love! The sophisticated psyche of a man checks his barbaric side. He remains cool. He would like to run amok all over the planet, but stifles his urges. Then he is told of “liberation” and feels cheated and hypocritical. He begins to explore his dark barbarism, but has no understanding of its depth. He senses that the cost for “liberation” will be rejection from the sophisticates, but the feeling of “free” empowers him forward. He affirms his rights of individuality; becomes more and more barbaric. He wonders where love has gone, but he has forsaken its initiation; he has chosen…

Proverbs 20:8 teaches:  “A king that sits in the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.” “We are made Kings to rule over our own lusts to some degree. We are not Kings to be freed altogether from them, but Kings to strive against them . It is a Liberty to fight and in fighting to overcome it last. The liberty of sanctification is not a liberty that ends combat with our corruptions, but a gracious Liberty to keep them under, till by subduing them little by little, we have a perfect victory.” “What greater encouragement can a man have to fight against his enemy, than when he is sure of final victory before he fights.” all quotes are from Richard Sibbes, “Glorious Freedom.” He adds these observations, “Grace does not take away liberty. No, it establishes liberty.” “…It is the manner of the reasonable creature to do…