“There is no sweeter union than that in a good marriage. Nor is there any death more bitter than that which separates a married couple. Only the death of children comes close to this; how much this hurts I have myself experienced.”
Martin Luther
For more Martin Luther quotes see:
Martin Luther on Our Union with Christ
Martin Luther on Teaching and Teachers
“Some of us believe that God is all mighty, and may do all; and that He is all wisdom, and can do all; but that He is all love, and will do all, there we fail.”
This was written by Mother Juliana, also known as Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), She was an English anchoress (someone who withdraws from society in order to live a completely prayer-oriented life) during the Middle Ages. She wrote the best known surviving book in the English language written by a mystic, Revelations of Divine Love. The book is the first written in English by a known woman author.
Julian is right is saying it is easier to believe that God is all powerful, and all knowing than to believe that He loves us at all times. Whenever bad things happen, it’s easy to doubt or to question the love of God. At those times, this verse is comforting:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
We may not understand, but we can trust. God is love.
For more about the love of God see:
“To find Christ in such poverty, and what his swaddling clothes and manger signify, are explained … that his poverty teaches how we should find him in our neighbors, the lowliest and the most needy; and his swaddling clothes are the holy Scriptures; that in actual life we should incline to the needy; and in our studies and contemplative life only to the Scriptures; in order that Christ alone may become the man of both lives and that he may everywhere stand before us.”
Martin Luther
“The community of the saints is not an ‘ideal’ community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women, where there is no need of further repentance. No, it is a community which proves that it is worthy of the gospel of forgiveness by constantly and sincerely proclaiming God’s forgiveness”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
If you have never read Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I highly recommend it as a realistic look at living in the Christian communion of saints.
R. C. Sproul was not a Lutheran, but this sounds quite a bit like Martin Luther’s First Thesis, doesn’t it?
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
―
“The Reformation inspired a mood of anti-authoritarianism, which led to backlash against the feudal system and, by extension, to the democratic movement around the world. In the centuries following the Reformation, movements like women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery traced their roots back to Reformation-era principles.”
—Reference.com
I wonder what our world environment would be like today if Martin Luther had not been inspired by God to take a stand? He influenced his environment, rather than allowing the environment influence him. Any thoughts, readers?
Lutheran Ladies Connection 