He's Wright About That

One of the great Prayer Book collects asks God that we may
“love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise”. That is always tough, for all of us. Much easier to ask God to command what we already love, and promise what we already desire.

- N.T. (Tom) Wright, Bishop of Durham, writing today in the London Times.

Who Needs Grace?

You will consume much more grace by leading a holy life than you will by sinning, because every holy act you do will have to be upheld by the grace of God.

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- Dallas Willard, "The Great Omission," p. 62

Come Out With Your Hands Up

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly . . . .

God being who and what He is, and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full Lordship on His part and complete submission on ours. . . .

The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to His. And this not judicially, but actually.

- A.W. Tozer, "The Pursuit of God," pp. 93-94

The Paradox of Freedom

I came across this quote from Thomas Hopko, the Orthodox theologian I've been referring to a fair bit. In this paragraph he endorses freedom but distinguishes it from choice:

In [the Orthodox] understanding of things, unlike our modern American view, the freer a person is, the less they choose. Thus a person who would be perfectly free by God's grace would never "choose" anything at all. They would see, know, and will what is good, true, and beautiful, and do it.

In other words, Hopko seems to be saying that the more we become like God, the more we will (super)naturally desire what God desires. As we walk in tune with the Spirit, we will desire the things of the Spirit. Therefore, no "choice" is necessary. What do you think?

This reminds me of a favorite verse, Psalm 119.32:

I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.

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