Monday, March 15, 2010

"He does not deal with us as our sins deserve..."

“We are all prodigal sons, and not disinherited; we have received our portion, and misspent it, not been denied it.  We are God’s tenants here, and yet here, he, our landlord, pays us rents; not yearly, nor quarterly, but hourly and quarterly; every minute he renews his mercy.”
 
John Donne, quoted in Thomas C. Oden, Classical Pastoral Care (Grand Rapids, 1987), III:285.

HT: Ray Ortlund

2 comments:

Pastor John said...

All week I have been praising God for this truth.

Psalm 103:10-12 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.

Even Job's sorry comforters had a minimal grasp of this, as Zophar said in Job 11:6 -- Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Laura said...

Yeah buddy. I need a WAY bigger book budget, is all I'm saying, after reading Ray Ortlund's blog. He has the most amazing quotes from the most amazing books.