Inspirational Quotes by J.I. Packer

“La santidad es, en una palabra, una semejanza a Cristo enseñada por Dios y forjada por el Espíritu, la suma y la sustancia de un discipulado comprometido, la demostración de la fe obrando por amor, la irradiación consiguiente en justicia de la vida sobrenatural desde el corazón de los nacidos de nuevo.”

“The single most mind-blowing, life-altering reality of being in Christ is that we no longer need to hide ourselves from the presence of the Lord God; in Christ we may walk with God in perfect fellowship now, and ultimately forever in the garden city that is to come (Gen. 3:8).”

“Just as we need to direct the thoughts of careless sinners inwardly and turn them from the world and sin and to themselves, in a different way we need to direct the thoughts of self-perplexing, melancholy persons outwardly. This is so because it is the nature of their disorder to be always accusing themselves. Remember that it is a far higher, nobler, and sweeter work to think of God, Christ, and heaven, than of such worms as we ourselves are.”

“God. When you pore over the contents of your heart to search whether or not the love of God is there, it would be wiser to think of the infinite friendliness of God.”

“The love of something precedes desire and grief over it. Whatever men love, they delight in possessing them, mourn to be without, and desire to gain.”

“7. The effects of natural sickness or disease are not (in and of themselves) sins. 8. The smallest sins (formally) and least likely to condemn us are those which we are most unwilling to commit and least love or enjoy. 9. No sin that we hate more than we love shall condemn us, if we would rather leave and be delivered from it than keep it. This is true repentance.”

“What is he after, then? What is his goal? What does he aim at? When he made us, his purpose was that we should love and honor him, praising him for the wonderfully ordered complexity and variety of his world, using it according to his will, and so enjoying both it and him. And though we have fallen, God has not abandoned his first purpose. Still he plans that a great host of humankind should come to love and honor him. His ultimate objective is to bring them to a state in which they please him entirely and praise him adequately, a state in which he is all in all to them, and he and they rejoice continually in the knowledge of each other’s love—people rejoicing in the saving love of God, set upon them from all eternity, and God rejoicing in the responsive love of people, drawn out of them by grace through the gospel.”

“To know God’s love is indeed heaven on earth. And the New Testament sets forth this knowledge, not as the privilege of a favored few, but as a normal part of ordinary Christian experience, something to which only the spiritually unhealthy or malformed will be strangers.”

“God, our Maker, knows all about us before we say anything (Ps 139:1-4); but we can know nothing about him unless he tells us.”

“Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God’s attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are. As he is the subject of our study, and our helper in it, so he must himself be the end of it. We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God. It was for this purpose that revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it. Meditating on the Truth How are we to do this? How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God. We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation? Well may we ask, for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let his truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s power and grace.”

“If ever our theology becomes something that we cannot pray—that is a sign that there is something wrong with it.”

“Getting God in focus means thinking correctly about his character, his sovereignty, his salvation, his love, his Son, his Spirit, and all the realities of his work and ways; it also means thinking rightly about our own relationship to him as creatures either under sin or under grace, either living this responsive life of faith, hope, and love or living unresponsively, in barrenness and gloom of heart.”

“Prime Minister in World War II, when France was falling, Britain’s power was at its lowest ebb, and capitulating seemed the only sensible option. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. . . . What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be. . . .” And later, when invasion seemed certain: “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. . . .”

“When you climb my favorite Welsh mountain, the highest outside Snowdonia, by my favorite route, there are two places where you are sure you are seeing the top ahead of you; but when you get to the point you saw, you find it was only a fold in the terrain, and the real summit is still a distance away. That is a good illustration of how Christian ministry feels in all its forms.”

“How may we become clear as to what long-term commitments God is calling us to make? By considering what our circumstances allow, and, within that frame, what our interests and skills suggest to us, and, within that frame, what in our hearts we would most like to do for God and for others, out of gratitude for Calvary, and love for people, and a desire to make a difference for God in the world.”

“Habits Principle Two: Holiness of life is the fruit of habits in the heart. A common proverb says: Sow an action; reap a habit. Sow a habit; reap a character. Sow a character; reap a destiny.”

“The regular shape of guidance is that God teaches us to apply revealed principles of action, both positive and negative; to observe parameters and limits of behavior that the Bible lays down; and thus to follow the path of faithful obedience and true wisdom, in fellowship with the Lord our shepherd who by his Spirit leads us so to do.”

“Wisdom is the ability to apply true principles in a way that produces right living, first and foremost in terms of human values. Wisdom is traveling along the right paths, living in a way that pleases and glorifies God, because you have found the best thing to do for people, others, and yourself too, in each situation. Wisdom is indeed pragmatic, as is often said, but it is humble, honest, realistic, insightful, generous, compassionate, stabilizing, and encouraging also, and the Gospel stories display it vividly as one facet of the human perfection of the Lord Jesus. Wisdom excels in seeing, modeling, and so making known what can be done in particular situations, and should be coveted by all who want to discern and carry out the perfect will of God.”

“What should one say of the worldwide charismatic movement of the past thirty years? Laying aside matters of detail,4 I believe God has generated it in order to counter and correct the death-dealing fashions of thought which, starting with theologians and spreading everywhere, for the past century have done damage by demurring at the truth of the Trinity, diminishing the deity of Jesus Christ, and for practical purposes discounting the Holy Spirit altogether. To deal with these theoretical errors, and the spiritual deadness to which they have given rise, God has raised up this movement of uninhibited and flamboyant Holy Spirit life, whereby the truth of the Trinity is vindicated (D), fellowship-union with the divine Christ through the Spirit as the focus of spiritual life is freshly explored (E), and the thought of Christianity as a supernatural life in the Spirit, singing, sharing, and serving, has again become respectable (P). Those who maintain the errors mentioned are thus comprehensively outflanked, not to say upstaged. How wise is the strategy of God!”

“Meantime, however, think back with me for a moment to the oldsters’ temptation that I referred to at the start of this chapter, namely, not facing up to the fact that our physical decline is actually happening. Why this obstinate unrealism? The answer is not far to seek. Behind this attitude stands pride—pride, the essence of original sin as Augustine diagnosed it; pride, the irrational, insatiable drive always to be the one on top and in charge, always honoring, serving, and pleasing the great god self; pride, that treats domination, control, and outscoring rivals as a never-ending task. Those who have had successful careers are often in dominant positions when old age sets in, retirement becomes due, and bowing out is the appropriate action, and it should cause no surprise when they resist the prospect and try to evade or at least postpone it.”