Relationships: A Mess Worth Making - Part 3

The book was written by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp. It is excellent and I would recommend it to everyone. But, even if you don't get to read it, just thinking about some of its quotes can be beneficial. I have already covered the first 10 chapters in my previous entries; so here are the final 5 chapters. My favorite quotes from chapters 11-15:

• We should never minimize the humble service of one person to another; it is a sign of God's grace at work in a person's life


• Jesus is calling you to move into people's lives and become vulnerable


• Repentance and faith must be your daily lifestyle. Why? Because it lays you low and lifts you up at the same time


• We want to think of ourselves as fundamentally different from the people who need mercy when, in fact, we are the same


• Mercy is the kind, sympathetic, and forgiving treatment of others that works to relieve their distress and cancel their debt. Or mercy is compassion combined with forbearance and action


• Mercy means you expect suffering in your relationships and are willing to endure it


• How you use your time and money in your human relationships says much about your relationship with God


• We often get stuck when repeatedly confronted with problems, failure, weakness, disappointment, and sin. Our track record tends to convince us that change is impossible. Imagination does not deny the track record, but places it in the context of who we are in Christ. It reminds us that God's Spirit is at work in us.


• In short, we are called to help each other see the unseen reality of our active, present, and personal God


• The fact that relationships remain intact at all, and even last for years, is a sign that God's goodness still abides in the world