The three quotes below have each been thought-provoking for me recently. The first is from a liberation theologian, much of whose writing will not be acceptable to many (most?) of my readers if I'm guessing right about who they are. The the second and third quotes are from Tozer, who I would guess is rather more acceptable to most.
No Salvation Outside the Poor (by Jon Sobrino, who in this context is speaking of Catholic educator-philosopher Ellacuria)
"Bearing the burden of reality" impacted me even more. Where I came from, it was totally new to hear-and perceive in the person of Ellacuría-that intelligence "has not been given to help people evade their real commitments, but to take on themselves the burden of things as they really are and with all that they really demand."6 This means we cannot fully grasp reality without bearing it at its worst, which I think we still fail to understand.
This message regarding intelligence and reality and burden-bearing is stark and feels worth careful pondering.
Two quotes from Tozer's booklet Paths to Power (which I was given by someone moving and trying to get rid of their excess stuff)
We are so hopelessly outclassed by the world's superior strength that for us it means either God's help or sure defeat. The Christian who goes out without faith in "wonders" will return without fruit. No one dare be so rash as to seek to do impossible things unless he has first been empowered by the God of the impossible. "The power of the Lord was there" is our guarantee of victory. (pg 7)
The advocates of antinomianism in our times deserve our respect for at least one thing: their motive is good. Their error springs from their very eagerness to magnify grace and exalt the freedom of the gospel. They start right, but allow themselves to be carried beyond what is written by a slavish adherence to undisciplined logic. It is always dangerous to isolate a truth and then press it to its limit without regard to other truths. It is not the teaching of the Scriptures that grace makes us free to do evil. Rather, it sets us free to do good. Between these two conceptions of grace there is a great gulf fixed. It may be stated as an axiom of the Christian system that whatever makes sin permissible is a foe of God and an enemy of the souls of men. (pg 26)
