"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
And he's a lifesaver (for me, anyway). No classic writer outside the Bible has helped me more with gospel/law, grace/sin. And Luther is so helpful because this wasn't theoretical for him. He felt the weight of his own sin and clung desperately to the cross of Christ, his sole hope in the despair of his depravity. He felt this stuff in his bones. Take comfort in Luther's preaching, if you are brokenhearted and tempted to doubt your assurance.
“Faith, if it is to be sure and steadfast, must lay hold upon nothing else but Christ alone, and in the conflict and terrors of conscience it has nothing else to lean on but this precious pearl Christ Jesus. So, he who apprehends Christ by faith, although he be terrified with the law and oppressed with the weight of his sins, yet he may be bold to glory that he is righteous. How? Even by that precious jewel Christ Jesus, whom he possesses by faith.”
-- from Luther's Commentary on Galatians
Thanks, Jared. Great quote. I vaguely remember another one, something to the effect of faith being like a "geometrical point," real as long as Chirst is its content but, in and of itself, a "nothing."