Quotes from Timothy S. Lane

Our sight is dimmed by the tyranny of the urgent, by the siren call of success, by the seductive beauty of physical things, by our inability to admit our own problems, and by the casual relationships within the body of Christ that we mistakenly call fellowship.

it. Many parents have successfully raised self-righteous little Pharisees. When they look at themselves, they do not see a sinner in desperate need, so they are not grateful for a Savior. Sadly, the same is true of many of their parents.

Sin makes us fools. We are easily deceived, attracted to hollow and deceptive philosophy, and enticed by arguments that lead us away from Christ. Sin blinds us to our sin!

God is simply taking you where you do not want to go to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own.

Human marriage is only an illustration of our union with Christ. God ordained marriage to help us understand what it means to be in relationship with him.

We shouldn't be surprised when suffering and difficulty come our way; in fact, we should probably be surprised when they don't.

All of us respond to life based upon who we think we are and what we think we have.

Does it surprise you that God presents himself as a model for human community?

The order is essential: I am a new creation, accepted, adopted, and free; therefore I want to please God.

Our relationships must be shaped not by what we want, but by what God intends.

Sin's self-centeredness cuts us off from God and others

Jesus' language on this point is striking. He welcomes us into this divine community with Father, Son, and Spirit so that we can experience community with one another.

That evening in the grocery store parking lot, my problem was not just that I didn't love my family as I should. My problem was that I didn't love God as I should.

We don't just struggle with want; we struggle with blessing as well.

Jesus is not manufacturing a new idea for human relationships or the church. His prayer reflects what God's design has always been.

God will dwell in community with his people so that they can know community with one another

The perfect, eternal love relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit was ripped apart to allow us to be restored to God and reconciled to one another.

What does all this biblical and experiential data tell us? That you cannot talk about human beings made in God's image without talking about relationships. Yet it is often the first thing we overlook. Only when human beings live in community do we fully reflect the likeness

Because of the coexistence of sin and grace, we all shift between denying and affirming our humanity.

The Bible reminds us that God wants—and deserves—to be the defining center of both these things. When I live out of a biblical sense of who I am (identity) and rest in who God is (worship), I will be able to build a healthy relationship with you. These are not abstract theological concepts. We're talking about the content and character of our hearts.

John Calvin said, "For errors can never be uprooted from human hearts until a true knowledge of God is planted therein." 5

The circle of human community is only healthy when it exists within the larger circle of community with God.

In God's plan, this quest for personal identity is meant to drive us back to him as Creator so that we find our meaning and purpose in him.

Who you tell yourself you are has a very powerful impact on the way you deal with the big and small issues of daily life. In the same way, where you find your identity will have everything to do with how you respond to the hard work of relationships with others. Either I get my identity vertically, out of my sense of who God is and worship who he has made me in Christ, or I will seek to get my identity horizontally, out of my circumstances, relationships, and successes.