Better than we dare to dream …

Just one more quote from Dr. Dan Doriani’s fantastic book, Putting the Truth to Work: The Theory and Practice of Biblical Application:

“Pastors need integrity, but we never have enough integrity to merit the trust of our auditors. I think again of the four aspects of application—duty, character, goals, and vision—and rue our perversion of all four.

Duties? We fail to discharge them, but when we do, we bloat with self-righteousness.

Character? We fail to appropriate the new nature we have in Christ, but when we do, we puff with pride at our virtue.

Goals? We dissipate our energies in the ephemeral and frivolous. Then, when we do find a noble task, we fail to enlist enough allies to make the work strong.

Vision? We are half blind, but when we do see aright, we prostitute the vision by dreaming about the way others will revere us when they hear our precious insights.

Behind in all, we realize we will never know God and conform ourselves to him. If we focus on our attainment, the situation looks worse than we thought. But if we focus on the Lord, who graciously makes himself known to us and conforms us to himself, it may be better than we dare to dream.“