Samuel Kordik » Quotes

8 Writing Tips from C.S. Lewis

Samuel Kordik — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:57 +0000

C.S. Lewis came up with these tips in response to a question from a schoolgirl.

Turn off the radio.
Read good books and avoid most magazines.
Write with the ear, not the eye. Make every sentence sound good.
Write only about things that interest you. If you have no interests, you won’t ever be a writer.
Be clear.
Save odds and ends of writing attempts, because you may be able to use them later.
You need a well-trained sense of word-rhythm.
Know the meaning of every word you use.

Everything that happens to us…

Samuel Kordik — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:35:29 +0000

“Making us like Jesus was God’s plan from the beginning. God ‘predestined’ or planned for us to be like his Son (Romans 8:29). Before God even made the world, his plan for you and me was to make us like Jesus. And everything that happens to us is part of that plan.”

- Tim Chester, You Can Change (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway, 2010), 15.

via God’s plan from the beginning « Of First Importance.

Be On Your Guard

Samuel Kordik — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:05:48 +0000

“Be on your guard. It’s necessary to read the newspaper, but have you ever thought it’s dangerous? It’s necessary to watch television and go to the movies to understand what’s going on in the world around us, but it’s dangerous. Subtly, insidiously, the world can infiltrate into your life and squeeze you into its mold. So we need to be on our guard. The whole value system of the world can permeate our lives if we are not careful. Keep up your guard. Keep up your defenses. Maintain your critical faculties. Read the newspaper. Watch television, but do it critically.” John Stott, quoted in “You are the Treasure I Seek”

Mastering the Art of Living

Samuel Kordik — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:18:33 +0000

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.” James Michener

via Lindsey Nobles

The Axe and the Woodsman

Samuel Kordik — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:13:25 +0000

“If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without him …. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside, it becomes only old iron. O that I may never lose sight of this.”

Samuel Logan Brengle, Salvation Army Commissioner (early 20th century).

Quoted in Christianity Today.

A Life

Samuel Kordik — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:11:15 +0000

My life is a mystery, a future in untold history; love, joy, sorrow, and may it be: a life lived completely.

Random poem from my notebook today.

OWEN: “Be Killing Sin, Or It Will Be Killing You.”

Samuel Kordik — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:29:18 +0000

More goodness from Owen today, on the necessity of never letting up in our battle against sin.

“When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion… If, then, sin will be always acting, if we be not always mortifying, we are lost creatures. He that stands still and suffers his enemies to double blows upon him without resistance, will undoubtedly be conquered in the issue.

“If sin be subtle, watchful, strong, and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we be slothful, negligent, foolish, in proceeding to the ruin thereof, can we expect a comfortable event? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so whilst we live in this world.”

John Owen, The Mortification of Sin (The Works of John Owen, vol. 6, p. 11. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1981.)

Owen on Power and Life

Samuel Kordik — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:26:49 +0000

“The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.”

John Owen, Mortification of Sin in Believers, 2nd Ed. (1658) Reprint by Banner of Truth, p. 9

Lloyd-Jones on The Art of Life

Samuel Kordik — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:51:49 +0000

The difficulty in life is to know on what we ought to concentrate. The whole art of life, I sometimes think, is the art of knowing what to leave out, what to ignore, what to put on one side. How prone we are to dissipate our energies and to waste our time by forgetting what is vital and giving ourselves to second and third rate issues. Now, says Paul, here you are in the Christian life, you are concerned about difficulties, about oppositions and about the contradictions of life. What you need is just this: the power to concentrate on that which is vital, to leave out everything else, and to keep steadily to the one thing that matters.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Joy: Philippians, vol. 1, pp. 54-55.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Whatever It Takes

Samuel Kordik — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:25:52 +0000

Earlier this year, while preparing for Quest Advanced (which is scheduled for summer 2010), I spent a great deal of time examining much of the discipleship curriculum out there for use today. One of the more valuable resources I came across was the material from Core Ministries (http://coregroups.org/). I got an email from them today that will challenge those “brothers of the burning heart” out there:

I am a part of the body committed to doing “whatever it takes.” I have Holy spirit power. The die has been cast. I’ve stepped over the line. I am out of the comfort zone. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of Jesus. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or back away. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame vision, mundane talking, chincy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, and my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or burn up till I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up and stayed up for the cause of Jesus Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops. And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problem recognizing me, because I have dedicated my life to be a part of the body committed to doing “whatever it takes.” -Author unknown