J.I. Packer
11 quotes
Biography
James Innell Packer was an English-born Canadian evangelical theologian, cleric and writer in the low-church Anglican and Reformed traditions. Having been considered as one of the most influential evangelicals in North America, Packer is known for his 1973 best-selling book Knowing God, along with his work as the general editor of the English Standard Version Bible.
"Wait on the Lord"is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come."
"Your faith will not fail while God sustains it; you are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you."
"Confidence that one's impressions are God-given is no guarantee that this is really so, even when they persist and grow stronger through long seasons of prayer. Bible-based wisdom must judge them."
"J.I. Packer writes, “It [knowing God] is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for living our lives.” Packer continues, “Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through this life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you."
"We should not...think of our fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotion. We should recognise rather that such fellowship is a spiritual necessity, for God has made us in such a way that our fellowship with himself is fed by our fellowship with fellow Christians, and requires to be so fed constantly for its own deepening and enrichment."
"The Puritan ethic of marriage was first to look not for a partner whom you do love passionately at this moment but rather for one whom you can love steadily as your best friend for life, then to proceed with God’s help to do just that."
"Our task is to take suffering in stride, not as if it is a pleasure (it isn’t), but in the knowledge that God will not let it overwhelm us and that He will use it, by His own supernatural alchemy, to three good ends, at least. 1) Our suffering produces character; 2) Our suffering glorifies God; 3) Suffering fulfills the law of the harvest (John 12:24), Rediscovering Holiness by J.I. Packer, pgs. 232-239."
"Every time we mention God we become theologians, and the only question is whether we are going to be good ones or bad ones."
"The Church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity."
"What we often feel in ecstatic moments in this world - 'I don't ever want this to stop' - will be the constant thought of our hearts in that world. We shall think it, knowing that in fact it never WILL stop."
"Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord."