Evangelicalism: against additions, against subtractions, against dilutions.
“I repeatedly urge in varied company that evangelicalism is Christianity without additions, subtractions, or dilutions — Christianity, that is, in its purest and most authentic form” (J. I. Packer in John Piper & Justin Taylor, eds., A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, 81-82).
Evangelicalism: for always reforming.
“There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 358).
“The [Lord’s Prayer] teaches us, in all that we do, to hallow the name of God and, in so doing, we discover our true being” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 44).
“Thus the origin of knowledge is trinitarian: The Father knows all and reveals truth to us by the grace of His Son through the work of the Spirit in our hearts. Note how each person of the Trinity is involved in the knowing process (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3; Ps. 73:11; Isa. 11:2; 28:9; 53:11; Matt. 11:25f.; Eph. 1:17; Col. 2:3). Thus it is all of God, all of grace. . . . There is a “circular” relation between knowledge and obedience in Scripture. . . . It is certainly true that if you want to obey God more completely, you must get to know Him; but it is also true if you want to know God better, you must seek to obey Him more perfectly” (John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 42-43).
“Not to know the name of God, not to know how God’s name is hallowed, in other words, not to know how to worship, is to live in fundamental conflict with our true selves. We are created for no better purpose than praise. As Saint Augustine said, ‘because you made us for yourself, our hearts find no peace until they rest in you'” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 43).
“Men may tell you that there are difficulties in the Bible, things hard to understand. It would not be God’s book if there were not. And what if there are? You don’t despise medicines because you cannot explain all that your doctor does with them. But whatever men may say, the things needed for salvation are as clear as daylight. Be very sure of this — people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment. They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don’t like to believe it is true. An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this book. Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice of it” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 37).
Every day we demonstrate the power of saying yes and no to ourselves about our own use of language. Speaking is a series of consequential decisions about what to say and how and when to express it. By saying no to some of our language (i.e., by not speaking it), we are freer to say yes to God’s Word — and then to communicate the Word to others by how we live as well as by what we literally say (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 30-31).
This is applicable in public speaking, certainly. But even more so person-to-person, namely, within a marriage. Speech is powerful and reality-defining. The tongue is a fierce and mighty thing, and a husband and wife must always be discerning what to say and how and when to express it.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3-4
Husbands and wives must demonstrate the power of saying yes and no to their selves with their use of language. The demands of a biblical marriage calls each spouse to be other-centered; it is not concerned with one’s own feelings or thoughts of how one’s spouse needs to make them feel, e.g., the wedding vows:
To do this, you need to bind mercy (lovingkindness) and truth about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart. Say “no” to self-centered language, and you will be freer to say “yes” to God’s Word (freer to say “yes” to being God-centered). And God’s Word instructs believers to be servants and servant-speakers, that is, to be both God-centered and other-centered.I, ___, take you, ___, to be my wedded [wife/husband], to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s Word, and for His glory, I give thee my word.
Psalm 119:76, Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.
“My wife says Pinterest exists to help guilt-ridden mothers feel guiltier by offering a million ways to be a more perfect mother than you could ever possibly hope to be. And then she still uses it. At Christmas” (Jake Mentzel in The Warhorn, Vol. 1, Issue 4).
“God’s lordship is a deeply personal and practical concept. God is not a vague abstract principle or force but a living person who fellowships with His people. He is the living and true God, as opposed to all the deaf and dumb idols of the world. Knowledge of Him, therefore, is also a person-to-person knowledge. God’s presence is not something that we discover through refined theoretical intelligence. Rather, God is unavoidably close to His creation. We are involved with Him all the time” (John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 17).