Aphorisms: A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage. (TFD.com)
Aphorisms are golden nuggets. They are short, compressed wisdom that has been born out over time and experience. I collect them. Here are a few I recently have come across that I think are important.
Wretchard – Belmont Club
Weakness marked them for death because the way of the wolf is to seek out the sheep, not the sheepdog.
There has always been wolves traveling on the landscape of our lives. The thing about wolves is that from their perspective there has never been surfeit of sheep. Jesus warned his disciples that “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16.) In dealing with wolves we are never to become the wolf, a sheepdog yes, but we are to remain wise and innocent. We are never to make bargains with the devil, becoming a wolf to fight wolves.
Walter Bagehot
Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind.
There is something about sanctified meanness that is doubly disgusting. Where there should be profound charity instead there is malevolence, out of character with expectations. Remember that in resisting the devil (and his fellow travelers, realized or not) and contending for the faith we should utter reviling words (re: Jude 9, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment…”). Christ was never mean. Hard and direct, but never mean. He wept over Jerusalem. We should be likewise.
A ship in a harbor is safe. But that is not what ships are built for.
A Christian in church is also safe, but that is not what Christians are saved for. Jesus sent us into the world, to make disciples (hard work), to labor in the ripe fields of the Lord to bring in the lost from the highways and byways of a broken creation. Good Christian, do not belie your salvation and calling by hiding in your prayer closet.
Unknown
The cure for admiration is to look hard at the thing admired.
One way to deal with temptation is to look honestly at the object of your desire, take it/them apart, pointing out all of the failings and faults while balancing the cost/benefit ratio of even a momentary lapse. That, at least for me, seems to always put the temptation to rest and has gotten me through many a difficult moment. It just never adds up and thankfully I have always been capable of seeing that.
I hope these little nuggets have given you something profitable to think about and maybe provide you with a little help along the way.
Grace and peace.
