Timothy

“When I shall with my whole self cleave to Thee, I shall no where have sorrow or labour; and my life shall wholly live, as wholly full of Thee. But now since whom Thou fillest, Thou liftest up, because I am not full of Thee I am a burden to myself. Lamentable joys strive with joyous sorrows: and on which side is the victory, I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. My evil sorrows strive with my good joys; and on which side is the victory, I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. Woe is me! lo! I hide not my wounds; Thou art the Physician, I the sick; Thou merciful, I miserable. Is not the life of man upon earth all trial? Who wishes for troubles and difficulties? Thou commandest them to be endured, not to be loved. No man loves what he endures, though he love to endure. For though he rejoices that he endures, he had rather there were nothing for him to endure. In adversity I long for prosperity, in prosperity I fear adversity. What middle place is there betwixt these two, where the life of man is not all trial? Woe to the prosperities of the world, once and again, through fear of adversity, and corruption of joy! Woe to the adversities of the world, once and again, and the third time, from the longing for prosperity, and because adversity itself is a hard thing, and lest it shatter endurance. Is not the life of man upon earth all trial: without any interval?”
― Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

“And under the name of God, I now held the Father, who made these things, and under the name of Beginning, the Son, in whom He made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as the Trinity, I searched further in His holy words, and to, Thy Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, Creator of all creation.”
― Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

“Hill points to “the inequitable systems that perpetuate disparities.”24 It is surely possible that we may find inequities in our systems, and if we do, we should tackle them. But while we take disparities seriously, they do not in themselves prove injustices. Some “white” people are wealthy, and some are very poor; the difference between them can reduce to injustice, but it also can owe to numerous factors, none of them stemming from “white supremacy.”
― Owen Strachan, Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement Is Hijacking the Gospel - and the Way to Stop It

“A text cannot mean what it could never have meant for its original readers/hearers.”
― Gordon D. Fee, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth