but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.
-- 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6 (ESV)
John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on First Thessalonians:
But even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God which proves our hearts. Do you see, that it is not vainglory? But God, he says, which proves our hearts. We do nothing for the sake of pleasing men. For on whose account should we do these things?
C. S. Lewis, The Inner Ring:
The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it.
Augustine, City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 28:
Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience.
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter 1:
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, save to love God, and Him only to serve. That is the highest wisdom, to cast the world behind us, and to reach forward to the heavenly kingdom. It is vanity, too, to covet honours, and to lift up ourselves on high.
What work would you do today if no one would ever see it -- and what work are you doing only because someone will?
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book XII:
I have often wondered how it should come to pass, that every man loving himself best, should more regard other men's opinions concerning himself than his own. Thus do we fear more what our neighbours will think of us, than what we ourselves.
St. Clair, MI -- Wednesday, August 12
Widespread fog before 8 a.m., then partly sunny with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. High near 84, south-southwest wind 1 to 6 mph, 30% chance of precipitation. Tonight: chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8 p.m., mostly cloudy, low near 63.