Book Review: Passion and Purity

I recently finished reading Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot. It was highly recommended to me quite a while ago so I finally decided to give it a read.

So what did I think....well, personally I found it a little long, and at certain points in the book, I was quite frustrated with Jim's actions. I know, funny for me to say considering how amazing a person Jim Elliot was, but I'm just being honest. But I do know that the book was full of wise words from a Godly woman. Here are some quotes that touched me:

"Until your affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His Lordship.

"If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it is because the pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will satisfy only a little lad."

"the heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat."

"What has been like water from the well of Bethlehem to you recently? Love, friendship, spiritual blessing? Then at the peril of your soul you take it to satisfy yourself. If you do, you cannot pour it out before the Lord. How am I to pour out spiritual gifts or natural frienship or love? How can I give them to the Lord? In one way only-in the determination of the mind, and that takes about two seconds. If I hold spiritual blessings or friendship (or love) for myself they will corrupt me, no matter how beautiful they are. I have to pour them out before the Lord, give them to Him in my mind, though it looks as if I am wasting them, even as David poured the water out on the sand, to be instantly sucked up." - Oswald Chambers

"The majority will sacrifice anything - security, honor, self-respect, the welfare of people they love, obedience to God - to passion. They will even tell themselves that they are obeying God (or at least that He doesn't mind) and congratulate themselves for being so free, so released, so courageous, so honest and "up front"."

"The greater the potential for good, the greater the potential for evil. That is what Jim and I found in the force of the love we bore for each other. A good and perfect gift, these natural desires. But so much the more necessary that they be restrained, controlled, corrected, even crucified, that they might be reborn into power and purity for God...His we were, all the rights were His, all the perogatives to give or to withhold according to the pattern of His will."

"Lovesickness may seem a trifle compared with other maladies, but the one who is sick with love is sick indeed, and the Heavenly Father understands that."

"We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live."

"If the yearnings went away, what would we have to offer up to the Lord? Aren't they given to us to offer? It is the control of passion, not the eradication, that is needed. How would we learn to submit to the authority of Christ if we had nothing to submit?"

"Let's be candid with ourselves before God. Call a spade a spade or even a muddy shovel. If your passions are aroused, say so - to yourself and to God, not to the object of your passion. Then turn the reins over to God. Bring your will to Him. Will to obey Him, ask for His help. He will not do the obeying for you, but He will help you. Dont' ask me how. He knows. You'll see."

"We're created men and women. If Adam needed Eve and she was made for him, isn't it natural, then, isn't it altogether fitting and proper, that men and women should hunger for each other? It is natural indeed. However, it's not the only thing God has in mind for us. We are not meant to live merely by what is natural. We need to learn to live by the supernatural. Ordinary fare will not fill the emptiness in our hearts. Bread will not suffice. We need extraordinary fare. We need manna. How else will we learn to eat it, if we are never hungry? How will we educate our tastes for heavenly things if we are surfeited with earthly? Sex simply will not suffice any more than bread will. My heart was saying, "Lord, take away this longing, or give me that for which I long." The Lord was answering, "I must teach you to long for something better." "...He fed you on manna which neither you nor your fathers had known before, to teach you that men cannot live on bread alone but lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.""