Top quotes by Philip Yancey

We're in a celebrity culture, and when I turn on the news today I hear about Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods and Paris Hilton and the Kardashian sisters and 'Dancing with the Stars,' one thing after another, Kate Gosselin's new body. Votes: 33

Christian faith is... basically about love and being loved and reconciliation. These things are so important, they're foundational and they can transform individuals, families. Votes: 17

I wrote a book on grace, and grace is a free gift, but to receive the gift you have to have your hands open. And a lot of people don't have their hands open, there's something they're grasping because there's a lot of things to grasp in a prosperous country. Votes: 16

What I see in the Bible, especially in the book of Psalms, which is a book of gratitude for the created world, is a recognition that all good things on Earth are God's, every good gift is from above. They are good if we recognize where they came from and if we treat them the way the Designer intended them to be treated. Votes: 15

Most observers understand the difference between a committed Christian who accepts Jesus as a model for living and a 'cultural Christian' who happens to live in a nation with a Christian heritage. Most Muslims do not. Votes: 13

The world says you gain your life by getting more and more and more and more, but Jesus says, 'No, that leads to death. You get it back by giving it away and when you give it away you get it back.' Votes: 13

Parents learn the uses of power and its limits. They can insist on certain outward behavior but cannot change inner attitudes. They can require obedience but not goodness - and certainly not love. Votes: 12

You are free to reject God. Make sure that you're really rejecting God, not some caricature of God that the church has shown you. But I, one, respect a God who not only allows us to reject Him but includes the arguments we can use against Him in the Bible. I respect that. Votes: 11

Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other. Votes: 11

At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice. Votes: 9

I have come to know a God of compassion and mercy and love. Votes: 8

I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry. Votes: 8

When I write, I try to represent the ordinary person in the pew, which means that, ironically, I'm qualified to write about prayer by being unqualified! Votes: 7

The self-sacrificing, servant aspect of the Christian life has many parallels to parenthood. Votes: 7

God does not accept me conditionally, on the basis of my performance, but bestows his love and forgiveness freely, despite my innumerable failures. Votes: 7

God's visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. ... For just an instant the sky grew luminous with angels, yet who saw the spectacle? Illiterate hirelings who watched the flocks of others, "nobodies" who failed to leave their names... Votes: 7

The camera follows a young woman as she makes her way through the stands to an area set aside for repentance and conversion. But Jesus' stories imply that far more may be going on out there: beyond that stadium scene, in a place concealed from all camera lenses, a great party has erupted, a gigantic celebration in the unseen world. Votes: 7

We often surround ourselves with the people we most want to live with, thus forming a club or clique, not a community. Anyone can form a club; it takes grace, shared vision, and hard work to form a community. Votes: 7

God already knows the naked truth about us, of course. Why not acknowledge it? Votes: 6

People who think they are free eventually end up slaves to their own desires, and those who give their freedom away to the only One you can trust with that freedom eventually get it back. Votes: 6

People instinctively know the difference between something done with a profit motive and something done with a love motive. Votes: 6

C. S. Lewis observed that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist. Votes: 6

Our confused society badly needs a community of contrast, a counterculture of ordinary pilgrims who insist living a different way. Unlike popular culture, we will lavish attention on the least "deserving" in direct opposition to our celebrity culture's emphasis on success, wealth, and beauty. Votes: 6

In China, where you can be arrested and imprisoned for your faith, getting together with other Christians is a lifeline and you'll risk anything for the privilege. No one attends church in China casually, or for a social advantage - quite the opposite. Votes: 5

For me, prayer is not so much me setting out a shopping list of requests for God to consider as it is a way of 'keeping company with God.' Votes: 5

Augustine started from God's grace and got it right, Pelagius started from human effort and got it wrong. Augustine passionately pursued God; Pelagius methodically worked to please God. Votes: 5

The deadening part of Bible study is when you think you've already got it all figured out. Votes: 3

God endorses the confusion and even outrage that we feel when mysterious things happen. Votes: 1

Death, decay, entropy, and destruction are the true suspensions of God's laws; miracles are the early glimpses of restoration." Votes: 1

Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and predictable elements in life, but rather a way of including the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of the grace of God in our lives." Votes: 1

I think God isn't interested in intervening every time some little bad thing happens. God is interested in getting the message of good news and love and comfort and hope across through people like us, ordinary people, or extraordinary people like Bono. Votes: 0

Christians fail to communicate to others because we ignore basic principles in relationship. When we make condescending judgments or proclaim lofty words that don't translate into action, or simply speak without first listening, we fail to love - and thus deter a thirsty world from Living Water. The good news about God's grace goes unheard. Votes: 0

What would a church look like that created space for quietness, that bucked the celebrity trend and unplugged from noisy media, that actively resisted our consumer culture? What would worship look like if we directed it more toward God than toward our own amusement? Votes: 0

We in the church have humility and contrition to offer the world, not a formula for success. Almost alone in our success-oriented society, we admit that we have failed, are failing, and always will fail. Votes: 0

The uncommitted share many of our core values, but if we do not live out those values in a compelling way, we will not awaken a thirst for their ultimate Source. Votes: 0

All of the images of Jesus and of the kingdom are small things: be a light in the darkness. Votes: 0

Prayer may seem at first like disengagement, a reflective time to consider God's point of view. But that vantage presses us back to accomplish God's will, the work of the kingdom. We are God's fellow workers, and as such we turn to prayer to equip us for the partnership. Votes: 0

As Ecclesiastes tells it, a wholesale devotion to pleasure will, paradoxically, lead to a state of utter despair. Votes: 0

And perhaps, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit may be our very best defense against a materialist view of mankind here on earth. Votes: 0

Perhaps the most powerful thing Christians can do to communicate to a skeptical world is to live fulfilled lives, exhibiting proof that Jesus' way truly leads to a life most abundant and most thirst-satisfying. Votes: 0

I have more appreciation for why the Bible avoids fuzzy psychologisms and says simply to the stealer, "Steal no more," and to the tempted, "Flee temptation." The Bible challenges us to look upward, not inward, for counsel at moments of crisis. Votes: 0

When I don't know the answer to something, I write a book about it because it gives me a chance to explore it and go to some people who do have the answers. Votes: 0

If God doesn't want something for me, I shouldn't want it either. Spending time in meditative prayer, getting to know God, helps align my desires with God's. Votes: 0

If we comprehend what Christ has done for us, then surely out of gratitude we will strive to live 'worthy' of such great love. We will strive for holiness not to make God love us but because He already does. Votes: 0

Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: You become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees? Votes: 0

Jesus never met a disease he could not cure, a birth defect he could not reverse, a demon he could not exorcise. But he did meet skeptics he could not convince and sinners he could not convert. Forgiveness of sins requires an act of will on the receiver's part, and some who heard Jesus' strongest words about grace and forgiveness turned away unrepentant. Votes: 0

I begin with confession not in order to feel miserable, rather to call to mind a reality I often ignore. When I acknowledge where I stand before a perfect God, it restores the true state of the universe. Confession simply establishes the proper ground rules of creatures relating to their creator. Votes: 0

Homeless people bear God's image too. Votes: 0

Our best efforts at changing society will fall short unless the church can teach the world how to love. Votes: 0

I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse. Votes: 0

When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person. Votes: 0

Individuals and societies are not helpless victims of heredity. We have the power to change - not by looking "down" to nature but "up" to God, who consistently calls us forward to become the people we were designed to be. A confused world urgently needs a model of what that looks like. If Christians fail to provide that model, who will? Votes: 0

Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. Yet I believe that life with God should seem more like friendship than duty. Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. In other words, prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter. Votes: 0

The people who related to God best--Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah--treated him with startling familiarity. They talked to God as if he were sitting in a chair beside them, as one might talk to a counselor, a boss, a parent, or a lover. They treated him like a person. Votes: 0

As the books of Job, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk clearly show, God has a high threshold of tolerance for what appropriate to say in a prayer. God can "handle" my unsuppressed rage. I may well find that my vindictive feelings need God's correction - but only by taking those feelings to God will I have the opportunity for correction and healing. Votes: 0

Politics draws lines between people; in contrast, Jesus' love cuts across those lines and dispenses grace. That does not mean, of course, that Christians should not involve themselves in politics. It simply means that as we do so we must not let the rules of power displace the command to love. Votes: 0

Jesus is the best clue we have as to what God is like and He is consistently gracious and merciful, especially to those who are failures. He is harsh to uptight, judgmental people, but merciful and gracious to the failures. He seems to draw out the smallest kernel of faith in each person that He's with. So, I presume that that's the way God is going to judge humanity. Votes: 0

Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do, the kingdom of heaven draws near Votes: 0

Jesus gave us a model for the work of the church at the Last Supper. While his disciples kept proposing more organization - Hey, let's elect officers, establish hierarchy, set standards of professionalism - Jesus quietly picked up a towel and basin of water and began to wash their feet. Votes: 0

The surgery of life hurts. It helps me, though, to know that the surgeon himself, the Wounded Surgeon, has felt every stab of pain and every sorrow. Votes: 0

Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part. Votes: 0

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn't act the way we want God to, and why I don't act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge. Votes: 0

Nature was one of the key forces that brought me back to God, for I wanted to know the Artist responsible for beauty such as I saw on grand scale in photos from space telescopes or on minute scale such as in the intricate designs on a butterfly wing. Votes: 0

The Gospels and the rest of the New Testament reflect the life of Jesus, what it means for us & what it means for the world. Votes: 0

Curiously, the righteous Pharisees had little historical impact, save for a brief time in a remote corner of the Roman Empire. But Jesus' disciples - an ornery, undependable, and hopelessly flawed group of men - became drunk with the power of a gospel that offered free forgiveness to the worst sinners and traitors. Those men managed to change the world. Votes: 0

The more we love, and the more unlikely people we love, the more we resemble God - who, after all, loves ornery creatures like us. Votes: 0

Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross. Votes: 0

prayer, and only prayer, restores my vision to one that more resembles God's. i awake from blindness to see that wealth lurks as a terrible danger, not a goal worth striving for; that value depends not on race or status but on the image of God every person bears; that no amount of effort to improve physical beauty has much relevance for the world beyond. Votes: 0

One who has been touched by grace will no longer look on those who stray as "those evil people" or "those poor people who need our help." Nor must we search for signs of "loveworthiness." Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are. Votes: 0

At the heart of the gospel is a God who deliberately surrenders to the wild, irresistable power of love. Votes: 0

The point of the Book of Job is not suffering: where is God When It hurts? The prologue (chapters 1-2) dealt with that issue. The point of the Book of Job is faith: Where is Job when it hurts? Votes: 0

The Quakers have a saying: "An enemy is one whose story we have not heard." To communicate to post-Christians, I must first listen to their stories for clues to how they view the world and how they view people like me. Votes: 0

We tend to think, 'Life should be fair because God is fair.' But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life- by expecting constant good health for example- then I set myself up for crashing disappointment. Votes: 0

The Christian sees the world as a transitional home badly in need of rehab, and we are active agents in that project. Votes: 0

I rejected the church for a time because I found so little grace there. I returned because I found grace nowhere else. Votes: 0

Be still. In that focus, all else comes into focus. In that rift in my routine, the universe falls into alignment. Votes: 0

The borderlanders are people who are kind of caught in the middle. They think there must be another world out there. There probably is a God, but they are either turned off by the church or wounded by the church or wary of the church for whatever reason. Votes: 0

we persevere because we believe rewards will come. Votes: 0

We need faith and the mind of the Lord Jesus to recognize something of lasting value in even our most ordinary tasks. Votes: 0

God does not seem impressed by size or power or wealth. Faith is what he wants, and the heroes who emerge are heroes of faith, not strength or wealth. Votes: 0

Prayer is to the skeptic a delusion, a waste of time. To the believer it represents perhaps the most important use of time. Votes: 0

I have yet to find any support in the Bible for an attitude of smugness: Ah, they deserve their punishment; watch them squirm. Votes: 0

The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace. Votes: 0

In no other arena is the church at greater risk of losing its calling than in the public square Votes: 0

Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace. Votes: 0

The New Testament persistently presses us upward, toward higher motives for being good. Votes: 0

Faith in God offers no insurance against tragedy. Votes: 0

Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet. Votes: 0

God operates by different rules of time and space. And God's infinite greatness, which we would expect to diminish us, actually makes possible the very closeness that we desire. A God unbound by our rules of time has the ability to invest in every person on earth. God has, quite literally, all the time in the world for each one of us. Votes: 0

When the world asks if there is any hope, we can say absolutely! No one is exempt from tragedy or disappointment- God himself was not exempt. Jesus offered no immunity, no way out of the unfairness, but rather a way through it to the other side. Votes: 0

The Cross of Christ may have overcome evil, but it did not overcome unfairness. For that, Easter is required. Votes: 0

We human beings instinctively regard the seen world as the "real" world and the unseen world as the "unreal" world, but the Bible calls for almost the opposite. Votes: 0

Whatever else it is, the kingdom of God is decidedly not a call to violent revolution. Votes: 0

The people of God are not merely to mark time, waiting for God to step in and set right all that is wrong. Rather, they are to model the new heaven and new earth, and by so doing awaken longings for what God will someday bring to pass. Votes: 0

God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are. Votes: 0

Jesus did not give the parables to teach us how to live. He gave them, I believe, to correct our notions about who God is and who God loves. Votes: 0

Much of the misgiving that Muslims feel for the West stems from our strong emphasis on freedom, always a risky enterprise. I've heard some say they would rather rear their children in a closely guarded Islamic society than in the United States, where freedom so often leads to decadence. Votes: 0

Most of the great books on prayer are written by 'experts' - monks, missionaries, mystics, saints. I've read scores of them, and mainly they make me feel guilty. Votes: 0

It's too bad prayer comes bundled in a package of 'spiritual disciplines.' Really, we should see prayer as a spiritual privilege. We don't do it as a callisthenic exercise to gain points with God; we do it, because it is good for us in every way. Votes: 0

One of the greatest things about writing as a profession is that the words of Tolstoy, Chesterton and Dostoyevsky have lived for a hundred years and are just as powerful today. Their words have changed me just as much as the people I actually met. Votes: 0

When suffering happens, it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do. Votes: 0

... learning humility is a prerequisite for grace. Votes: 0

... the approach of admitting our errors, besides being most true to a gospel of grace, is also most effective at expressing who we are. Propaganda turns people off; humbly admitting mistakes disarms. Votes: 0

... the core problem with Christians communicating faith: we do not always do so in love. That is an indispensable point to presenting faith in a grace-full way. Votes: 0

... the issue is not whether I agree with someone but rather how I treat someone with whom I profoundly disagree. We Christians are called to use the "weapons of grace," which means treating even our opponents with love and respect. Votes: 0

... we need to reclaim the "goodnewness" of the gospel, and the best place to start is to rediscover the good news ourselves. Votes: 0

...to see that God does answer, in great things as well as small, the prayers of those who put their trust in Him will strengthen the faith of multitudes. Votes: 0

[...]women much like this prostitute fled toward Jesus, not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself, the more likely she saw Jesus as a refuge. Has the church lost that gift? Votes: 0

[Jesus] invoked a different kind of power: love, not coercion. Votes: 0

A faithful person sees life from the perspective of trust, not fear. Bedrock faith allows me to believe that, despite the chaos of the present moment, God does reign; that regardless of how worthless I may feel, I truly matter to a God of love; that no pain lasts forever and no evil triumphs in the end. Faith sees even the darkest deed of all history, the death of God's Son, as a necessary prelude to the brightest. Votes: 0

A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me. Votes: 0

A philosophy may explain difficult things, but has no power to change them. The gospel, the story of Jesus' life, promises change. Votes: 0

Across time and generations, books carry the thoughts and feelings, the essence, of the human spirit. Votes: 0

All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window revealing a different way. Votes: 0

As a writer, I play with words all day long. I toy with them, listen for their overtones, crack them open, and try to stuff my thoughts inside. Votes: 0

As I look around on Sunday morning at the people populating the pews, I see the risk that God has assumed. For whatever reason, God now reveals himself in the world not through a pillar of smoke and fire, not even through the physical body of his Son in Galilee, but through the mongrel collection that comprises my local church and every other such gathering in God's name. (p. 68, Church: Why Bother?) Votes: 0

As I read the Bible, it seems clear that God satisfies his "eternal appetite" by loving individual human beings. I imagine He views each halting step forward in my spiritual "walk" with the eagerness of a parent watching a child take the very first step. Votes: 0

Be salt, and a little bit of salt keeps the whole society from going rancid. Votes: 0

By focusing too myopically on what we want God to do on our behalf, we may miss the significance of what he has already done. Votes: 0

By striving to prove how much they deserve God's love, legalists miss the whole point of the gospel, that it is a gift from God to people who don't deserve it. The solution to sin is not to impose an ever-stricter code of behavior. It is to know God. Votes: 0

Capitalism rules worldwide, and a society whose economic fabric depends on constant growth requires that its citizens have ever-expanding needs and wants... In the West, it will take one with soul force equal to Gandhi's to change the prevailing dogma of ever increasing GNP. We may be forced to change our profligate ways some day, when the soil is depleted, the aquifers drained, the icecaps melted, and all the oil wells pumped dry. But the crisis will wait another fifty years or so; we'll leave those problems to a generation yet unborn. Votes: 0

Charles Williams has said of the Lord's Prayer, "No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than the little word 'as' in that clause." What makes the 'as' so terrifying? The fact that Jesus plainly links our forgiven-ness by the Father with our forgiving-ness of fellow human beings. Jesus' next remark could not be more explicit: 'If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.' Votes: 0

Christ bears the wounds of the church, his body, just as he bore the wounds of crucifixion. I sometimes wonder which have hurt worse. Votes: 0

Christianity is not a purely intellectual, internal faith. It can only be lived in community. Votes: 0

Christians are not perfect, by any means, but they can be people made fully alive. Votes: 0

Christians are simply pilgrims who acknowledge their lostness and their desire for help in finding the way. Votes: 0

Christians have an important role to play in contending that no human life is "devoid of value." We can do so through courageous protest, as happened in Germany, as well, as in compassionate care for the most vulnerable members of society, as Mother Teresa did. In both approaches theology - what one believes about God and human life - matters. The world desperately needs that good news. Votes: 0

Dependence, humility, simplicity, cooperation, and a sense of abandon are qualities greatly prized in the spiritual life, but extremely elusive for people who live in comfort. Votes: 0

Doubt always coexists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all? Votes: 0

Eugene Peterson points out that "the root meaning in Hebrew of salvation is to be broad, to become spacious, to enlarge. It carries the sense of deliverance from an existence that has become compressed, confined and cramped." God wants to set free, to make it possible for us to live open and loving lives with God and our neighbors. "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free," wrote the psalmist. Votes: 0

Faith is not simply a private matter, or something we practice once a week at church. Rather, it should have a contagious effect on the broader world. Jesus used these images to illustrate His kingdom.: a sprinkle of yeast causing the whole loaf to rise, a pinch of salt preserving a slab of meat, the smallest seed in the garden growing into a great tree in which birds of the air come to nest. Votes: 0

For me, prayer is not so much me setting out a shopping list of requests for God to consider as it is a way of keeping company with God. Votes: 0

For me, the world of nature bears spectacular witness to the imaginative genius of our Creator. Votes: 0

Forgiveness is the only way to break the cycle of blame-and pain-in a relationship...It does not settle all questions of blame and justice and fairness...But it does allow relationships to start over. In that way, said Solzhenitsyn, we differ from all animals. It is not our capacity to think that makes us different, but our capacity to repent, and to forgive. Votes: 0

God formed an alliance based on the world as it is, full of flaws, whereas prayer calls God to account for the world as it should be. Votes: 0

God has, quite literally, all the time in the world for each one of us. Votes: 0

God must love art because most of the Bible is expressed in the form of story or poetry. Votes: 0

God reproduces and lives out His image in millions of ordinary people like us. It is a supreme mystery. We are called to bear that image as a Body because any one of us taken individually would present an incomplete image, one partly false and always distorted, like a single glass chip hacked from a mirror. But collectively, in all our diversity, we can come together as a community of believers to restore the image of God in the world. Votes: 0

Grace comes free of charge to people who do not deserve it and I am one of those people... Now I am trying in my own small way to pipe the tune of grace. I do so because I know, more surely than I know anything, that any pang of healing or forgiveness or goodness I have ever felt comes solely from the grace of God. Votes: 0

Grace does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us. Ask people what they must do to get to heaven and most reply, "Be good." Jesus' stories contradict that answer. All we must do is cry, "Help!" Votes: 0

Grace is everywhere, like lenses that go unnoticed because you are looking through them. Votes: 0

Grace is free only because the giver himself has borne the cost. Votes: 0

Grace is heartfelt, tinged with love, a spillover gift of the God who extended undeserved favor toward us. Votes: 0

Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love. Votes: 0

Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more . . . And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less Votes: 0

Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus. Votes: 0

He (Job) did not seek the Giver because of His gifts; when all gifts were removed he still sought the Giver. Votes: 0

Henri Nouwen says, "When we come to realize that ... only God saves, then we are free to serve, then we can live truly humble lives." Nouwen changed his approach from "selling pearls," or peddling the good news, to "hunting for the treasure" already present in those he was called to love - a shift from dispensing religion to dispensing grace. It makes all the difference in the world whether I view my neighbor as a potential convert or as someone whom God already loves. Votes: 0

I am learning that mature faith, which encompasses both simple faith and fidelity, works the opposite of paranoia. It reassembles all the events of life around trust in a loving God. When good things happen, I accept them as gifts from God, worthy of thanksgiving. When bad things happen, I do not take them as necessarily sent by God -- I see evidence in the Bible to the contrary -- and I find in them no reason to divorce God. Rather, I trust that God can use even those bad things for my benefit. Votes: 0

I ask God most often that we would be an unbroken line of Christians until Christ shall return. Votes: 0

I do not get to know God and then do His will. I get to know Him by doing His will. Votes: 0

I doubt God keeps track of how many arguments we win; God may indeed keep track of how well we love. Votes: 0

I fell in love. It felt exactly like a fall, a head-over-heels tumble into a state of unbearable lightness. The earth tilted on its axis. I did not believe in romantic love at the time, thinking it a human construct, an invention of fourteenth century Italian poets. I was as unprepared for love as I had been for goodness and beauty. Suddenly, my heart seemed swollen, too large for my chest. Votes: 0

I go to church as an expression of my need for God and for God's family. Votes: 0

I have found that lived out, the hardest place to be a Christian is to be in a nice prosperous country with a lot of entertainment options because there's so many distractions. Votes: 0

I have found that living with faith in an unseen world requires constant effort. Votes: 0

I never see God. I seldom run into visual clues that remind me of God unless I am looking. The act of looking, the pursuit itself, makes possible the encounter. For this reason, Christianity has always insisted that trust and obedience come first, and knowledge follows. Votes: 0

I say this with care, but I wonder if a fierce, insistent desire for a miracle - even a physical healing - sometimes betrays a lack of faith rather than an abundance of it. When yearning for a miraculous resolution to a problem, do we make our loyalty to God contingent on whether he reveals himself yet again in the seen world? Votes: 0

I would say my being disheartened has more to do with American culture than anything else. We are becoming a very shallow culture. My goodness, the celebrity ethos has taken over completely. Turn on the television and you see that over and over. There's very little substance. And so, everything gets shorter. Everything is entertainment oriented. Our churches reflect that. A thirty-five minute sermon without a Power Point or video clips is rare these days. That's not true in other countries so much. Votes: 0

If God consistently sent lightning bolts in response to bad doctrine, our planet would sparkle nightly like a Christmas tree. Votes: 0

If God doesn't want something for me, then I shouldn't want it either. Votes: 0

If I just think of the churches in my little town here because I've been to every one of them, there are 27, there aren't that many where you walk in and say wow, people are excited about their faith. A lot of them, it's just what you do on Sunday at 10:00 or 11:00 and that's not true in other countries. In some other countries, it's still a very lively, vibrant experience. Votes: 0

If Jesus had never lived, we would not have been able to invent him. Votes: 0

If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus' gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace. Votes: 0

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Votes: 0

If we insist on visible proofs from God, we may well prepare the way for a permanent state of disappointment. True faith does not so much attempt to manipulate God to do our will as it does to position us to do his will. As I searched through the Bible for models of great faith, I was struck by how few saints experienced anything like Job's dramatic encounter with God. The rest responded to the hiddenness not by demanding that he show himself, but by going ahead and believing him though he stayed hidden. Votes: 0

If your church conveys that spirit of condescension or judgment, it's likely not a place where grace is on tap. Votes: 0

Imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks. Votes: 0

In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get his family back. Votes: 0

In the move The Last Emperor, the young child anointed as the last emperor of China lives a magical life of luxury with a thousand eunuch servants at his command. "What happens when you do wrong?" his brother asks. "When I do wrong, someone else is punished," the boy emperor replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of the servants is beaten. In Christian theology, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace is free only because the giver himself has borned the cost. Votes: 0

In the stories of extravagant grace given to us by Jesus, there are no loopholes disqualifying us from God's love. Votes: 0

Indeed we are all in peril if the flawed messenger invalidates the message. Votes: 0

It took time for the church to come to terms with the ignominy of the cross. Church fathers forbade its depiction in art until the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine.... Now, though, the symbol is everywhere: artists beat gold into the shape of the Roman execution device, baseball players cross themselves before batting, and cancy confectioners even make chocolate crosses for the faithful to eat during Holy Week. Strange as it may seem, Christianity has become a religion of the cross--the gallows, the electric chair, the gas chamber, in modern terms. Votes: 0

It's easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you've heard everything before and that you have nothing left to learn. Votes: 0

Jesus announced a great reversal of values in His Sermon on the Mount, elevating not the rich or attractive, but rather the poor, the persecuted, and those who mourn. Votes: 0

Jesus never tried to hide his loneliness and dependence on other people. He chose his disciples not as servants but as friends. He shared moments of joy and grief with them, and asked for them in times of need. They became his family, his substitute mother and brothers and sisters. They gave up everything for him, as he had given up everything for them. He loved them, plain and simple. Votes: 0

Jesus represents a point of common ground an esteemed rabbi to the Jew, a god to the Hindu, an enlightened one to the Buddhist, a great prophet to the Muslim. Even to the New Age guru, Jesus is the pinnacle of God-consciousness. At the same time, Jesus is the divider. None but Christians see Him as a member of the Godhead on an exclusive mission to repair the broken world. Votes: 0

Jesus reserved his hardest words for the hidden sins of hypocrisy, pride, greed and legalism. Votes: 0

Jesus' response to suffering people and to "nobodies" provides a glimpse into the heart of God. God is not the unmoved Absolute, but rather the Loving One who draws near. Votes: 0

Jesus tended to honor the losers of this world, not the winners. Our modern culture extravagantly rewards beauty, athletic skill, wealth, and artistic achievement, qualities which seemed to impress Jesus not at all. Votes: 0

Jesus was a master of grace: he attracted sinners and moral outcasts even as he offended the religious and responsible people of his day. Votes: 0

John Wesley taught that the gospel of Christ involved more than saving souls. It should have an impact on all of society, and his followers worked to accomplish just that. They were dispensing grace to the broader world, and in the process their spirit helped change a nation, saving it from the revolutionary chaos that had spread across Europe. Votes: 0

Life with God is an individual matter, and general formulas do not easily apply. Votes: 0

Love deems this world worth rescuing. Votes: 0

Love is an overarching style of relating to another. Votes: 0

Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to - because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice. Votes: 0

Misunderstanding must be nakedly exposed before true understanding can begin to flourish. Votes: 0

Never do I see Jesus lecturing people on the need to accept blindness or lameness as an expression of God's secret will; rather, he healed them. Votes: 0

No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument. Votes: 0

O God, make the bad people good, and the good people nice Votes: 0

Often, it seems, we're [Christians] perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers. Votes: 0

On a small scale, person-to-person, Jesus encountered the kinds of suffering common to all of us. And how did he respond? Avoiding philosophical theories and theological lessons, he reached out with healing and compassion. He forgave sin, healed the afflicted, cast out evil, and even overcame death. Votes: 0

One Harlem preacher likens us to the pink plastic spoons at Baskin Robbins: we give the world a foretaste of what lies ahead, the vision of the Biblical prophets. In a world gone astray we should be activity demonstrating here and now God's will for the planet. Votes: 0

One of the things I found is that the things we want to say for well-intentioned motives often cause more harm than good. People don't need our words. They mainly need our presence, they need our love. And if you come in too quickly with explanations, you may do more harm than good. Votes: 0

Only in prayer can we learn to love God with all our heart, mind and soul. Votes: 0

Pain narrows vision. The most private of sensations, it forces us to think of ourselves and little else. Votes: 0

People want to go back to those old days, but it's probably not going to happen. Votes: 0

Pleasure represents a great good but also a grave danger. Votes: 0

Politics deals with externals: borders, wealth, crimes. Authentic forgiveness deals with the evil in a persons heart, something for which politics has no cure. Virulent evil (racism, ethnic hatred) spreads through society like an airborne disease, one cough infects a whole busload. When moments of grace do occur, the world must pause, fall silent, and acknowledge that indeed forgiveness offers a kind of cure. There will be no escape from wars, from hunger, from misery, from rancid discrimination, from denial of human rights, if our hearts aren't changed. Votes: 0

Power can do everything but the most important thing: it cannot control love. Votes: 0

Prayer enters the pool of God's love and widens outward. Votes: 0

Prayer is - keeping company with God. Votes: 0

Prayer is - not just bowing your head a few times a day, it pervades all of life. Votes: 0

Prayer is a declaration of dependence upon God. Votes: 0

Prayer is a place where God and humans meet. Votes: 0

Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and predictable elements in life, but rather a way of including the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of the grace of God in our lives. Votes: 0

Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God's point of view. Votes: 0

Prayer unfolds in the stillness of the soul. Votes: 0

Rather, God has commissioned us as agents of intervention in the midst of a hostile and broken world. Votes: 0

Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue. Votes: 0

Some of us seem so anxious about avoiding hell that we forget to celebrate our journey toward heaven. Votes: 0

Some things just have to be believed to be seen. Votes: 0

Some who attempt prayer never have the sense of anyone listening on the other end. They blame themselves for doing it wrong.... Prayer requires the faith to believe that God listens. Votes: 0

Someone asked the Swiss physician & author Paul Tournier how he helped his patients get rid of their fears. He replied, 'I don't. Everything that's worthwhile in life is scary. Choosing a school, choosing a career, getting married, having kids--all those things are scary. If it is not fearful, it is not worthwhile.' Votes: 0

Sometimes I feel like the most liberal person among conservatives, and sometimes like the most conservative among liberals. Votes: 0

Thanks to the scientific method, most people in "developed" countries have an outlook of mild deism. We assume things like weather and disease operate according to fixed natural laws. Every so often, though, problems impinge on us so directly that we stretch beyond that mildly deistic stance and ask God to intervene. When a drought drags on too long, we pray for rain. When a young mother gets a diagnosis of cervical cancer, we solicit prayers for her healing. We beseech God as if trying to talk God into something God otherwise might not want to do. Votes: 0

The bible never belittles disappointment, but it does add one key word: temporary - What we feel now, we will not always feel. Our disappointment is itself a sign, and aching, a hunger for something better. And faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness - for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for. Votes: 0

The Bible never belittles human disappointment ... but it does add one key word: temporary. Votes: 0

The Christian knows to serve the weak not because they deserve it but because God extended his love to us when we deserved the opposite. Christ came down from heaven, and whenever his disciples entertained dreams of prestige and power he reminded them that the greatest is the one who serves. The ladder of power reaches up, the ladder of grace reaches down. Votes: 0

The church is, above all, a place to receive grace: it brings forgiven people together with the aim of equipping us to dispense grace to others. Votes: 0

The church works best not as a power center, rather as a countercultural community - in the world but not of it - that shows others how to live the most fulfilled and meaningful life on earth. In modern society that means rejecting the false gods of independence, success, and pleasure and replacing them with love for God and neighbor. Votes: 0

The giants of the faith all had one thing in common: neither victory nor success, but passion. Votes: 0

The Old Testament anticipates [Jesus] all the way through. Votes: 0

The only thing harder than forgiveness is the alternative. Votes: 0

The presence of another caring person doubles the amount of pain a person can endure, Votes: 0

The problem of pain meets its match in the scandal of grace. Votes: 0

The promise of pleasures so alluring that we may devote our lives to their pursuit, and then the haunting realization that these pleasures ultimately do not satisfy. Votes: 0

The rubber hits the road when we try to show grace to a person most unlike us, even someone morally offensive. Votes: 0

The shift in American society from admiring Christians to fearing and criticizing them provides an opportunity for self-reflection. How have we been presenting the message we believe in? Might there be a more grace-filled way? Votes: 0

The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labour for', as Sir Thomas More expressed it. The inner voice of prayer expresses itself naturally in action, just as the inner voice of my brain guides all my bodily actions. Votes: 0

The world is not against you, but the world is a place where bad things happen. It's just true. Airlines crash, people do evil things. A lot of bad things happen and it causes pain. Votes: 0

The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls silent before it. Votes: 0

There is an "offense" to the Gospel no matter how graciously we present it. It includes the message that God, not humanity, is the ultimate judge of right and wrong, and that the choices we make here have eternal consequences. Votes: 0

There is but one true Giver in the universe; all else are debtors. Votes: 0

To some, the image of a pale body glimmering on a dark night whispers of defeat. What good is a God who does not control his Son's suffering? But another sound can be heard: the shout of a God crying out to human beings, "I LOVE YOU." Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to - because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice. Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross. Votes: 0

True faith does not so much attempt to manipulate God to do our will as it does to position us to do his will. Votes: 0

True healing, of deep connective tissue, takes place in community. Where is God when it hurts? Where God's people are. Votes: 0

Unless we love natural goods - sex, alcohol, food, money, success, power - in the way God intended, we become their slaves, as any addict can attest. Votes: 0

We admit that we will never reach our ideal in this life, a distinctive the church claims that most other human institutions try to deny. Votes: 0

We are all trophies of God's grace, some more dramatically than others; Jesus came for the sick and not the well, for the sinner and not the righteous. He came to redeem and transform, to make all things new. May you go forth more committed than ever to nourish the souls who you touch, those tender lives who have sustained the enormous assaults of the universe. (pp.88) Votes: 0

We can't expect the nation to operate by Christian principles… but we can expect this of the church. Votes: 0

We deserve punishment and get forgiveness; we deserve God's wrath and get God's love. Votes: 0

We do well to remember that the Bible has far more to say about how to live during the journey than about the ultimate destination. Votes: 0

We grow up hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us. Votes: 0

We preach sermons, write books on apologetics, conduct city-wide evangelistic campaigns. For those alienated from the church, that approach no longer has the same drawing power. And for the truly needy, words alone don't satisfy; "A hungry person has no ears," as one relief worker told me. A skeptical world judges the truth of what we say by the proof of how we live. Votes: 0

We respond to healing grace by giving it away. Votes: 0

We should be asking: How do we respond to a post-Christian society? Votes: 0

We should do whatever we can to cut through the scum that has grown on our understanding and rediscover freshness. Votes: 0

We should feel dissonance; we are, after all, immortals trapped in mortal surroundings. We lack unity because long ago a gap fissured open between our mortal and immortal parts; theologians trace the fault line back to the Fall. Votes: 0

We whine about things we have little control over; we lament what we believe ought to be changed. Votes: 0

We, Jesus' followers, are the agents assigned to carry out God's will on earth. Too easily we expect God to do something for us when instead God wants to do it through us. Votes: 0

We're concerned with how things turn out; God seems more concerned with how we turn out. Votes: 0

What a nation needs more than anything else is not a Christian ruler in the palace but a Christian prophet within earshot. Votes: 0

What you and I think about Jesus and how we respond to Him will determine our destiny for all eternity. Votes: 0

Whatever else we may say about it, the atonement fulfills the Jewish principle that only one who has been hurt can forgive. At Calvary, God chose to be hurt. Votes: 0

Whatever makes us feel superior to other people, whatever tempts us to convey a sense of superiority, that is the gravity of our sinful nature, not grace. Votes: 0

When he lived on earth, [Jesus] surrounded himself with ordinary people who misunderstood him, failed to exercise much spiritual power, and sometimes behaved like churlish schoolchildren. Votes: 0

When I am tempted to complain about God's lack of presence, I remind myself that God has much more reason to complain about my lack of presence. Votes: 0

When Jesus came to earth, demons recognized him, the sick flocked to him, and sinners doused his feet and head with perfume. Meanwhile he offended pious Jews with their strict preconceptions of what God should be like. Their rejection makes me wonder, could religious types be doing just the reverse now? Could we be perpetuating an image of Jesus that fits our pious expectations but does not match the person portrayed so vividly in the Gospels? Votes: 0

When we ignore the world outside the walls we suffer-as does it. Votes: 0

Whenever faith seems an entitlement, or a measuring rod, we cast our lots with the Pharisees and grace softly slips away. Votes: 0

Who would complain if God allowed one hour of suffering in an entire lifetime of comfort? Why complain about a lifetime that includes suffering when that lifetime is a mere hour of eternity? Votes: 0

Whoever desires to remain faithful to Jesus must communicate faith as he did, not by compelling assent but by presenting it as a true answer to basic thirst. Rather than looking back nostalgically on a time when Christians wielded more power, I suggest another approach: that we regard ourselves as subversives operating within the broader culture. Votes: 0

Why pray? Evidently, God likes to be asked. God certainly does not need our wisdom or our knowledge, nor even the information contained in our prayers ("your Father knows what you need before you ask him"). But by inviting us into the partnership of creation, God also invites us into relationship. God is love, said the apostle John. God does not merely have love or feel love. God is love and cannot not love. As such, God yearns for relationship with the creatures made in his image. Votes: 0

Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog. Votes: 0

You can know the law by heart without knowing the heart of it Votes: 0

I would far rather convey grace than explain it. Votes: 0

I once heard a theologian remark that in the Gospels people approached Jesus with a question 183 times whereas he replied with a direct answer only three times. Instead, he responded with a different question, a story, or some other indirection. Evidently Jesus wants us to work out answers on our own, using the principles that he taught and lived. Votes: 0

Goodness cannot be imposed externally, from the top down; it must grow internally, from the bottom up. Votes: 0

Release what is good. Votes: 0

My mother believed he would be healed. She counted on God, and the worst thing happened, the impact of that error in theology, in thinking, impacted my life from the very beginning. Votes: 0

Grace is a free gift of God, but to receive a gift you must have open hands. Votes: 0