Category: Quotes

I believe God insists on such restraint because no pyrotechnic displays of omnipotence will achieve the response he desires. Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason he created us. “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,” Jesus said. In case we miss the point John adds, “He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.” God’s nature is self-giving; he bases his appeal on sacrificial love.
–Philip Yancey

All-Powerful God could have crushed all those who stood against Jesus in less than an instant. This One who spoke billions of fiery stars into existence could have kept Jesus from suffering on the cross. But instead of crushing men with His power to force their obedience, He poured out His love on the cross – drawing many of us to Himself. Thank You God… that You appeal to us through sacrificial love.

The Christian’s instincts of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God. But this is knowledge which Christians today largely lack: and that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby. We are modern people, and modern people, though they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts of God. When the person in the church, let alone the person in the street, uses the word God, the thought is rarely of divine majesty.
–J. I. Packer

I hope that as I continue to grow in my relationship with God, I continue to think greater thoughts about God and His divine majesty than I do about myself.

Several people have shared with me that they are enjoying the “quote for the day” postings. I’m glad for that, though I’m still trying to learn how to do a few things, such as getting my automatic scheduling to work properly and adjusting the formatting so the quotes look better on Facebook. And on days with two posts (a quote and a longer blog), only one is going out automatically. So just bear with me as I keep “tweaking” this thing. And as the quotes for yesterday and this morning did not go out, I am posting both of them today (the afternoon of January 12th). Don’t worry, I’m sure that by the end of the year, I might have all this figured out!

It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but from the belief in works, that is, from foolishly presuming to seek justification through works…. We do not have contempt for works and ceremonies; nay, we set the highest value on them; but we have contempt for the belief in works, which no one should consider to constitute true righteousness.
–Martin Luther

We ought to do great and good things because of God, but we cannot allow ourselves to think that because of those good things we do God will grant us salvation.

Don’t settle down to be comfortable, middle-class Americans. We are called to a wartime lifestyle of simplicity with a world missions orientation. There are three possibilities: We can be goers, senders, or disobedient.
–John Piper

It is certainly more easy to spend our lives on ourselves, but that is not the calling that God has placed on our lives. We are to pray, send, and go in a lifestyle of radical obedience… spending and being spent for Him.
This year…
Pray for missions (for yourself to serve, for others on mission, and for those without Christ).
Send others to engage in missions (through your finances).
Go as a missionary (across the street to your closest neighbor and across the world to your furthest neighbor).

They nailed Him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to His feet. They gave Him a cross, not guessing that He would make it a throne. They Hung Him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe, to let the King come in.
–James Stewart

Have you let the King come in to your life and sit upon the throne to be the One who rules every aspect of who you are and what you do? I’m still striving to do just that… each and every day.