Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Denying the Self

"There is no forgetting of ourselves but in the finding of our deeper, our true self—God's idea of us when He devised us—the Christ in us. Nothing but that self can displace the false, greedy, whining self, of which most of us are so fond and proud. And that self no man can find for himself...'but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.'"
- George MacDonald

Source: Lewis, C. S. George MacDonald: An Anthology. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. New York: 1946. Pg 151.

Monday, November 29, 2010

An Unknown Quality of Life

"At a rally in 1983 for those opposed to abortion, to me the most moving argument was made by Alison Davis, who described herself as 'a happy spina bifida adult' and spoke from a wheelchair. 'I can think of few concepts more terrifying,' she said, 'than saying that certain people are better off dead, and may therefore be killed for their own good.' One doctor, on hearing her say that she was glad to be alive, 'made the incredible observation that no one can judge their own quality of life, and that other people might well consider a life like mine miserable!'"
- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W., Roy McCloughry, John Wyatt, and John R. W. Stott. Issues Facing Christians Today. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. 405. Print.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

How We Receive God's Blessing

"Never forget that the blessing of God's Spirit in our lives is not granted to us because one day we became holy enough to deserve His blessing. It came to us when at last we saw the light and simply believed God to keep His Word."
- Chuck Smith

Source: Smith, Chuck. Why Grace Changes Everything. The Word For Today, 2001: p. 120.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

True Humility

"Failure has a way of humbling us, but we've got to be sure we're experiencing true humility and not just punctured pride. Punctured pride says, 'How could this be happening to me?' while true humility says, 'I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.'"
- Warren Wiersbe

Source: 
Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being A Servant of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993. Pg. 77.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Cure Your Materialism

"The Christian antidote to materialism is not asceticism; austerity for its own sake is a rejection of the good gifts of the Creator."
- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W., Roy McCloughry, John Wyatt, and John R. W. Stott. Issues Facing Christians Today. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. 315. Print.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Will of God

"Discovering the will of God is something like putting a picture puzzle together. God sees the complete picture because He painted it. Nobody has all the pieces of the puzzle, but as we talk and pray and meditate on the Word, each of us fits a piece into the puzzle. Gradually, we start to see the whole picture. Wanting to have our own way is like forcing a puzzle piece into the wrong place. It's dangerous to try to change a picture that God has already planned."
- Warren Wiersbe


Source: 
Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being A Servant of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993. Pg. 67.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Gospel Selection

"The biblical perspective is not 'the survival of the fittest' but 'the protection of the weakest.'"
- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W., Roy McCloughry, John Wyatt, and John R. W. Stott. Issues Facing Christians Today. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. 305. Print.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

When to cause pain

"A true physician only makes incisions in order to effect cures, and a wise man only excites painful emotions in men's minds with the distinct object of blessing their souls."
- C. S. Spurgeon

Source: Spurgeon, C. S. The Soul Winner. Springdale, PA. Whitaker House, 1995. p. 22.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Missionary God

"We need to become global Christians with a global vision, for we have a global God."
- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 4th ed. Article entry, "The Living God Is a Missionary God." William Carey. 2009, p. 9.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Contentment

"I do not think that the road to contentment lies in despising what we have not got. Let us acknowledge all good, all delight that the world holds, and be content without it."
- George MacDonald

Source: Lewis, C. S. George MacDonald: An Anthology. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. New York: 1946. Pg 131.

Monday, November 8, 2010

What Moves You?

"Extreme poverty is demeaning; it reduces human beings to the level of animals. To be sure, Christians should be provoked by the idolatry of a Hindu city, as Paul was by the idols in Athens, and moved to evangelism. But, like Jesus when he saw the hungry crowds, we should be moved with compassion to feed them (compare Acts 17:16f. with, e.g., Mark 8:1-3)."
- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W., Roy McCloughry, John Wyatt, and John R. W. Stott. Issues Facing Christians Today. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. 298. Print.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

THINK - The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

"What does it mean to love God 'with all your mind?'" I take it to mean that we direct our thinking in a certain way; namely, our thinking [as Christians] should be wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things."
- John Piper*

Source: Piper, John. THINK: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. Wheaton, IL. Cossway, 2010. p. 83

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Waiting on God

"Much mental suffering is tied to our false expectations. We may so link our hopes and joys and future to a new job, to a promotion, to certain kinds of success, to prosperity, that when they fail to materialize, we are utterly crushed. But quiet confidence in God alone breeds stability and delight amid 'all the changing scenes of life.'"
- D. A. Carson

Source: Merrick, Britt. Big God. Ventura: Regal Books, 2010. p. 136.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Our Evangelistic Mission

"In evangelism we should neither try to force people to believe the gospel, nor remain silent as if we were indifferent to their response, nor rely exclusively on the dogmatic proclamation of biblical texts (vital as authoritative biblical exposition is), but rather, like the apostles, we should reason with people from both nature and Scripture, commending God's gospel to them by rational arguments."
- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W., Roy McCloughry, John Wyatt, and John R. W. Stott. Issues Facing Christians Today. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. 79. Print.