Quotes from Mike Erre

God doesn't participate in the things we can do ourselves

There is nothing exceptional about today, except that today can be a day of new beginnings, of crossing lines in the sand, of deciding that you are sick of prison, and you want freedom.

our infatuation with the spectacular can blind us to the ways in which God moves in and through the ordinary and the common.

Part of our problem is that we confuse God's reliability with God's predictability. God is perfectly reliable. His character never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word never fails. He is love. God does not lie, and there is no hint of darkness in Him. But reliability does not equal predictability. To say that God is always good, faithful, or loving doesn't mean God always makes sense ahead of time.

Religion gives us forms and shapes for God to fit into, but He constantly proves to be bigger, wider, and deeper than our boxes. Just when we think we've figured out where God is going next, the wind blows somewhere else.

Welcome, child," he said. "Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger." "That is because you are older, little one," answered he. "Not because you are?" "I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.

As a full-time paid religious person, I understand the desire to restrict God's work to only those who are formally recognized by our religious institutions. But He's too unpredictable for that.

is a mistake to market God as the answer to our insatiable desires when He was the one who made certain our desires were insatiable in the first place. God is relentless in His pursuit of humanity; He'll use anything and everything to bring

Throughout the Scriptures, the people of God continually succumb to the temptation to draw the boundary lines of faith more narrowly than what God has commanded. God's boundaries are simply broader and wider and higher and deeper than ours, so he calls his followers to be marked by the center--their faith in Jesus Christ--rather than by their boundaries.

The main issue with the traditional understanding of evangelism and apologetics is that they are too narrowly construed. The Bible teaches that evangelism is life (we are salt and light) and that the greatest apologetic is a life lived in obedience to God.

How do we redeem culture? We observe it and engage it on its terms and then demonstrate the message of Jesus through service and love.

God is relentless in His pursuit of humanity; He'll use anything and everything to bring us to the place where we'll acknowledge our need for Him.

The gospel of Christ wasn't just revolution "back then" (two thousand years ago) or isn't just revolution "someday" (in heaven). It is also right now, right where you are, with the people who surround you in your job, your life, your hobby, your home. Jesus is a threat to everything, for he turns all things upside down. Our job as the community of his followers is neither to add to nor to take away from the offense of Jesus and his message.

Jesus is not vitally committed to our comfort and safety; he is committed to the advancing of his kingdom revolution in the hearts of people everywhere.

God will guide those whose hearts are open to follow.

If you passionately commit yourself to living out his purposes and advancing his kingdom, then God will make sure you live in his will. Trust him that if you are not going in the right direction, he will redirect you. But, I urge you, if you are paralyzed by the idea of the will of God, do something. Doing anything God-honoring is far better than doing nothing at all.

We say to God, 'Show me and I'll believe.' Instead, God says to us, 'Believe, and I'll show you.' This is the life of following Jesus Christ. We say, 'God, show me your will and I'll obey you.' God says, 'Obey me, and I'll show you my will.

Actins, practices, and resources that are sometimes part of pursuing genuine faith are not bad things in themselves. In fact, I believe genuine faith leads to changes in outward behavior... But when the externals become substitutes for the real thing--an authentic relationship with God--they have fallen to the level of empty religion.

Rules and rituals are given to God's people to remind them what God is like and what he's called them to. God's commands are for our good, but they (by themselves) do not make us right with him.

God is not looking for 'more and more' obedience but 'deeper and deeper' obedience. True obedience is of the heart. Externals matter only to the degree that they reflect (and affect) the heart.

Jesus's summary of the whole law is simply this: love God and love each other. Focusing on externals will never make that happen. Religion can help us act lovingly, but it can't turn us into loving people. Only the power of God can do that.

The circle of those whom God loves has always been bigger than the circle the church has drawn. That is the scandal of grace.

Saying you believe in something is one thing but living like you believe is often another. If your words and actions disagree, which will more loudly declare your beliefs?

What you believe and what you trust are always revealed in how you live and act.