Quotes About Faith

Many believers get together to discuss a great book and mistakenly call it Bible study. That is, in fact, a book club with a spiritual theme.

Learning to discern what is eternal and what is simply a product of our own context is actually harder work than accepting any interpretation on its face.

I want to live gratefully, humbly, hopefully.

Our kids need spiritual mentors, and if a new language and posture will lead them, then we better hit our knees, pray for humility, and beg God to help us raise disciples that love Him beyond our homes. We prioritize transformation over methodology, because our rules have a shelf life but loyalty to Jesus does not. Let's keep the baby and change the bathwater.

Why does so much Christianity smack of power and aggression when Jesus was humble and subversive?

What does this season require of you? Unsure? Ask God. He is a wonderful advisor who always, always knows the Best Thing. He will help you sort it out. When you can't trust your own discernment, you can certainly trust His. God has no agenda other than your highest good in His kingdom. There is no better leader through this minefield.

It can be difficult to envision a new start but impossible to deny one.

Guilt is not Jesus' medium. He is battling for global redemption right now; His objective hardly includes huddling in the corner with us, rehashing our shame again. He finished that discussion on the cross. Plus, there's no time for that.

I dream of a church that is once again called great, even by our skeptics, because our works of mercy cannot be denied.

Spoiler alert: You are amazing. You are. This grace thing is no joke. We get to live a free life. So do other people because God gave us Jesus, who fixed everything. Instead of being 'right' at each other all the time, we can just live these beautiful, precious lives of ours in full freedom. It really is good news.

Until we are all compelled and contributing, we're settling for an anemic faith and a church that robs Christ followers of their vitality and repels the rest of the world.

Maybe we can lay down our fear and criticism, self-directed and otherwise. Maybe if we let ourselves off the hook, we can let others off, too, and discover that God was in control all along, just as He tried to tell us. He is good at being God.

Honestly, I love Jesus but sometimes His followers give me a migraine.

Theology is either true everywhere or it isn't true anywhere. This helps untangle us from the American God Narrative and sets God free to be God instead of the My-God-in-a-Pocket I carried for so long.

I marvel at how out of place simple, humble Jesus would be in today's American churches.

When the worship of God turns into a "worship experience," we have derailed as the body of Christ.

You are 2 Corinthians 4, because although this darkness pressed you so hard, it did not crush you. Perhaps it struck you down, but look at you: You are not destroyed. You see that in the light. You are still standing. If you are still breathing, there is still hope.

The church the Bible described is exciting and adventurous and wrought with sacrifice. It cost believers everything, and they still came.

God seemed to be saying, "Don't obsess about tomorrow. Live in this day, without worrying about what you'll do or need later. What is nourishment today will be spoiled by tomorrow. Enjoy it today, or enjoy it never.

Do we emphasize behavior over character? Because good behavior won't guarantee anything. If they don't love Jesus and people, it matters zero if they remain virgins and don't say the F-word. We must shepherd their hearts, not just their hemlines.

Theology very naturally follows belief, but belief very rarely follows judgment.

This is why we live and breathe: for the love of Jesus, for the love of our own souls, for the love of our families and people, for the love of our neighbors and this world. This is all that will last.

What is good for the Kingdom is good for us all.

We can't deliver folks from their pits, but we can sure get in there with them until God does.