#disciples

If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits of what seems permissible to the world), we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation. ↗

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

#christ #christianity #discipleship #discipline #fasting

Let not him who accepts light in an instant despise him who gropes months in shadows. ↗

— Elisabeth Elliot

#salvation #life

The test of mountain-top experiences, of mysticism, of visions of God and of solitariness is when you are “in the soup” of actual circumstances. ↗

— Oswald Chambers

#mysticism #experience

I do not politicize Christianity nor my discipleship as Jesus did not politicize either His divinity nor his humanity. ↗

— R. Alan Woods

#discipleship #humanity-humans #politicization #r-alan-woods #r-alan-woods

Don't get me wrong, I like NASCAR and shopping at Nordstrom's, but discipleship is intrinsic as a lifestyle." ~R. Alan Woods [2013] ↗

— R. Alan Woods

#lifestyle #r-alan-woods #spirituality #r-alan-woods

Jesus of Nazareth always comes asking disciples to follow him--not merely "accept him," not merely "believe in him," not merely "worship him," but to follow him: one either follows Christ, or one does not. There is no compartmentalization of the faith, no realm, no sphere, no business, no politic in which the lordship of Christ will be excluded. We either make him Lord of all lords, or we deny him as Lord of any. ↗

— Lee Camp

#business

To love with expectations is, in the end, an oppressive, driven thing, and people know it when they receive it. ↗

— Mark Galli

#love #love

Jesus said his disciples would be known for their love, not for their placards of protest and angry letters to the editor. ↗

— Brian Zahnd

#christianity #discipleship #jesus #love #forgiveness

We listened, as all boys in their better moods will listen (ay, and men too for the matter of that), to a man whom we felt to be, with all his heart and soul and strength, striving against whatever was mean and unmanly and unrighteous in our little world. It was not the cold, clear voice of one giving advice and warning from serene heights to those who were struggling and sinning below, but the warm, living voice of one who was fighting for us and by our sides, and calling on us to help him and ourselves and one another. ↗

— Thomas Hughes

#education #encouragement #mentoring #education

God in His sovereign goodness often uses the painful and at times debilitating injury of a spear thrower to make us readier for His service. ... One thing you discover about spear throwers is that though it’s not necessary for them to be good, it’s essential for them to appear good. ↗

— Erwin W. Lutzer

#hypocrisy #submission #forgiveness