#discipleship

Unless a person can give reasons, there is, literally, no reason why anyone else should take that person seriously. But without reasons, all we are left with is emotional blackmail. We sometimes call it 'moral blackmail,' but it has nothing to do with morals, only with the implied juvenile threat of having a tantrum unless everyone else gives in. ↗

— N.T. Wright

#church #discipleship #inspirational #religion #theology

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

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

It is important not only to read God's Word but to interpret God's world in the light of the Word. ↗

— Cindy Jacobs

#truth #change

God is not preparing you for anything; obedience is its own end in the purpose of God; be faithful to Him. ↗

— Oswald Chambers

#faith

My life is too short, and God’s work is too great for me to think of making a home for myself in this world. ↗

— George Eliot

#home

When in situations of stress, we wonder if there is any more in us to give, we can be comforted to know that God, who knows our capabilities perfectly, placed us here to succeed. No one was foreordained to fail or to be wicked. When we have been weighed and found wanting, let us remember that we were measured before and were found equal to our tasks; and therefore, let us continue but with a more determined discipleship." (Ensign, Feb. 1979, 73.) ↗

— Neal Maxwell

#succeed #equality

By giving us control, our new technologies tend to enhance existing idols in our lives. Instead of becoming more like Christ through the forming and shaping influence of the church community, we form, and shape, and personalize our community to make it more like us. We take control of things that are not ours to control. Could it be that our desire for control is short-circuiting the process of change and transformation God wants us to experience through the mess of real world, flesh and blood, face-to-face relationships? ↗

— Tim Challies

#discipleship #idolatry #change

Most people in America, when they are exposed to the Christian faith, are not being transformed. They take one step into the door, and the journey ends. They are not being allowed, encouraged, or equipped to love or to think like Christ. Yet in many ways a focus on spiritual formation fits what a new generation is really seeking. Transformation is a process, a journey, not a one-time decision. ↗

— David Kinnaman

#regeneration #transformation #faith