#eli

God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professing Christians have been deceived by this doctrine is how little they give and how much they own. God has prospered them. And by an almost irresistible law of consumer culture (baptized by a doctrine of health, wealth, and prosperity) they have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun. They will object: Does not the Old Testament promise that God will prosper his people? Indeed! God increases our yield, so that by giving we can prove our yield is not our god. God does not prosper a man's business so that he can move from a Ford to a Cadillac. God prospers a business so that 17,000 unreached people can be reached with the gospel. He prospers the business so that 12 percent of the world's population can move a step back from the precipice of starvation. ↗

— John Piper

#compassion #evangelism #giving #gospel #greed

I think that our fundamental belief is that for us growth is a way of life and we have to grow at all times. ↗

— Mukesh Ambani

#fundamental #grow #growth #i #i think

One of the strangest things about life is that it will chug on, blind and oblivious, even as your private world - your little carved out sphere - is twisting and morphing, even breaking apart. ↗

— Lauren Oliver

#lauren-oliver #life

I don't know," I said. "Maybe you're right, and all that stuff I think I missed is overrated. Why should I even bother? What's the point really?" He thought for a moment. "Who says there has to be a point?" he asked. "Or a reason. Maybe it's just something you have to do." He moved down to start bagging while I just stood there, letting this sink in. Just something you have to do. No excuse or rationale necessary. I kind of like that. ↗

— Sarah Dessen

#auden-west #eli-stock #life #sarah-dessen #life

I realize that some people will not believe that a child of little more than ten years is capable of having such feelings. My story is not intended for them. I am telling it to those who have a better knowledge of man. The adult who has learned to translate a part of his feelings into thoughts notices the absence of these thoughts in a child, and therefore comes to believe that the child lacks these experiences, too. Yet rarely in my life have I felt and suffered as deeply as at that time. ↗

— Hermann Hesse

#children #demian #feelings #hermann-hesse #thoughts

If you truly believe something you will attempt to live it. Otherwise you don’t really believe it. ↗

— Toni Sorenson

#commitment #life #life

They feel life is for the taking, and that everyone deserves happiness no matter what the cost. I must remember these tricks if I ever decide to have my soul surgically removed. ↗

— Suzanne Finnamore

#cheating #deception #divorce #infidelity #marriage

I don't believe that aliens exist, but I do believe that any new facts can strengthen foundation of my belief. ↗

— Toba Beta

#belief #believe #facts #foundation #life

Upon my word, I think the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with. ↗

— George Eliot

#truth-of-life #life

Oh, this coming back to an empty house,' Rupert thought, when he had seen her safely up to her door. People - though perhaps it was only women - seemed to make so much of it. As if life itself were not as empty as the house one was coming back to. ↗

— Barbara Pym

#life