The modern-day gospel says, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.” Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, “You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.”
— David Platt
My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus’ words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to Him.
— David Platt
“So then you started reading the Bible?” I asked.
“Yes. We would eat chocolates and smoke cigarettes and read the Bible, which is the only way to do it, if you ask me. Don, the Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn’t. It is a chocolate thing. We started reading through Matthew, and I thought it was all very interesting, you know. And I found Jesus very disturbing, very straightforward. He wasn’t diplomatic, and yet I felt like if I met Him, He would really like me. Don, I can’t explain how freeing that was, to realize that if I met Jesus, He would like me. I never felt like that about some of the Christians on the radio. I always thought if I met those people they would yell at me. But it wasn’t like that with Jesus. There were people He loved and people He got really mad at, and I kept identifying with the people He loved, which was really good, because they were all the broken people, you know, the kind of people who are tired of life and want to be done with it, or they are desperate people, people who are outcasts or pagans.
— Donald Miller
He has room for people with very little sense, but He wants everyone to use what sense they have.
— C.S. Lewis
Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion.
— John Piper
We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.
— C.S. Lewis
The joy of repentance is discovering a freedom and a life you never thought was possible. The guilt that you feel in confronting your selfishness is real, but you can’t stay there. Satan will try to convince you that guilt and repentance are the same thing — except one leads to a breakdown and the other leads to a breakthrough. Don’t get played: repentance can be a joyful chain-breaking journey if you see it through to the end.
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain 