Quotes for the Day - August 16, 2010

"Our Lord did not under-estimate the outward observance of the forms of religion; He set us a definite example by His attendance at the Synagogue and the Temple services, by nights spent in prayer, by constant reference to Holy Scripture--but these were only the outward and natural expression of His unbroken fellowship with His Father. Human love does not consist merely in outward expression, but in the hidden purpose of the heart, and yet, if there be no outward expression the spring will dry up!" ---F. B. Meyer


". . . the contemporary concept of Christian conversion is far too small.  It emphasizes the driving of the first spike--a choice to entrust life to Jesus--but tends to ignore the last one--what Jesus calls us to be and to do.  And while there is room for gladness when everything begins, the real focus should be on the big picture--where this is all going, how one is growing, what it means to finish well."  --Gordon MacDonald in A Resilient Life







"Just as God kept saying in ancient times, So God keeps saying today: 'I am with you in all the love and terror and pity and pain and wonder that is your life.  I am with you.  Are you willing to be with Me?'" ---Richard J. Foster in Life with God

To be born of God means that I have the supernatural power of God to stop sinning. In the Bible it is never--Should a Christian sin? The Bible puts it emphatically--A Christian must not sin. The effective working of the new birth life in us is that we do not commit sin, not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have stopped sinning. 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin; it means that if we obey the life of God in us, we need not sin. ---Oswald Chambers
 

"Great leaders bless people.  They inspire and encourage.  They help people become more than what they have been, maybe even more than they thought they could be.  Great leaders help people be a part of something bigger than themselves.  In short, great leaders leave people better off than they were before the leader entered their lives." ---Reggie McNeal in Practicing Greatness