Archive for the ‘Quote of the Day’ Category
The Solar System of Self…
April 27th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in » Quote of the Day
More from Erwin McManus today…
In a solar system where self is the sun around which everything revolves, pride, greed, and foolishness are our largest planets. And in this scenario, the gravitational force that works in the dark spaces in between is our need for control. As long as we’re living for ourselves, and our lives are about us, we will strive to control everything around us. The more self-oriented we are, the more controlling we are. Everything in our universe is required to work the way we determined it should.
Unfortunately, the more we try to control the world around us, the more out of control our world becomes. There are some things that are simply out of our hands. When God is not a part of our lives, we tend to begin to act as if we were God.
Is life spinning out of control? Have you considered letting go and trusting God?
Food for thought.
A Search for Life…
April 26th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in » Quote of the Day
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a quote of the day… but I couldn’t pass this one up (from an excellent book I’m finally getting serious about reading).
Human history can be summarized as a desperate search for life. We look for it everywhere and in everything. We pursue wealth, power, success, pleasure, and endless experiences just to feel alive. Yet with all that we gain, there is always the inescapable stench of death all around us. Even if we gain the whole world, we die with our souls empty and hollow.
Ironically, what we are so often willing to sacrifice is the very thing most essential for life — God.
– Erwin McManus, from “Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul”
Strike a chord with anyone?
Get Dirty…
July 8th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Christian Living, Quote of the Day
Interesting quote I ran across this morning…
You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty. (Cecil Baxter)
What a great reminder for we Christians that so like to “reach out” from our safe little sanctuaries… ministry is a messy business. If we’re going to love and serve as God intends, helping to “clean up” the lives of those who need it most… we can’t do so without getting a bit of the “dirt” so prevalent in the lives of the lost on ourselves.
It’s an equally good reminder of what Christ has done for us. Our righteousness… our cleanliness… purchased by the sacrifice of Christ… by His willingness to take all of our filthy sins upon Himself so that the just punishment for them might be given.
Anyway, you know it’s a good quote when you can get that much application from it, right?
Fluffy Bunnies…
March 17th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » My Life / Family, Quote of the Day
As Nancy and I were talking tonight, she was sharing with me about how she had spent quite a bit of time today sharing the real meaning of Easter with Jeffrey, Jenna, and Allison. As we discussed how difficult it is to teach them the truth of Easter in the face of our culture’s message about it, she said something that I thought was pretty profound. When she said, “Sometimes I really need a blog” as a follow-up comment, I knew I had to post it here.
The quote?
When did death, burial, and resurrection turn into fluffy bunnies, cute chicks, and colored eggs?
We may be Southern Baptists, and this may go against our latest confessional statement… but I’ll say the one thing I can say in response.
Preach it, baby!
If God Had a Refrigerator…
November 26th, 2007 | Comments Off | Posted in » Just For Fun..., Pictures, Quote of the Day
Nancy picked up a new t-shirt for Jenna last weekend. Just thought I’d share a photo of her modeling it for us.
In case you can’t quite make out what it says, the text is, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it!”
Very cute, a bit cheesy, yet most profound.
The Truth…
August 1st, 2007 | Comments Off | Posted in » Devotions / Bible Studies, Quote of the Day
I hate to interrupt the photo series, but I saw this quote today and had to post it:
The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
– Herbert Agar
While I’m not quite sure the context of this quote, it’s DEFINITELY applicable to Christianity.
Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
It’s this truth… that Jesus is truth… that we simply don’t want to hear or acknowledge. And yes, that goes for Christians as much as non-believers.
Jesus is truth. His ways are truth. But we want to continue to do things our way, on our terms.
We prefer not to hear, and remain enslaved to… well, insert what’s trapping you here.
Isn’t the freedom that Christ provides a better option? Open your ears… hear Him today… and be free.
The Vine and the Oak
July 9th, 2007 | Comments Off | Posted in » Christian Living, Quote of the Day
I ran across this quote about a year back, and recently came across it again. Good stuff about the kind of relationship we should have with God.
The vine clings to the oak during the fiercest of storms. Although the violence of nature may uproot the oak, twining tendrils still cling to it. If the vine is on the side opposite the wind, the great oak is its protection; if it is on the exposed side, the tempest only presses it closer to the trunk. In some of the storms of life, God intervenes and shelters us; while in others He allows us to be exposed, so that we will be pressed more closely to Him.
– B. M. Launderville