Home > Work > Jesus: The Greatest Life of All
1 " Because of Jesus, we can view life as a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. "
― Charles R. Swindoll , Jesus: The Greatest Life of All
2 " At least one indication of unbelief is the tendency to measure life’s challenges against our own adequacy instead of God’s promises. To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance—trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness. We must cease striving and trust God to provide what He thinks is best and in whatever time He chooses to make it available. But this kind of trusting doesn’t come naturally. It’s a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith. "
3 " A warning is in order. Reject any teaching that even suggests material wealth, physical health, or favorable circumstances have anything to do with the amount of faith you have or how pleased God happens to be with you. And beware those who teach that financial donations will unlock an endless abundance of God’s blessings. They are false shepherds who will rob you of your money and destroy your relationship with God. The “faith” they proclaim is a toxic faith. "
4 " Satan is real, and he is relentless in his attacks on people of the light. Satan and his demons don’t look anything like the depictions we see flickering across the screen in movies or on television. He subtly plays upon the fallibilities of good people to convince them that their darkest desires and most destructive activities are innocent, even righteous. His chief weapon is deception, and he uses it masterfully. "
5 " As long as we hold onto our own desires and remain fixated on having our way, we will be unable to see God, even if He were to stand right before our eyes. God, in His patient, sometimes painful mercy, allows us to hold our desires as tightly as we wish until we tire of the pain and loosen our grip. Meanwhile, He holds before us a divine alternative, one that offers great abundance in exchange for the trinkets we clutch with desperate resolve. "
6 " As Os Guinness writes, To be sure, calling is not what it is commonly thought to be. It has to be dug out from under the rubble of ignorance and confusion. And, uncomfortably, it often flies in the face of our human inclinations. But nothing short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose.3 "
