Home > Work > A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
161 " The hunger problem is not going to be solved by government or by industry but in church, among Christians who learn a different way to pursue happiness. "
― Eugene H. Peterson , A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
162 " Not a day goes by but what we have to deal with that ancient triple threat that Christians in the Middle Ages summarized under the headings of the world, the flesh and the devil: "
163 " The Bible isn’t interested in whether we believe in God or not. It assumes that everyone more or less does. What it is interested in is the response we have to him: Will we let God be as he is, majestic and holy, vast and wondrous, or will we always be trying to whittle him down to the size of our small minds, insist on confining him within the boundaries we are comfortable with, refuse to think of him other than in images that are convenient to our lifestyle? "
164 " The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.”5 The second important "
165 " The way of faith is not a fad that is taken up in one century only to be discarded in the next. It lasts. It is a way that works. It has been tested thoroughly. "
166 " The plows of persecution aren’t working, and the oxherds haven’t even noticed! They plod back and forth, unaware that their opposition is worthless. "
167 " Palestine is a rocky country; in many places there is only a thin layer of soil over bedrock. Seeds would sprout and grow from this dirt, but the grass didn’t last; the thin soil couldn’t support it. "
168 " Perseverance does not mean “perfection.” It means that we keep going. We do not quit when we find that we are not yet mature and there is a long journey still before us. "
169 " The central reality for Christians is the personal, unalterable, persevering commitment God makes to us. Perseverance is not the result of our determination, it is the result of God’s faithfulness. "
170 " Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions and gifts, our human needs and our eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for. "
171 " A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith. "
172 " Too often we think of religion as a far-off, mysteriously run bureaucracy to which we apply for assistance when we feel the need. "
173 " Hope is a projection of the imagination; so is despair. Despair all too readily embraces the ills it foresees; hope is an energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility to combat them "
174 " To be human is to be in trouble. "
175 " A Christian is a person who decides to face and live through suffering. "
176 " The gospel offers a different view of suffering: in suffering we enter the depths; we are at the heart of things; we are near to where Christ was on the cross. "
177 " The depth is simply the height inverted, as sin is the index of moral grandeur. The cry is not only truly human, but divine as well. God is deeper than the deepest depth in man. He is holier than our deepest sin is deep. There is no depth so deep to us as when God reveals his holiness in dealing with our sin . . . . [And so] think more of the depth of God than the depth of your cry. The worst thing that can happen to a man is to have no God to cry to out of the depth. "
178 " Many people suffer because of the false supposition on which they have based their lives. That supposition is that there should be no fear or loneliness, no confusion or doubt. But these sufferings can only be dealt with creatively when they are understood as wounds integral to our human condition. Therefore ministry is a very confronting service. It does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness. It keeps reminding others that they are mortal and broken, but also that with the recognition of this condition, liberation starts. "
179 " The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.”5 "