Quotes

As I've been wading through my stacks of books to consider giving away, I ran across a good handful of them that I haven't even read yet. And then with urgency far greater than I usually had for reading a college assignment... I read the majority of these books... and I stumbled upon some great treasures of truth. Let me share a few of the quotes that hit me most:

From John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life:

"So here is the question to test whether you have been sucked into this world's destortion of love: Would you feel more loved by God if he made much of you, or if he liberated you from the bondage of self-regard, at great cost to himself, so that you enjoy making much of him forever?" (p. 36)

"'What's wrong with it?' is the kind of question that will rarely yield a lifestyle that commends Christ as all-satisfying and makes people glad in God. It simply results in a list of don'ts. It feeds the avoidance ethic.
The better questions to ask about possible behaviors is: How will this help me treasure Christ more? How will it help me show that I do treasure Christ? How will it help me know Christ or display Christ? The Bible says, 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God' (1 Cor 10:31). So the question is mainly positive, not negative. How can I portray God as glorious in this action? How can I enjoy making much of him in this behavior?
Oh, how many lives are wasted by people who belive that the Christian life means simply avoiding badness and providing for the family. So there is no adultery, no stealing, no killing, no embezzlement, no fraud - just lots of hard work during the day, and lots of TV and PG-13 videos in the evening (during quality family time), and lots of fun stuff on the weekend - woven around church (mostly). This is life for millions of people. Wasted life. We were created for more, far more." (p. 199)
"It is true that God can be known and enjoyed in every legitimate vocation; but when he deploys you from one place to the next, he offers fresh and deeper drinking at the fountain of his fellowship. God seldom calls us to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace." (p. 178)
"May God help you. May God free you. May God give you a fresh, Christ-exalting vision for your life - whether you go to an unreached people or stay firmly and fruitfully at your present post. May your vision get its meaning from God's great purpose to make the nations glad in him. May the cross of Christ be your only boast, and may you say, with sweet confidence, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (p. 179)

Making the Church Work by Edward H. Hammett:

Are we seeking to spread "church-ianity" or "Christianity?
We need to be more concerned with people, not with programs; have an outward, not an inward focus; and be a balance of a "being"/"doing" church, not just solely "doing." The church should be servant- and ministry-minded, not just self-serving/maintenance-minded, and we need "GO structures" to be encouraged and created to provide channels of ministry beyond the institution, interested in making a difference in the world... as opposed to the "come structures" that seek to encourage people primarily to serve within the institution, with interest in "adding to the church." (p. 98)

Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger:

"Cross Church is committed to loving God, loving others, and serving others. One church leader says, 'We ask people to do three things a week here. Come to a worship service to fall more in love with God and His Word. Go to a small group to love others in community. Serve in a ministry to impact others. Love God, love others, serve the world. We really try to keep it that simple.'" (p. 41)

And finally one of the most convicting stories of an evangelist from India who came to America and later became the founder of Gospel for Asia. This post is already getting almost too long to be beneficial, so I'll just share ONE of the many pages that really hit me:

Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan
"Coming from India, where I was beaten and stoned for my faith, I know what it is to be a persecuted minority in my own country. When I set foot on Western soil, I could sense a spirit of religious liberty. Americans have never known the fear of persecution. Nothing seems impossible to them.
From India, I always had looked to the United States as a fortress of Christianity. With the abundance of both spiritual and material things, affluence unsurpassed by any nation on earth, and a totally unfettered church, I expected to see a bold witness. God's grace obviously has been poured out on this nation and Church in a way no other people ever have experienced.
Instead I found a Church in spiritual decline. American believers were still the leading givers to missions, but this appeared due more to historical accident than the deep-set conviction I expected to find. As I spoke in churches and met average Christians, I discovered they had terrible misconceptions about the missionary mandate of the Church. In church meetings, as I listened to the questions of my hosts and heard their comments about the Two-Thirds World, my heart would almost burst with pain. These people, I knew, were capable of so much more. They were dying spiritually, but I knew God wanted to give them life again. He wanted His Church to recover its moral mandate and sense of mission.
I didn't yet know how. I didn't know when. But I knew one thing: God did not shower such great blessing on this nation for the Christians to live in extravagance, in self-indulgence and in spiritual weakness.
By faith, I could see a revival coming - the Body of Christ rediscovering the power of the Gospel and their obligation to it. But for the time being, all I could do was sense how wrong the situation was - and pray." (p. 51)