Only Love...

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ~  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Failures Occur Because...

"Suppose our failures occur, not in spite of what we are doing, but precisely because of it." ~ Dallas Willard

Give It Away

"Instead of guarding power, Jesus gives it away; instead of rational discourse, he tells stories; instead of claiming status, he reaches to the lowliest; instead of excluding the rabble, he includes them—even at table fellowship! Even the tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes seem at home in his presence. This is not merely a male Jesus with soft edges. This is a Jesus whose very identity is radically different from the norm of human personhood that prevailed at the time. Relationality rather than rationality illuminates his entire story." ~ Diarmuid O'Murchu

Love Your Spouse Well

“If your spouse is not loved well, he or she may not live out their potential for good in the world. This goes back to the self-developing and empowering realities of true love…As we learn to love and therefore give to our spouse, we not only become the best version of ourselves—we offer our spouse the chance to become the vest version of him or herself as well. Love, then, is giving for the sake of our spouse’s becoming.” ~ Tyler Ward (Marriage Rebranded)

Most Profound Product of this World...

"I am not saying that suffering exists in order for God to reveal himself. I am only saying that where suffering exists and is consciously accepted, there divine love shines forth brightly…. I have often suspected that the most profound product of this world is tears. I don’t mean that to be morbid. Rather, I mean that tears express that vulnerability in which we can endure having our heart broken and go right on loving." ~ Cynthia Bourgeault

Be Careful

“Be careful what you set your heart upon – for it will surely be yours.” ~ James Arthur Baldwin

Contact with the Poor...

"By globalization we totally lose contact with the poor that we know personally. We work in the abstract toward the liberation of a social category that we never meet. We know the political leaders of this class, who are no longer poor themselves. And this globalization, this de-personalization of the poor, surely means that a person who is poor simply because he is sick or is mourning the loss of a loved one or has been humiliated by a failure in life arouses no interest." ~ Jacques Ellul

Not in the Limelight

"If you want your church to be a place that loves, disciples, and serves, then you need to love, seek to be a disciple, and find places to serve, even if you're not in the limelight." ~ C. Hosher

Believe in Him

"Talk what we will of faith, if we do not trust and rely upon Him, we do not believe in Him." ~ Anthony Farindon

No Easy Street...

"When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he was not prophesying about some easy, danger-free perfection that will someday appear. He was talking about a state of being, a way of living at ease among the joys and sorrows of our world…. This state of being is not something alien or mystical. We don’t need to earn it. It is already ours." ~ Stephen Mitchell

Dangerous Man...

"Jesus wasn’t just a naïve dreamer who hiked around Galilee mouthing sweet platitudes. He fearlessly confronted a world that was no less filled with danger than is ours…. And yet he commanded, repeatedly and unequivocally, “Put down your swords, and love your enemies.” This man was dangerous. What if the people gathered around him actually started taking him seriously?" ~ Don Mosley

Incomprehensible Holy Mystery

"God is always doing something more. Incomprehensible holy mystery is always giving more, revealing more, communicating more. The only limit to that giving has been creation’s capacity to receive." ~ Judy Cannato

He Calls You by Name

"The devil knows your name, but calls you by your sin. Jesus knows your sin, but calls you by your name." ~ Ricardo Sanchez

If Only...

"There are many of you who think to yourselves: “If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the baby!” … You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor." ~ Martin Luther (The Martin Luther Christmas Book by Roland Bainton)