As Ecclesiastes tells it, a wholesale devotion to pleasure will, paradoxically, lead to a state of utter despair. Philip Yancey More Quotes by Philip Yancey More Quotes From Philip Yancey O God, make the bad people good, and the good people nice Philip Yancey theologian nice people ...to see that God does answer, in great things as well as small, the prayers of those who put their trust in Him will strengthen the faith of multitudes. Philip Yancey prayer answers doe Pain narrows vision. The most private of sensations, it forces us to think of ourselves and little else. Philip Yancey vision pain thinking Charles Williams has said of the Lord's Prayer, "No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than the little word 'as' in that clause." What makes the 'as' so terrifying? The fact that Jesus plainly links our forgiven-ness by the Father with our forgiving-ness of fellow human beings. Jesus' next remark could not be more explicit: 'If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.' Philip Yancey prayer father jesus The presence of another caring person doubles the amount of pain a person can endure. Philip Yancey endure pain caring We human beings instinctively regard the seen world as the "real" world and the unseen world as the "unreal" world, but the Bible calls for almost the opposite. Philip Yancey real religious faith What I see in the Bible, especially in the book of Psalms, which is a book of gratitude for the created world, is a recognition that all good things on Earth are God's, every good gift is from above. They are good if we recognize where they came from and if we treat them the way the Designer intended them to be treated. Philip Yancey gratitude book world The point of the Book of Job is not suffering: where is God When It hurts? The prologue (chapters 1-2) dealt with that issue. The point of the Book of Job is faith: Where is Job when it hurts? Philip Yancey religious hurt faith Most observers understand the difference between a committed Christian who accepts Jesus as a model for living and a 'cultural Christian' who happens to live in a nation with a Christian heritage. Most Muslims do not. Philip Yancey differences christian jesus If we insist on visible proofs from God, we may well prepare the way for a permanent state of disappointment. True faith does not so much attempt to manipulate God to do our will as it does to position us to do his will. As I searched through the Bible for models of great faith, I was struck by how few saints experienced anything like Job's dramatic encounter with God. The rest responded to the hiddenness not by demanding that he show himself, but by going ahead and believing him though he stayed hidden. Philip Yancey religious faith jobs Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue. Philip Yancey holiness grace opposites I ask God most often that we would be an unbroken line of Christians until Christ shall return. Philip Yancey return christian would-be Grace is a free gift of God, but to receive a gift you must have open hands. Philip Yancey free-gifts grace hands The world is not against you, but the world is a place where bad things happen. It's just true. Airlines crash, people do evil things. A lot of bad things happen and it causes pain. Philip Yancey pain evil people Love is an overarching style of relating to another. Philip Yancey style love-is There is an "offense" to the Gospel no matter how graciously we present it. It includes the message that God, not humanity, is the ultimate judge of right and wrong, and that the choices we make here have eternal consequences. Philip Yancey choices judging humanity When something tragic happens, we tend to look backward, and ask why it happened, and of course that's important for people involved in the investigation. Philip Yancey top-news It's too bad prayer comes bundled in a package of 'spiritual disciplines.' Really, we should see prayer as a spiritual privilege. We don't do it as a callisthenic exercise to gain points with God; we do it, because it is good for us in every way. Philip Yancey good prayer spiritual god In China, where you can be arrested and imprisoned for your faith, getting together with other Christians is a lifeline and you'll risk anything for the privilege. No one attends church in China casually, or for a social advantage - quite the opposite. Philip Yancey you church faith together The borderlanders are people who are kind of caught in the middle. They think there must be another world out there. There probably is a God, but they are either turned off by the church or wounded by the church or wary of the church for whatever reason. Philip Yancey church god people world
