If God consistently sent lightning bolts in response to bad doctrine, our planet would sparkle nightly like a Christmas tree. Philip Yancey More Quotes by Philip Yancey More Quotes From Philip Yancey Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other. Philip Yancey suffering matter jesus We tend to think, 'Life should be fair because God is fair.' But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life- by expecting constant good health for example- then I set myself up for crashing disappointment. Philip Yancey disappointment reality thinking The world says you gain your life by getting more and more and more and more, but Jesus says, 'No, that leads to death. You get it back by giving it away and when you give it away you get it back.' Philip Yancey giving world jesus We grow up hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us. Philip Yancey growing-up long way Love deems this world worth rescuing. Philip Yancey this-world world By focusing too myopically on what we want God to do on our behalf, we may miss the significance of what he has already done. Philip Yancey done missing may Having spent time around "sinners" and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus. Philip Yancey air jesus thinking Grace does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us. Ask people what they must do to get to heaven and most reply, "Be good." Jesus' stories contradict that answer. All we must do is cry, "Help!" Philip Yancey heaven people jesus Who would complain if God allowed one hour of suffering in an entire lifetime of comfort? Why complain about a lifetime that includes suffering when that lifetime is a mere hour of eternity? Philip Yancey suffering comfort complaining Prayer is - not just bowing your head a few times a day, it pervades all of life. Philip Yancey prayer Faith in God offers no insurance against tragedy. Philip Yancey tragedy faith-in-god suffering Nature was one of the key forces that brought me back to God, for I wanted to know the Artist responsible for beauty such as I saw on grand scale in photos from space telescopes or on minute scale such as in the intricate designs on a butterfly wing. Philip Yancey butterfly artist wings Jesus represents a point of common ground an esteemed rabbi to the Jew, a god to the Hindu, an enlightened one to the Buddhist, a great prophet to the Muslim. Even to the New Age guru, Jesus is the pinnacle of God-consciousness. At the same time, Jesus is the divider. None but Christians see Him as a member of the Godhead on an exclusive mission to repair the broken world. Philip Yancey buddhist christian jesus As Ecclesiastes tells it, a wholesale devotion to pleasure will, paradoxically, lead to a state of utter despair. Philip Yancey ecclesiastes despair devotion Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace. Philip Yancey safety land grace I have found that living with faith in an unseen world requires constant effort. Philip Yancey unseen effort world If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Philip Yancey being-me humans prayer I never see God. I seldom run into visual clues that remind me of God unless I am looking. The act of looking, the pursuit itself, makes possible the encounter. For this reason, Christianity has always insisted that trust and obedience come first, and knowledge follows. Philip Yancey encounters running firsts A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me. Philip Yancey wise watches world Grace is heartfelt, tinged with love, a spillover gift of the God who extended undeserved favor toward us. Philip Yancey heartfelt favors grace
