The rewards of freedom are always sweet, but its demands are stern, for at its heart is the paradox that the greatest enemy of freedom is freedom. Os Guinness More Quotes by Os Guinness More Quotes From Os Guinness We are not primarily called to do something or go somewhere; we are called to Someone. We are not called first to special work but to God. The key to answering the call is to be devoted to no one and to nothing above God himself. Os Guinness keys special firsts I live before the audience of One-before others I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose, nothing to prove. Os Guinness audience-of-one nothing-to-lose gains American views today are weak, confused, and divided. On one side, many progressive liberals still think that we humans are essentially good and getting better and better. On the other side, many postmoderns actually think it is worse to judge evil than to do evil. And in the middle, many ordinary folk plaster life with rainbows and smile buttons and wander through life on the basis of sentiment and clichés. Os Guinness confused views thinking Freedom is not the permission to do what you like. It's the power to do what you ought. Os Guinness you-like-it ought permission We cannot find God without God. We cannot reach God without God. We cannot satisfy God without God - which is another way of saying that all our seeking will fall short unless God starts and finishes the search. The decisive part of our seeking is not our human ascent to God, but His descent to us. Without God's descent there is no human ascent. The secret of the quest lies not in our brilliance but in His grace. Os Guinness grace lying fall Either we conform our desires to the truth or we conform the truth to our desires. Os Guinness conform desire The question the doubter does not ask is whether faith was really useless or simply not used. What would you think of a boy who gave up learning to ride a bicycle, complaining that he hurt himself because his bicycle stopped moving so he had no choice but to fall off? If he wanted to sit comfortably while remaining stationary, he should not have chosen a bicycle but a chair. Similarly faith must be put to use, or it will become useless. Os Guinness hurt fall moving Christianity is the only religion whose God bears the scars of evil. Os Guinness scar evil bears In our day it's worse to judge evil than to do evil. Os Guinness judging evil Jesus made clear that the Kingdom of God is organic and not organizational. It grows like a seed and it works like leaven: secretly, invisibly, surprisingly, and irresistibly. Os Guinness kingdoms made jesus What has happened to create this doubt is that a problem (such as a deep conflict or a bad experience) has been allowed to usurp God's place and become the controlling principle of life. Instead of viewing the problem from the vantage point of faith, the doubter views faith from the vantage point of the problem. Instead of faith sizing up the problem, the situation ends with the problem scaling down faith. The world of faith is upside down, and in the topsy-turvy reality of doubt, a problem has become god and God has become a problem. Os Guinness views doubt reality What is undeniable is that when comforts and convenience sap our energies and idealism, inactivity secretes sloth in to our minds like a poison in the blood. Os Guinness sloth mind blood Too often we forget that the great men of faith reached the heights they did only by going through the depths. Os Guinness height depth men Interestingly, God's remedy for Elijah's depression was not a refresher course in theology but food and sleep... Before God spoke to him at all, Elijah was fed twice and given a good chance to sleep. Only then, and very gently, did God confront him with his error. This is always God's way. Having made us as human beings, He respects our humanness and treats us with integrity. That is, He treats us true to the truth of who we are. It is human beings and not God who have made spirituality impractical. Os Guinness errors sleep integrity At the supreme moment of his dying Jesus so identified himself with men and the depths of their predicament and agony that no man can now sink so low that God has not gone lower. Os Guinness agony men jesus We are not primarily called to do something or go somewhere; we are called to Someone. Os Guinness The story of Christian reformation, revival, and renaissance underscores that the darkest hour is often just before the dawn, so we should always be people of hope and prayer, not gloom and defeatism. God the Holy Spirit can turn the situation around in five minutes. Os Guinness prayer christian people Calling is not only a matter of being and doing what we are but also of becoming what we are not yet but are called by God to be. Os Guinness becoming calling matter In working out our callings, we are to perform for one audience, the audience of One. Os Guinness audience-of-one work-out calling We may be in the dark about what God is *doing*, but we are not in the dark about God. Os Guinness dark may
