quotations and passages on Christianity

People in general are equally horrified
at hearing the Christian religion
doubted, and at seeing it practiced.

Samuel Butler

When you think of Jesus as "Prince of Peace," you immediately think of his character.
Jesus was a man of peace. You see this as you watch him in the different circumstances of life.
He was able to fall asleep in the ship in the midst of a storm so threatening that even
his fishermen disciples were terrified. He looked at over five thousand hungry people
and he knew what he would do. Our Lord's peace didn't come from the absence of trouble.
It came from the depths of his soul where he fellowshipped with the Father.
Peace and character go together. What we do depends a great deal on what we are.
The secret of our Lord's peace was his relationship to his Father. He loved the Father,
and therefore he trusted the Father. This gave him peace.

Warren W. Wiersbe

God is bigger than any problem. God in you is greater than any difficulty that you have to meet. God cares for you more than it is possible for any human being to realize. God can help you in proportion to the degree in which you worship him. You worship God by really putting your trust in him instead of in outer conditions, or in fear, or in depression, or in seeming dangers, and so forth. You worship God by recognizing his presence everywhere, in all people and conditions that you meet; and by praying regularly. You pray well when you pray with joy.

Emmet Fox

Christ himself came down and took possession of me. . .
I had never foreseen the possibility of that,
of a real contact, person to person, here below, between a human being and God. . .
in this sudden possession of me by Christ, neither my sense nor my imagination had any part:
I only felt in the midst of my suffering the presence of a love.

Simone Weil

The root of the matter, if we want a stable world, is a very simple
and old-fashioned thing, a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed
to mention it for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words. The thing I mean is love, Christian love, or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a reason for courage,
an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty.

Bertrand
Russell

If someone were to ask me whether I believed in God, or saw God, or had
a particular relationship with God, I would reply that I don't separate God
from my world in my thinking. I feel that God is everywhere. That's why
I never feel separated from God or feel I must seek God, any more than
a fish in the ocean feels it must seek water.
In a sense, God is the "ocean" in which we live.

Robert Fulghum

When we're helping other people, we're nourishing our soul. Depression or unhappiness
means we've got the wrong goal. We have forgotten that peace of mind is our only goal.
By concentrating on helping another person, we renew contact with our soul and with God.
We can feel peaceful again. A sense of joy surrounds us and all
the frustration, agitation, and self-anger disappears.
Peace of mind has nothing to do with the external world; it has only to do with
our connection with God. Love really is the answer. We're here only to teach love.
When we're doing that, our souls are singing and dancing. When we remind ourselves
that we are spiritual beings, that life and love are the flame eternal, that's when our soul is nourished.

Gerald Jampolsky

God is right here, wherever you are. God is within you and everywhere around you. God is omnipresent and omniscient. You never have to beg or bargain with God
for anything. The Holy Spirit knows your needs even before you do.
And it is God's very nature to fulfill your needs, at the time and in the manner
that is best for you. There are many lessons we must learn in our lifetime,
but none is more essential to our happiness than this one. We never have
to entreat God to be more kind or benevolent. God is kindness and benevolence.
The very substance of God is love--the love that created you and me.
It is the love within the little acorn that becomes the great oak tree,
the love that protects the lilies of the field. God is the love that is
breathing for you, the love that is beating your heart.

Susan L. Taylor

HOME - contents - Full Life Online
abundance - acceptance - achievement - action - adversity - aging - anticipation - appreciation - attitude - authenticity
awareness - balance - beauty - being yourself - beliefs - body - character - children - Christianity - coincidence
commitment - common sense - community - compassion - compliments - compromise - confidence - conscience
contentment - courage - creativity - death - determination - earth - ego - encouragement - enthusiasm - eternity
faith - family - flowers - forgiveness - freedom - friendship - fun - gardening - gentleness - giving - God - goodness
grace - gratitude -growing up - happiness - healing - helpfulness - home - hope - humility - imagination
integrity - joy - kindness - laughter - learning - letting go - life - listening - love - marriage - miracles - mystery
nature - now - open-mindedness - opportunity - optimism - patience - peace - perseverance - perspective
play - prayer - principle - purpose - religion - rest - role models - sadness - self - self-respect - serving others - silence
simplicity - spirit - success - time - today - truth - values - war - wisdom - wonder - work - worship
spring - summer - fall - winter - Christmas - Thanksgiving - New Year - zen sayings
obstacles to living life fully - e-zine archives - quotations contents

Most incredible, however, are the times we know Christ is with us in the midst
of our daily, routine lives. In the middle of cleaning the house or driving somewhere in the pick-up,
He stops us. . . in our tracks and makes His presence known. Often it's in the middle of
the most mundane task that He lets us know He is there with us. We realize, then,
that there can be no "ordinary" moments for people who live their lives with Jesus.

Michael Card
(ellipsis are from source)

Our fathers and mothers looked well to the root of the tree and were willing to wait with patience
for the fruit to appear. We demand the fruit immediately even though the root may be weak
and knobby or missing altogether. Impatient Christians today explain away the simple beliefs
of the saints of other days and smile off their serious-minded approach to God
and sacred things . . . . Much that passes for Christianity today is the brief bright effort
of the severed branch to bring forth its fruit in its season. But the deep laws of life are against it.
Preoccupation with appearances and a corresponding neglect of the out-of-sight root
of the true spiritual life are prophetic signs which go unheeded. Immediate "results" are
all that matter, quick proofs of present success without a thought of next week
or next year. . . . Bear your cross, follow your Lord and pay no heed
to the passing religious vogue. The masses are always wrong.
In every generation the number of righteous is small.
Be sure you are among them.

A.W. Tozer

Lord of the springtime, Father of flower, field and fruit, smile on us in these earnest days
when the work is heavy and the toil wearisome; lift up our hearts, O God, to the things worthwhile--sunshine and night, the dripping rain, the song of the birds, books and music,
and the voices of our friends. Lift up our hearts to these this night and grant us Thy peace. Amen.

W.E.B. DuBois

True Christianity is an entirely positive influence. It comes into a person's life to enlarge and enrich it,
to make it fuller and wider and better; never to restrict it. You cannot lose anything that is
worth having through acquiring a knowledge of the Truth. Sacrifice there has to be, but it is only
sacrifice of the things that one is much happier without--never of anything that is worth having.
Many people have the idea that getting a better knowledge of God will mean giving up things
that they will regret losing. One girl said: "I mean to take up religion later on when I am older,
but I want to enjoy myself for a while first." This, however, is to miss the whole point.
The things one has to sacrifice are selfishness, fear, and belief in necessary limitation
of any kind. Above all, one has to sacrifice the belief that there is any power or endurance
in evil apart from the power that we ourselves give it by believing in it.

Emmet Fox

C.S. Lewis

Though Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentimentality,
and though it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a Christian
and a worldly person is not that the worldly person has only affections or "likings" and the Christian
has only "charity." The worldly person treats certain people kindly because he or she "likes" them:
the Christians, trying to treat everyone kindly, find themselves liking more and more people
as they go on--including people they could not even have imagined themselves liking at the beginning.

Don't be fearful about the journey ahead; don't worry about where you are going or how you are going to get there. If you believe in the first person of the Trinity, God the Father, also believe in the Second Person of the Trinity, the One who came as the Light of the World, not only
to die for people, but to light the way. . . This One, Jesus Christ,
is Himself the Light and will guide your footsteps along the way.

Edith Schaeffer

According to Gallup surveys, confirmed by other polls taken over the past fifteen years,
33 percent of all Americans over age 18 indicate they are evangelical or "born again" Christians.
That translates into 59 million Christians, or one in every three adults, who experienced
a turning point in their lives as they made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.

This information should grip us with terror. It means that the greatest revival in history
has so far been impotent to change society. It's revival without reformation. It's a revival
which left the country floundering in spiritual ignorance. It's a change in belief
without a corresponding change in behavior. . . .

The American Gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction.
It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief
without a change in behavior. It is a spiritual experience without any cultural impact.
It is revival without reformation, without repentance. . . .

The proof of religious conversion is to demonstrate that we have both added a relationship
with Christ and that we have subtracted sin (repentance). And we multiply proof
to a weary world by what we do--our deeds, our obedience. What we do must confirm
what we say. Our deeds are the proof of our repentance.

Patrick Morley

In our whole life melody the music is broken off here and there by rests,
and we foolishly think we have come to the end of time. God sends
a time of forced leisure, a time of sickness and disappointed plans, and makes
a sudden pause in the hymns of our lives, and we lament that our voice
must be silent and our part missing in the music which ever goes up
to the ear of our Creator. Not without design does God write the music
of our lives. Be it ours to learn the time and not be dismayed
at the rests. If we look up, God will beat the time for us.

John Ruskin

I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of the year
to a great bundle of sticks, far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us
to carry the whole at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one stick,
which we are to carry today, and then another, which we are to carry tomorrow, and so on.
This we might easily manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for us each day;
but we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over again today,
and adding tomorrow's burden to our load, before we are required to bear it.

John Newton

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones;
and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task,
go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

Victor Hugo

Just as there comes a warm sunbeam into every cottage window,
so comes a lovebeam of God's care and pity for every separate need.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect
and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God,
and the only way of attaining that love is by loving. You learn to speak
by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working;
and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice
and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.

St. Francis of Sales

In the very first words of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus puts his finger on one of life's most vital issues--individual and personal happiness. We all want to be happy--and rightly so. The longing for lasting happiness is a deep-rooted instinct that has been built into us by the Creator Himself. The God who made the sunset, painted the rose, put the smile on a baby's face, gave the gift of playfulness to a kitten and put laughter in our souls is surely not happy when we are unhappy.
Although it is a God-given instinct to be happy, we must also see that it is only God who can make us happy. Apart from him and his redemptive love as expressed through the cross and the resurrection, we would be "most miserable" (1 Cor. 15:19).

Selwyn Hughes

isn't it funny how often we see the first 26 words of this passage, but almost never the rest?

To be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work
and to play and to look up to the stars; to be satisfied with your possessions,
but not contented with yourself until you have made the best of them;
to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing
except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts;
to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends and every day of Christ;
and to spend as much time as you can with body and with spirit,
in God's out-of-doors--these are the little guideposts on the footpath of peace.

Henry van Dyke

Communication with God--prayer--is a two-way conversation! It is not just the voice
of praise and petitions, but often communion. Sitting in silence with God,
listening for whatever He may want to say. Simply enjoy the fact that He is,
and you are, and you have a relationship with Him. These special moments with God
are when His fresh breezes can enter your heart and refresh you.

anon

Emmet Fox

The true significance of the word "meek" in the Bible is a mental attitude for which there is no other single word available, and it is this mental attitude which is the secret of "prosperity" or success in prayer. It is a combination of open-mindedness, faith in God, and the realization that the Will of God for us is always something joyous and interesting and vital, and much better than anything we could think of for ourselves. This state of mind also includes a perfect willingness
to allow this Will of God to come about in whatever way
Divine Wisdom considers to be the best, rather than
in some particular way that we have chosen for ourselves.

When I awaken in the morning, I am thankful for a new day. I am thankful for everything
that I have materially. I am thankful for everything I have spiritually. I thank God
for allowing me to experience these things, even the experiences that may not seem so positive,
such as developing an illness. I may not understand why I have the illness, but I sense that
it is there for a purpose, and so I thank God for it. I ask Him to allow me to expand beyond my narrow-mindedness and self-centeredness so that I can see the good that comes from everything.

Betty Eadie

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.

I would be friend of all--the foe, the friendless;
I would be giving, and forget the gift;
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift.

I would be learning, day by day, the lessons
My heavenly Father gives me in his Word;
I would be quick to hear his slightest whisper,
And prompt and glad to do the things I've heard.

Harold Arnold Walter

There are two simple little words that are the very heart of the life of the spirit. The first word is "open."
Ralph Waldo Trine gave the secret of how to attune our lives to God. "The principal word to use is
the word 'open'," he wrote. "To be in tune with the Infinite you must simply open your heart and mind
to the divine inflow which is waiting for the opening of the gate that it may enter."
To have an open self is to provide a free channel for the infinite goodness of God. To have an open self
is to keep yourself aware, alert and sensitive to the beauty and wonder of life. God's love will flow
through you into the world when you are open. You enlarge the dimensions of your life when
you keep yourself open to the highest and the best. The key to God's infinite riches is within you;
open yourself and you will receive.
The second word is "one." Dr. Charles Eliot of Harvard declared that the chief characteristic
of the religion of the future will be man's recognition of his oneness with the great Creative Force of God,
which finds its outlet through man himself.
"The life of the soul," said Emerson, "in conscious union with the Infinite shall be for thee
the only real existence."
Beyond a conscious oneness with God you should also think of yourself as one with all people
and all living things. All the people you have ever met and known are a part of you and you are
a part of them forever. You cannot live separately and alone. You are one with the universe,
with the sun, the sea and the stars. You are a part of all life, plant, animal, human and divine.
"To awaken into a vision of wholeness where we saw only fragments," wrote Horatio Dresser,
"is to begin to have a philosophy of the spirit."

Wilferd A. Peterson

Those who walk with Christ by faith know the meaning of wonder
in their daily lives. Ordinary people experience extraordinary things because of the wonder of Christ. These wonders may not be obvious
to those outside the family of God, but they're clearly visible to those inside the family. His wonders are seen in so-called little things,
such as a flower, or bird, or a baby's smile. And they're seen
in the big things as well, such as the courage to say "No" or
the strength to keep going when the road is difficult. Little things become big things when they're touched by the wonder of Christ.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Every praying Christian, every person who has an encounter with God,
must have a passionate concern for his or her brother or sister,
his or her neighbor. To treat any one of these as if he were less than
the child of God is to deny the validity of one's spiritual existence.

Desmond Tutu

The glory of the star, the glory of the sun--we must not lose either in the other.
We must not be so full of the hope of heaven that we cannot do our work on the earth;
we must not be so lost in the work of the earth that we shall not be inspired by the hope of heaven.

Phillips Brooks

Charles M. Sheldon

"Clark, what in your honest opinion is the right standard for determining conduct?
Is the only right standard for everyone, the probable action of Jesus Christ?
Would you say that the highest, best law for a man to live by was contained in asking
the question 'What would Jesus do?' And then doing it regardless of results?
In other words, do you think men everywhere ought to follow Jesus' example
as closely as they can in their daily lives?"

And so one may be without connection with any church, and even
without connection with any established religion, and yet be in spirit,
hence in reality, a much truer Christian than hosts of those who profess
to be His most ardent followers, as indeed Jesus Himself so many
times says. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” said He.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Ralph Waldo Trine