Both hope and pessimism are deeply contagious. And no one is more infectious than a leader.
Our beliefs are not just estimates of probabilities. They are also the instruments that guide our actions.
There is a world of difference between being friendly to someone because they’re useful to you and being someone’s friend.
The life of Abraham Lincoln is by most accounts an amazing study in character formation. Yet he was notoriously disorganized; he even had a file in his law office labeled If you can’t find it anywhere else, try looking here.
People who are servants-humbly, honestly, and joyfully-keep getting revealed as the biggest winners. People who recognize and embrace their smallness keep getting bigger and bigger in God’s eyes. It’s the oddest scoring system.
The Holy Spirit says: You are it. You are God’s plan. In a thirsty world, people need to be refreshed. It is a broken world, and people need to be healed. Now get out there and do it!
God is a God of endless opportunities to do good; the God of the open door.
Significance is about who we are before it is about what we do.
Sheldon Vanauken wrote that the strongest argument for Christianity is Christians, when they are drawing life from God. The strongest argument against Christianity? Also Christians, when they become exclusive, self-righteous, and complacent.
The goal is not for us to get through the Scriptures. The goal is to get the Scriptures through us.
Waiting on the Lord is a confident, disciplined, expectant, active, sometimes painful clinging to God.
We who preach have one tool. We are people of the book.
The character of the faith that allows us to be transformed by suffering and darkness is not doubt-free certainty; rather, it is tenacious obedience.
The Holy Spirit will lead you to be with people as Jesus would be with them if He were in your place.
You have a “turn” every time you have an opportunity to choose. But most of us only see a tiny fraction of the choices we have.
If we are serious about loving God, we must begin with people, all people. And especially we must learn to love those that the world generally discards.
At the deepest level, pride is the choice to exclude both God and other people from their rightful place in our hearts. Jesus said the essence of the spiritual life is to love God and to love people. Pride destroys our capacity to love.
Going in faith does not necessarily mean going with serenity or without doubts. Faith can be difficult.
I’m more concerned about who you’re becoming than what you’re doing.
Jesus gave the world its most influential movement.