297 results for tag: Quote for today

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 27, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “When I was a young boy my mother and I used to sit on my grandmother’s front porch, on North 8th Street in Herington, Kansas, looking into the summer sky.  I never knew my father, since he was killed when I was only 15 months old, so my mother would tell me that my father was one of the stars twinkling up in the sky.  So because my mother, the ultimate authority in my world at the time, told me so, I thought my father was ‘up there’ with God. As I grew older I realized that my father was not a twinkling star up in the heavens, any more than Santa Claus delivers presents to all the ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 25, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Christ-less religion convinces its followers that they have a need to be right on all the issues, and further, according to religion (especially fundamentalist religion) its followers believe that they need to categorize all those who differ with them as having less religious value than themselves.  Out of such warped thinking comes terms like heathen, heretic, unsaved, unbeliever and pagan – words that are used to describe the ‘other side.’”  Originally published in: Spiritual Soup for the Hungry Soul, Volume 1 ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 22, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “1) In terms of your relationship with God, do you think of what you do as more important that what you are?  By God’s grace, we are friends of Jesus.  He offers us that intimate relationship so that we can…bring forth fruit (John 15:16). We are enabled to bring forth the fruit Jesus desires because he is our friend.  Our flesh is capable of bringing forth fruit.  But, if we are not friends of Jesus then any fruit we produce is not worthy of him – it will always fall short of the kind of fruit he can produce.  Any fruit we are capable of producing is not worthy to be ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 20, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “…the most popular religious messages on billboards across the United States are statements attributed to a direct quote from God: 1) ‘Don’t make me come down there,’ and 2) ‘You think it’s hot here?’ (usually found in the south and in sunbelt states). Legalistic religion is selling us a bill of goods.  Performance-based religion is convincing us that God is angry, and of course that’s easy for us to believe because we already believe God has every reason to be angry with us.  We know Jesus Christ is justified in coming back to this world, wiping us all out, and starting all ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 18, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Some say that they are mad at God because, in spite of everything they have done for him (!?), he hasn’t given them what they feel they deserve.  Is that what we want – really?  Do we want God to give us what we deserve?”  Originally published in: Christianity Without the Religion magazine, August 2021 ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 15, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “You and I need a big God.  A really, really big God – not a small god who religion attempts to shrink down so we can relate to him.  We need a God who can encompass this whole planet – for that matter, this entire universe.  We need a God whose relentless love is big enough for all of us – for everyone who has ever lived or ever will live.  We need a God for all people, all languages, all cultures, all colors and all religions.”  Originally published in: Spiritual Soup for the Hungry Soul, Volume 1 ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 13, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I believe that physical death is not the end of God’s pursuit of us, and I base that belief primarily on the full and complete (as I understand it) revelation of God within the pages of the Bible… My hopeful perspective of God’s pursuit of all of us – and I do mean ALL – is that he will do whatever it takes to win us.  However, I also think he allows us to make choices and respects our choices – many biblical passages speak to this, perhaps none better than the Prodigal Son, when the father ‘lets’ the son leave his house.  He honors the son’s request for his inheritance – he respects ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 11, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “God’s grace is proof that our currency – our medium of spiritual and religious exchange – is not accepted in the kingdom of heaven.  We cannot pay for or earn any standing with God because he doesn’t accept our ‘money.’  Christ-less religious institutions would have us believe that the religious currency it prints in the church basement will enable us to buy a ticket to heaven.  But God’s grace says that God’s ‘money’ is free.  Of course, within legalistic, authoritarian religious institutions God’s grace doesn’t really count for much because their legalisms blind them so they ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 8, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I believe that a Christ-follower may be more liberal than friends and family or more conservative than friends and family and still be a Christ-follower.  Christ-followers are not political yellow pencils. Within reason, excepting fanaticism (and definitions of fanaticism vary!), we can differ about political opinions while remaining respectful and understanding.  Unfortunately, some feel as if their task is to bulldoze everyone into submission so that all agree with their political perspectives.  This ‘warfare’ happens within Christendom as well – in fact, in some quarters especi...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 6, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “God’s grace is not about human perceptions of entitlement or justice.  It is perfectly natural to feel resentful about those who appear to be ‘getting away’ with something. Our sense of human justice cries out for them to ‘get theirs.’  We start this behavior early in life, as children we point out the shortcomings of others to authority figures such as parents and teachers, hoping they will be punished and penalized.  There is, of course, one person whose shortcomings we do not point out to the authorities – our own.” Originally published in: Between Religious Rocks and ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 4, 2023 - Quote for the Day “The phrase ‘upside down kingdom’ was popularized by Donald Kraybill in his 1978 book, The Upside Down Kingdom. Kraybill pointed out that Jesus, the king of the kingdom, is the king who triumphs through losing, who is victorious through the humiliation of the cross and who serves by dying.  The kingdom of heaven 1) seeks out, serves and gives grace to the lost, the least and the last, 2) opposes religious scorekeepers who meticulously record both good and bad behavior, and 3) turns the kingdoms of religion upside down and every which way but loose.”  Originally published in: ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 1, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Do you think Joshua and Caleb didn’t see the same giants and giant obstacles as the ten cynics who were LOOKING BACK?  Though all twelve of the advance military ‘operatives’ saw exactly the same things as they explored and ‘spied out’ the land, Joshua and Caleb saw a glass half full while the ten merchants of doom and gloom described the glass as half empty.  Joshua and Caleb saw the same difficulties, but they insisted on LOOKING FORWARD.”  Originally published in: Letters to My Friends ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 30, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I was recently reading a brief essay by an unknown author – let me share some of it with you:             Religion enslaves; Christ liberates!             Religion condemns; Christ pardons!             Religion brings pain, heartache and tears; Christ heals and wipes the tears away. Religion searches for meaning in life; Christ, who is our life, is the meaning of life.          &nb...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 28, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The Bible, some say, is the Word of God.  That is a false supposition, according to the Bible.  Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1-14).  Jesus is the Word of God.  He alone occupies the throne of authority.  He does not share that throne with a book. Bible publishers have long titled the Bible as ‘holy.’  God alone is holy.  God alone is infallible and inerrant.  Humans are created, mortal and less than perfect – all that we touch and produce falls short of perfection and holiness. Humans have determined the Bible to be holy, infallible and inerrant.&nb...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 25, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The message of the gospel is that slaves of human lust need the one true God.  We need his forgiveness and his rescue.  We need a new life, so that we may leave the old habits and addictions behind.  Unfortunately, some who are looking for a way out of their empty lives of addiction and pain find a religion that uses the name of Jesus, counterfeits his teachings, offering a different gospel that sounds good, seems reasonable and rational… feeling good is not the basis of Christianity.  Seeming right is not the foundation of Christ-centered faith.” Originally published in: Revelat...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 23, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “… make no mistake, there are so many in our world who are not only defined physically as hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned (Matthew 25:34-40), but those words define their spiritual state as well.  There are many who are spiritually hungry, because they are being fed religious junk food – many who are spiritually thirsty, because they have not yet been given the true Water of life. Many are classified as spiritual strangers because they have been pronounced as worthless or unfit or unrighteous by a religious institution.  Others are spiritually naked, who desperately need the ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 21, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I had a conversation with a friend about God’s love – a part of our discussion went something like this: You know, God really does like you.  He is fond of you.  He wants to get to know you and he wants you to come to know him as you never have before.  Young people would say that God wants to ‘hang out with you.’ Well, yes, I know that God loves us, the Bible says he does, and I guess because he inspired those words in the Bible God has to love us.  He said it, he committed himself to it, he signed the contract, so he has to love us. So you think God is stuck? He ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 18, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “It is not easy to accept God’s grace.  Accepting Jesus Christ is itself a repudiation of our world and its religion.  Accepting God’s grace is humbling, and leads to deep repentance as we realize, on the one hand, our inadequacy, and on the other, God’s perfect love.”  Originally published in: Bad News Religion ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 16, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “God’s grace and legalistic religion are not two equally inadequate spiritual extremes.  Grace is the answer for legalism.  There are times and places when grace is abused, when it is misunderstood and when it becomes an excuse for ‘do-as-you-please-ism’ – but abuses of God’s grace do not define or nullify it.  Misunderstandings of God’s grace do not mean it is permissive.  God’s grace is anything but.  Legalism, on the other hand, is a virus that can destroy hope, joy and new life in Christ.” Originally published in: Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places --...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

May 14, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I do not believe eternal destiny is ‘locked in’ at death.  Nothing in Scripture would lead us to assume this, but of course much dogma within Christendom depends upon it.  Many believe that their attempts to proclaim the gospel and ‘save’ people are the primary if not the only way God uses to channel his grace and to illuminate the minds of those whose hearts and minds are darkened.  I say to that – if eternal destiny depends on religion, then God is not God!” Originally published in: Christianity Without the Religion magazine, February 2022 -------------------------------...