August 17, 2015
"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it." Psalm 139:14
August 10, 2015
"To back away from the teachings of Scripture around issues that our culture finds offensive is to
wave the white flag on human flourishing. It is to say, 'Our creator God does not know what is best
for his creation. Creation knows what's best, not the Creator.' That's madness."
– Matt Chandler
August 3, 2015
The abortion issue isn’t about the church needing to speak to the world. It’s about the church needing to speak to itself first, then to the world.
– Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life?
July 27, 2015
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate.
Pslam 145:3-5
July 20, 2015
The pursuit of happiness…that’s not a bad thing. It’s only a bad thing when you don’t pursue it in the only place where it can be found, ultimately, with God as the source. We keep looking for happiness in the wrong places.
– Randy Alcorn
July 13, 2015
July 6, 2015
June 29, 2015
June 22, 2015
He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
Proverbs 10:5
June 15, 2015
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
Psalm 68:19
June 8, 2015
God made us in His image and we are too big to be satisfied with what the world offers us! … Man is bored, because he is too big to be happy with that which sin is giving him.
– A. W. Tozer
June 1, 2015
"If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full."
– John Piper
May 26, 2015
"Tomorrow's character is built on today's thoughts. Temptation may come suddenly, but sin doesn't. Neither does moral and spiritual fiber. Both result from a process over which we do have control."
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
May 18, 2015
"Never underestimate Christ. Sin is not more powerful than God. Don't imagine there can't be victory until we get to heaven. God says otherwise. We're not to wait for victory. We're to live in it. (see I John 5:4)"
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
May 11, 2015
"When the attacks on your purity come, be ready to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (see Ephesians 6:17). This requires you to memorize Scripture."
– Randy Alcorn
May 4, 2015
"The thing I know will give me the deepest joy—namely, to be alone and unhurried in the presence of God, aware of His presence, my heart open to worship Him—is often the thing I least want to do."
– John Stott
April 27, 2015
"Heaven awaits all of us who love Him. None of us know the timing—I might arrive there first and welcome you. But we do know our God is in charge and numbers our days. And 'there will be no more death or crying or pain.' How glorious. The best is yet to be. We are not past our prime...we are headed toward it.
Our Father will lovingly oversee the eternity of great adventures awaiting us in Heaven and, in the resurrection, on the New Earth."
– Randy Alcorn
April 23, 2015
"Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other's roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other."
– John Bunyan
April 13, 2015
"When thou prayest, rather thy heart should be without words than thy words without heart."
– John Bunyan
April 6, 2015
Two men stood by them in dazzling apparel and...said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
Luke 24:4-6
March 30, 2015
Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8
March 23, 2015
"God doesn't bless us with more to raise our standard of living, but to raise our standard of giving."
– Randy Alcorn
March 16, 2015
"Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise physician prescribes because we need them; and he proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust in his skill and thank him for his prescription."
– John Newton
March 9, 2015
Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?” (Matt 16:15) If we get it wrong about Jesus, it won’t matter what else we get right.
– Randy Alcorn
March 2, 2015
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
– Abraham Lincoln
February 23, 2015
It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout well done to the Christian man.
– Charles Spurgeon
February 16, 2015
If God has called you to be really like Jesus, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to measure yourself by other Christians; and in many ways, He will seem to let to let other good people do things which He will never let you do.
- G. D. Watson (1845-1924)
February 9, 2015
"Every time I obey God, I'm doing what's ultimately best for everyone. Each time I disobey God, I'm doing what's ultimately worst for everyone."
– Randy Alcorn
January 27, 2015
“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
– C. S. Lewis
January 20, 2015
“Serving one's own passions is the greatest slavery.”
– Thomas Fuller
January 13, 2015
When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
1 Peter 5:4
January 6, 2015
We all battle materialism---not by withdrawing from society, but by serving God faithfully within it.
– Randy Alcorn
December 30, 2014
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
December 24, 2014
Whatever comes to us from God is worth having, even though it be a rod.
– C. H. Spurgeon
December 9, 2014
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
Micah 5:2
December 2, 2014
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
– Isaiah 9:6
November 25, 2014
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
November 19, 2014
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
– C. S. Lewis
November 11, 2014
Of all the knowledge that we can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important.
– Jonathan Edwards
November 4, 2014
"Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!"
Psalm 27:14
October 28, 2014
"Possessing God's own righteousness we won't sin in Heaven for the same reason God doesn't: he cannot."
– Randy Alcorn
October 21, 2014
"An idle life and a holy heart is a contradiction."
– Thomas Brooks
October 14, 2014
"We tend to define our good in terms of what brings us health and pleasure now. God defines it in terms of what makes us more like Jesus."
– Randy Alcorn
October 7, 2014
"Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness."
– C. S. Lewis
September 30, 2014
"We cannot change the truth, but the truth can change us."
– Randy Alcorn
September 23, 2014
A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.
– G. K. Chesterton
September 16, 2014
"My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
– Abraham Lincoln
September 9, 2014
"When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words be without heart."
– John Bunyan
August 26, 2014
“As sure as God puts His children in the furnace he will be in the furnace with them.”
– C. H. Spurgeon
August 19, 2014
“The Curse is real, but temporary. Jesus will reverse the Curse. Earth won’t merely be put out of its misery; Christ will infuse it with a far greater life.”
– Randy Alcorn
August 12, 2014
“God sometimes does His work with gentle drizzle, not storms.”
– John Newton
August 5, 2014
“Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”
– A. W. Tozer
July 29, 2014
“Purity is right. Impurity is wrong…purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid.”
– Randy Alcorn
July 22, 2014
"Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable."
– John Wesley
July 15, 2014
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Luke 12:32
July 8, 1014
"To me, the gospel is simply irresistible"
– Blaise Pascal
July 1, 2014
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
– Alexis de Tocqueville
June 24, 2014
“Lord, whatever you want, wherever you want it, and whenever you want it, that's what I want.”
– Richard Baxter
June 17, 2014
“As a matter of honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth.”
– Thomas Aquinas
June 10, 2014
People conclude that God can’t be real, because we can’t see Him. And Heaven can’t be real, because we can’t see it. But we must recognize our blindness. The blind must take by faith that there are stars in the sky. If they depend on their ability to see, they’ll conclude there are no stars.
– Randy Alcorn, Seeing the Unseen
June 3, 2014
"The Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Acts 20:35
May 27, 2014
“Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.”
– Max Lucado
May 20, 2014
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."
Psalm 19:14
May 13, 2014
"God alone is omniscient. When we die, we'll see things far more clearly, and we'll know much more than we do now, but we'll never know everything."
— Randy Alcorn
May 6, 2014
"I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."
— John Wesley
April 29, 2014
“To the man who prays habitually (not only when he feels like it—that is one of the snares of religion—but also when he does not feel like it) Christ is sure to make Himself real.”
— James Stewart
April 22, 2014
“To be repentant means to be committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep from falling back into sin.”
— Randy Alcorn, Seeing the Unseen
April 15, 2014
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29
April 8, 2014
"We should see God as the Source of all good and our Sustainer through everything bad. God alone is the Fountain of Life."
— Randy Alcorn
April 1, 2014
“Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.”
— Blaise Pascal
March 25, 2014
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
March 18, 2014
"Stress tugs at the corners of our lives. It stretches us always a little more enabling us to broaden our impact for Christ."
– Randy Alcorn, Help For Women Under Stress
March 11, 2014
“If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world.”
— David Brainerd
March 4, 2014
"Better to be seen as fools now in the eyes of other people--including other Christians--than to be seen as fools forever in the eyes of an audience of One whose judgment is the only one that will ultimately matter."
– Randy Alcorn
February 25, 2014
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice."
Philippians 4:4, ESV
February 18, 2014
"We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere, incognito."
– C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcom
February 11, 2014
"When the attacks on your purity come, be ready to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (see Ephesians 6:17). This requires you to memorize Scripture."
– Randy Alcorn
February 4, 2014
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."
– Corrie ten Boom
January 28, 2014
"The greatest kindness we can offer each other is the truth. Our job is not just to help each other feel good but to help each other be good. We often seem to think that our only options are to: 1) speak the truth hurtfully; or 2) say nothing in the name of grace. This is a lie. Jesus came full of grace AND truth (John 1:14). We should not choose between them, but do both."
– Randy Alcorn
January 21, 2014
"Show me your ways; O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."
Psalm 25:4-5, NIV
January 14, 2014
“The biggest danger of receiving criticism is not to your reputation, but to your heart. You feel the injustice of it and feel sorry for yourself, and it tempts you to despise the critic.”
– Tim Keller
January 7, 2014
"Character is what you are in the dark when no one but God is watching. Anyone can look good in front of an audience, or even in front of their friends. It's an entirely different thing to stand naked before God, to be known as you truly are on the inside."
– Randy Alcorn
December 31, 2013
"Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still."
– E. M. Bounds
December 17, 2013
When I think of the Magi, gifts in hand to bring to the King of Kings, I think about the passages that talk about not coming to the Lord empty-handed. (Luke 20:10-11) I think it’s worth asking, "What gift are you giving Jesus?" The gifts of our love, worship, awe, time spent with Him, being yielded to Him, and being committed to follow Him wherever He leads—these are the gifts He desires us to give.
– Randy Alcorn
December 10, 2013
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever"
1 Chronicles 16:34, NIV
December 3, 2013
“The promises of God toward the truly humble are almost breathtaking. The infinitely high and lofty One who lives forever promises to dwell with them, to esteem them, to give them grace, to lift them up, and to exalt them...Humility opens the way to all other godly character traits. It is the soil in which the other traits of the fruit of the Spirit grow.”
— Jerry Bridges
November 26, 2013
Never put off obedience. The moment of conviction and enlightenment is the moment to act. To procrastinate obedience is to disobey. Trust him enough to begin this life-changing eternity-impacting adventure of giving.
— Randy Alcorn
November 19, 2013
"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior"
Titus 3:4-6
November 12, 2013
They gave our Master a crown of thorns. Why do we hope for a crown of roses?
– Martin Luther
Novmember 5, 2013
What is in God's best interests is also in others' best interests and in my best interests (not necessarily immediately, but always ultimately).
– Randy Alcorn
October 29, 2013
People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.
– D. A. Carson
October 22, 2013
God has set Eternity in our heart, and man's infinite capacity cannot be filled or satisfied with the things of time and sense.
– F. B. Meyer
October 15, 2013
God heard our cries; He searched for us, found us, and paid the ultimate price to deliver us.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
October 8, 2013
A real desire to believe all the good you can of others and to make others as comfortable as you can will solve most of the problems.
– C. S. Lewis
October 1, 2013
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him
– John Piper
September 24, 2013
Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen.
– Oswald Chambers
September 17, 2013
As long as God keeps you here on Earth, it’s exactly where he wants you. He’s preparing you for another world. He knows precisely what He’s doing.
– Randy Alcorn
September 10, 2013
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
September 3, 2013
Of all the knowledge that we can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important.
– Jonathan Edwards
August 27, 2013
Many [Western Christians] habitually think and act as if there is no eternity. . . . We major in the momentary and minor in the momentous.
– Randy Alcorn
August 20, 2013
When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words be without heart.
– John Bunyan
August 13, 2013
God does not give us everything we want, but God does fulfill all God's promises.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
August 8, 2013
Of all the knowledge that we can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important.
– Jonathan Edwards
July 30, 2013
Truth without grace crushes people and ceases to be truth. Grace without truth deceives people and ceases to be grace.
– Randy Alcorn
July 23, 2013
Badness is only spoiled goodness.
– C. S. Lewis
July 16, 2013
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25
July 2, 2013
It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.
– George Washington
June 25, 2013
"Ah, but God does not need his instruments to know they are His instruments, now does he?"
– Lazarus, in Eternity by Randy Alcorn
June 18, 2013
Our motto must continue to be perseverance. And ultimately I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.
– William Wilberforce
June 11, 2013
Real gold fears no fire.
– Randy Alcorn
June 4, 2013
A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.
– Billy Graham
May 28, 2013
Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.
– A. W. Tozer
May 21, 2013
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26
May 14, 2013
It is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is incomprehensible that he should not exist.
– Blaise Pascal
Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.
– Billy Graham
April 30, 2013
The best answer to the problem of evil is a person – Jesus Christ. In fact, I'm convinced He is the only answer.
– Randy Alcorn
April 23, 2013
My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.
Psalm 145:21
April 16, 2013
Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?
– C. S. Lewis
April 9, 2013
Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.
– John Wesley
April 2, 2013
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
– Aesop
March 26, 2013
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29
March 19, 2013
God made only one of you. Budget yourself. Spend yourself wisely. Seek to be able to say to the Lord at the end of your life "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do" (Jn. 17:4). No less. AND no more.
– Randy Alcorn, Help for Women Under Stress
March 12, 2013
Our perceptions–much more than our cirumstances–are the building blocks with which we construct our lives.
– Randy Alcorn, Help for Women Under Stress
March 5, 2013
Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117: 1-2
February 26, 2013
Look out a window. Take a walk. Talk with your friend. Use your God-given skills to paint or draw or build a shed or write a book.
– Randy Alcorn
February 19, 2013
You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run.
– St. Augustine
February 12, 2013
Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.
– Billy Graham
February 5, 2013
Though our feelings come and go, God's love for us does not.
– C. S. Lewis
January 29, 2013
The things that we love tell us what we are.
– Thomas Aquinas
January 22, 2013
The prochoice position always overlooks the victim's right to choose. The women don't choose rape. The blacks didn't choose slavery. The Jews didn't choose the ovens. And the babies don't choose abortion.
– Randy Alcorn
January 15, 2013
As he that fears God fears nothing else, so, he that sees God sees everything else.
— John Donne
January 8, 2013
Being a Christan is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
January 2, 2013
Remind yourself of Heaven. Sit down with your children and your grandchildren, your parents and brothers and sisters and friends and talk to them about Heaven.
– Randy Alcorn
December 26, 2012
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:5
December 18, 2012
We live our lives between the first Christmas and the second.
– Randy Alcorn
December 11, 2012
You can give without loving but you can never love without giving.
― Amy Carmichael
December 4, 2012
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
November 27, 2012
“God can't give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”
― C. S. Lewis
November 20, 2012
You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
– C. H. Spurgeon
November 13, 2012
The way to be truly happy is to be truly human, and the way to be truly human is to be truly godly.
– J. I. Packer
November 6, 2012
In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart.
– Blaise Pascal
October 30, 2012
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5b
October 17, 2012
Every Christian should be both conservative and radical; conservative in preserving the faith and radical in applying it.
— John Stott
October 9, 2012
Everything learned in life, from coping methods to table manners, is learned in families.
– Randy Alcorn, Managing God's Money
October 2, 2012
"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."
– St. Augustine
September 25, 2012
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23
September 18, 2012
Purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid.
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
September 10, 2012
“Half our fears arise from neglect of the Bible.”
– C. H. Spurgeon
September 3, 2012
Since Heaven is God’s home, made by him, it will be awesome, satisfying, and interesting, just like God is.
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven for Kids
August 28, 2012
Though the light shines on things unclean, yet it is not thereby defiled.
– St. Augustine
August 21, 2012
We are like unique instruments, played by an orchestra of individual musicians performing as one. We will play together in perfect unity, but each of us will play our own part in bringing glory to God.
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
August 14, 2012
“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
― G. K. Chesterton
August 7, 2012
"Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years."
– C. H. Spurgeon
July 31, 2012
"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."
James 3:17-18
July 24, 2012
“Before we go to our eternal home we should try to become acquainted with it.”
— J. C. Ryle
July 17, 2012
Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights—
His faithful love endures forever.
the sun to rule the day,
His faithful love endures forever.
and the moon and stars to rule the night.
His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 136:7-9
July 10, 2012
“Fiction has a unique role in conveying Truth. In fact, only fiction that is Truth with a capital T is worthwhile.”
— Jerry B. Jenkins
July 3, 2012
"Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees."
— Victor Hugo
June 26, 2012
"Love flies, runs, and rejoices; it is free and nothing can hold it back."
— Thomas á Kempis
June 19, 2012
“We are to rejoice in our inheritance in Heaven even as God sovereignly uses difficulties in our lives as a fire to refine, purify, and strengthen our faith.”
— Randy Alcorn
June 12, 2012
"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."
– Billy Graham
June 5, 2012
"A new depth of character emerges from trust developed in suffering."
— Randy Alcorn
May 29, 2012
“In order to have a biblical worldview, we must have a sense of our past, present, and future, and how they relate to each other.”
— Randy Alcorn
May 22, 2012
“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”
— Arthur Ashe
May 15, 2012
"When we choose to feed our righteous desires and starve our unrighteous ones, by God's grace we will program our lives for righteousness"
— Randy Alcorn
May 7, 2012
"As long as we are alive the book of our life is still being written, we do not know how the final chapter will end until it has ended."
— Randy Alcorn
May 1, 2012
"Every joy on earth—including the joy of reunion—is but an inkling, a whisper of greater Joy. Niagara Falls, Lake Victoria, the Grand Canyon, the world’s great mountains and coastlines, all these will prove to be but rough sketches of heaven."
— Randy Alcorn
April 24, 2012
"By seeing ourselves as part of the heavenly society, we can learn to rejoice now in what Heaven’s residents rejoice in. They rejoice in God, his glory, his grace, and his beauty."
— Randy Alcorn
April 17, 2012
"I know," Gramps said. “One day you will. But you’ll have to wait until then.”
— Gramps, Wait Until Then
April 10, 2012
"It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving."
— John Wesley
April 3, 2012
“I may be King of the Idiots,” I said, “but my kingdom is vast, and my subjects are everywhere.”
— Ollie Chandler, Deception
March 27, 2012
In Heaven we’ll continually learn new things about God, going ever deeper in our understanding. But we don't have to wait until Heaven to get started.
— Randy Alcorn
March 20, 2012
These bodies, given life by his Spirit who dwells in us and united to souls purified and refined, shall one day tread upon an Earth delivered from the Curse, and shall live beneath new heavens.
— C. H. Spurgeon as quoted in We Shall See God
March 13, 2012
Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.
— G. K. Chesterton
March 6, 2012
All our lives, even if we don't know it, we've been dreaming of the New Earth. Whenever we see beauty, it reminds us of our eternal home...
— Randy Alcorn, Promise of Heaven
Fegruary 28, 2012
Our perspective on money and possessions—and how we handle them—lies at the very heart of the Christian life.
— Randy Alcorn, Managing God's Money
February 21, 2012
Our error has not been in overestimating the extent of God’s redemption and resurrection but underestimating it.
— Randy Alcorn, Life Promises for Eternity
February 15, 2012
“[Jewel the Unicorn] cried: ‘I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this’” C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
February 7, 2012
We serve a passionate God. We should love and serve Him passionately. But we need to cultivate our passions for the right object, not the wrong ones.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
January 30, 2012
We need to stop thinking of ourselves as owners and instead see ourselves as God’s couriers. Just because God puts his money in our hands doesn’t mean he intends for it to stay there!
— Randy Alcorn, Managing God's Money
January 23, 2012
The joys we find in companionship of noble, unselfish, thoughtful people here give only the faintest conception of the joys of heaven’s companionships.
— R. A. Torrey, quoted in Eternal Perspectives
January 16, 2012
Christ died for our sins of racism. His work on the cross put racism to death. The redemption of mankind and the earth will include the redemption of human relationships and the uniting of different people groups in Christ.
— Randy Alcorn, Heaven
January 9, 2012
It’s an indisputable scientific fact that each and every surgical abortion in America stops a beating heart and stops already measurable brain waves.
— Randy Alcorn, Why ProLife?
January 2, 2012
Although the world is full of suffering it is also full of the overcoming of it.… Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain.
— Helen Keller, quoted in 90 Days of God's Goodness
December 26, 2011
When we learn together to speak the truth in love, to resist evil, to boldly stand for human rights, to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…then whether or not we succeed in changing our culture, God will change our character and our children’s character.
— Randy Alcorn
December 19, 2011
That man should be made in God’s image is a wonder, but that God should be made in man’s image is a greater wonder. That the Ancient of Days would be born. That He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle?
— Thomas Watson
December 12, 2011
The most ordinary moment on the New Earth will be greater than the most perfect moments in this life—those experiences you wanted to bottle or hang on to but couldn’t. Nanci and I have spent some wonderful moments with our family and friends. At Christmas or on vacation, or simply after dinner in the family room, we’ve said those magic words: “It doesn’t get any better than this.” But it can get better, far better, than this—and it will.
— Randy Alcorn, 50 Days of Heaven
December 5, 2011
How different our standard is from Christ’s. We ask how much a man gives. Christ asks how much he keeps.
— Andrew Murray, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity
November 28, 2011
It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in 50 Days of Heaven
November 21, 2011
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
November 14, 2011
Gratitude never comes from avoiding difficulty, but from finding yourself sustained through it. The degree of joy rises to the degree of gratitude, and the level of gratitude corresponds to the level of suffering. God’s sustaining providence always brings relief, even when life grows especially difficult.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
November 7, 2011
We are created to worship God. There’s no higher pleasure. At times we’ll lose ourselves in praise, doing nothing but worshiping him. At other times we’ll worship him when we build a cabinet, paint a picture, cook a meal, talk with an old friend, take a walk, or throw a ball. In Heaven, worshiping God won’t be restricted to a time posted on a sign, telling us when to start and stop. It will permeate our lives, energize our bodies, and fuel our imaginations.
— Randy Alcorn, Touchpoints: Heaven
October 31, 2011
Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw his hand... the rain of His grace is always dropping, the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the wellspring of His love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in The Grace and Truth Paradox
October 23, 2011
If what you treasure most is deposited in the bank and the bank fails, your heart will fail with it. In contrast, one who hopes in God will be devastated only if God fails—and he never does.
— Randy Alcorn, Managing God's Money
October 17, 2011
For too long, many evangelical Christians have mistakenly believed that the goal of life is to escape the bounds of earth. …heaven is merely the first leg of a journey that is round-trip.
— Michael Wittmer, quoted in Eternal Perspectives
October 10, 2011
God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.
— Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
October 3, 2011
Don’t bear trouble, use it. Take whatever happens—justice and injustice, pleasure and pain, compliment and criticism—take it up into the purpose of your life and make something out of it. Turn it into testimony.
— E. Stanley Jones, quoted 90 Days of God's Goodness
September 26, 2011
At the end of his life, no man says, “I wish I had spent less time with my children."
— From the novel Courageous by Randy Alcorn and Alex and Stephen Kendrick
September 19, 2011
God’s grace didn’t get us going and then leave us to get by on our works. Grace didn’t just justify us in the past; it sustains us in the present and will deliver us in the future.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
September 12, 2011
A man cannot be passive about what Scripture tells him to do for his family and expect to be found faithful to God in the end. He must see with spiritual eyes and realize that future generations are directly impacted by his daily decisions.
— Randy Alcorn, The Resolution for Men
September 5, 2011
Change our habits of leisure, Lord. Remind us that your Word is the source of correction, training, eternal perspective, and joyful rest from weariness and sorrow.
— Randy Alcorn, 90 Days of God's Goodness
August 29, 2011
Earthmaker, Holy, let me now depart, For living’s such a temporary art. And dying is but getting dressed for God, Our graves are merely doorways cut in sod.
— Calvin Miller, quoted in Heaven
August 22, 2011
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me.” Not a popular statement. One that helped get Him crucified. But then, Jesus wasn’t a popularity-seeker. He was a truth-teller.
— Clarence Abernathy, in Randy's novel Deception
August 15, 2011
Never believe anything about yourself or God that makes His grace to you seem anything less than astonishing. Because that’s exactly what it is.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
August 8, 2011
To say that our first need in life is to learn about sin may sound strange, but in the sense intended it is profoundly true. If you have not learned about sin, you cannot understand yourself, or your fellow-men, or the world you live in, or the Christian faith.
—J. I. Packer, quoted in If God Is Good
August 1, 2011
We have the responsibility to mold lives. I don’t think that should be done casually. Half the fathers in this country are failing, probably way more. And with the time I’ve got left, I don’t want to be one of them.
— Adam, character in the movie and the novel Courageous, by Randy Alcorn and Alex and Stephen Kendrick
July 25, 2011
The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in If God Is Good
July 18, 2011
Since in Heaven we’ll finally experience life at its best, it would be more accurate to call our present existence the beforelife rather than what follows the afterlife.
— Randy Alcorn, We Shall See God
July 11, 2011
I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in The Goodness of God
July 4, 2011
I love America. Yet if this was my only country, my true country, I would despair. God has set eternity in the hearts of men (Ec. 3:11). Just as no person in this world can satisfy us, only Christ, so no place in this world can satisfy us, only Heaven.
— Randy Alcorn
June 27, 2011
Put yourself in the place of every poor man and deal with him as you would have God deal with you.
— John Wesley, quoted in Managing God's Money
June 20, 2011
We who have not formed galaxies and quasars and fashioned worlds shouldn’t be so quick to tell God how to run his universe.
— Randy Alcorn, The Goodness of God
June 13, 2011
Here we sometimes enter into the doorway of happiness; there we shall go into the presence chamber of the King! Here we look over the hedge and see the flowers in Heaven’s garden; there we shall walk between the flower beds of delight. We shall pluck fresh flowers at each step.
— Charles Spurgeon, from We Shall See God
June 6, 2011
Our belief that Heaven will be boring betrays a heresy—that God is boring. There’s no greater nonsense. What’s true is that our desire for pleasure and the experience of joy come directly from God’s hand.
— Randy Alcorn, 50 Days of Heaven
May 30, 2011
A recovery of the old sense of sin is essential to Christianity. Christ takes it for granted that men are bad.... We lack the first condition for understanding what He is talking about.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in If God Is Good
May 23, 2011
Martin Luther said that the devil doesn't care which side of the horse we fall off of—as long as we don't stay in the saddle. We need to ride the horse with one foot in the stirrup of truth, the other in the stirrup of grace.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
May 16, 2011
I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.
— John Wesley, quoted in Managing God's Money
May 9, 2011
Treasure your marriage partner. Recognize that his or her qualities aren’t the result of airbrushing, camera angles, and cosmetic surgery. They won’t fade as those do, but will endure and deepen.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
May 2, 2011
This is, at the end of the day, the ultimate test of our knowledge of God. Is it robust enough that, when faced with excruciating adversity, it may prompt us to lash out with hard questions, but will never permit us to turn away from God?
— D. A. Carson, quoted in If God Is Good
April 25, 2011
Jesus came not only to save spirits from damnation. That would have been, at most, a partial victory. No, he came to save his whole creation from death. That means our bodies too, not just our spirits.
— Randy Alcorn, Heaven
April 18, 2011
I shall rise from the dead.... I shall see the Son of God, the Sun of Glory, and shine myself as that sun shines. I shall be united to the Ancient of Days, to God Himself, who had no morning, never began.... No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen him, I shall never die.
— John Donne, quoted in If God Is Good
April 11, 2011
Giving doesn’t strip me of vested interests; rather, it shifts my vested interests from earth to heaven—from self to God.
— Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
April 4, 2011
It is a delightful thing that God should make a tree, and bid it come forth in the springtide with all its budding beauty. It is a far better thing that God should take a poor thorny heart like yours and mine, and transform it till it becomes like the fir tree or the pine tree to his praise.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in Randy's book We Shall See God, coming June 1
March 28, 2011
Nothing will interfere more with our children’s relationship with God—or even prevent them from having a relationship—than a life centered on things. Our greatest legacy to our children is to help them develop their spiritual lives, their hearts for God.
— Randy Alcorn, Managing God's Money
March 21, 2011
Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.
— Thomas a Kempis, quoted in In Light of Eternity
March 14, 2011
Whenever you feel tempted to ask God, “Why did you do this to me?” look at the cross and ask, “Why did you do that for me?”
— Randy Alcorn, 90 Days of God's Goodness
March 7, 2011
Christ’s people must have bold, unflinching lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and His truth next, and Christ and His truth beyond all the world.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in The Grace and Truth Paradox
February 28, 2011
God doesn’t own just the universe; he owns you and me. If we’re his children, we are twice his—first by creation, second by redemption.
— Randy Alcorn, Managing God's Money
February 21, 2011
The hills and valleys of Heaven will be to those you now experience not as a copy is to an original, nor as a substitute is to the genuine article, but as the flower to the root, or the diamond to the coal.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in Heaven
February 14, 2011
Ephesians 4:15 tells us to speak the truth in love, not to withhold the truth in love. Our job is not simply to help each other feel good, but to help each other be good.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
February 6, 2011
The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God.
— Margaret Clarkson, quoted in If God Is Good
January 31, 2011
In moments of strength, make decisions that will prevent temptation in moments of weakness.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
January 24, 2011
One thing’s for sure: Earth can’t keep its promises, but aren’t you glad Heaven does? And oh the joy of one day enjoying not only new glorified bodies but hearts free of sin!
— Joni Eareckson Tada
January 17, 2011
When it comes to abortion and every other sin issue, we show people Jesus only when we show them grace and truth. Not one, but both.
— Randy Alcorn
January 10, 2011
Pray for ‘all men.’ We usually pray more for things than we do for men. Our prayers should be thrown across their pathway as they rush in their downward course to a lost eternity.
— E. M. Bounds
January 3, 2010
Giving doesn’t strip me of vested interests; rather, it shifts my vested interests from earth to heaven—from self to God.
— Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
December 27, 2010
I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in The Goodness of God
December 20, 2010
Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God that man might stand before Him as He was created to do, the friend and lover of God Himself.
— Oswald Chambers
December 13, 2010
Every year Christmas poses a question to the world—namely, why did Jesus come? Or what is the meaning of Jesus Christ? Or, more personally, what difference should this man make in my life?
— John Piper
December 6, 2010
Our very best Christmases here on earth are just a pale shadow—a foretaste of the reality—of what we're going to experience for all eternity in the presence of Christ in Heaven, where every day will be the enjoyment of Christmas.
— Randy Alcorn
November 29, 2010
The whole life of a good Christian is a holy desire.
— Augustine
November 22, 2010
Cultivating thankfulness today will allow us to cling to God’s goodness and mercy in our darkest hours.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
November 15, 2010
A great multitude of dear ones is there expecting us; a vast and mighty crowd of parents, brothers, and children ... long that we may come to their right and embrace them, to that joy which will be common to us and to them.
— The Venerable Bede, quoted in 50 Days of Heaven
November 8, 2010
Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?” (Matt 16:15) If we get it wrong about Jesus, it won’t matter what else we get right.
— Randy Alcorn
November 1, 2010
He who has God and everything has no more than he who has God alone.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity
October 25, 2010
What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day.
— A. W. Tozer, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity
October 18, 2010
Trust in God, and you need not fear.
— The last sentence said to be spoken by Jonathan Edwards, widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian.
October 11, 2010
Self-reformation is not enough. It may bring limited benefits but lead to self-righteousness. The Christian life is more than sin management. It’s divine transformation and enablement to live righteously.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
October 4, 2010
Jesus said in Matthew 13, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” This transformation does not simply happen after we die. It starts here and now in this world, and suffering is the instrument. God isn’t just preparing a place for us. He is preparing us for that place.
— Randy Alcorn
September 27, 2010
Now God, who has made us, knows what we are and that our happiness lies in Him. Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as He leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for. While what we call “our own life” remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him. What then can God do in our interests but make “our own life” less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible sources of false happiness?
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in If God Is Good
September 20, 2010
It becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven. . . . Why should we labor for or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end and true happiness?
— Jonathan Edwards, quoted in 50 Days of Heaven
September 13, 2010
Whatever good thing you do for Him, if done according to the Word, is laid up for you as treasure in chests and coffers, to be brought out to be rewarded before both men and angels, to your eternal comfort.
— John Bunyan, quoted in The Treasure Principle
September 6, 2010
Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.
— D. L. Moody
August 30, 2010
The Christian life is not based on avoiding the truth but on hearing and submitting to it. The greatest kindness we can offer each other is the truth.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
August 23, 2010
Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority.
— John Calvin, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity
August 16, 2010
Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Saviour.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in The Goodness of God
August 9, 2010
The old gospel song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through,” is a half-truth. We may pass from the earth through death, but eventually we’ll be back to live on the restored Earth.
— Randy Alcorn, Heaven
August 2, 2010
If we come to see the purpose of the universe as God’s long-term glory rather than our short-term happiness, then we will undergo a critical paradigm shift in tackling the problem of evil and suffering.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
July 26, 2010
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
— C. S. Lewis
July 19, 2010
Purity and impurity are more than external issues of behavior, culture, and practice. They cut to the soul. They slice to the living core of who you are and who you will become.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
July 12, 2010
Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth; whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.
— A. W. Tozer, quoted in The Treasure Principle
July 5, 2010
When our souls lie barren in a winter which seems hopeless and endless, God has not abandoned us. His work goes on. He asks our acceptance of the painful process and our trust that He will indeed give resurrection life.
— Elisabeth Elliot, quoted in If God Is Good
June 29, 2010
Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.
— Thomas á Kempis, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity
May 24, 2010
This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right. Hence, we look forward with joy to newly restored bodies and to living in a newly restored heaven and earth. We can love this world because it is God’s, and it will be healed, becoming at last what God intended from the beginning.
— Paul Marshall, quoted in 50 Days of Heaven
May 17, 2010
God always acts not only for His glory, but for my best interests. So I can fully trust that whatever He forbids would have hurt me... and whatever He commands will only help me.
— Randy Alcorn
May 10, 2010
We can and should live now—and invest in eternity now—with the perspective that will be ours one minute after we die.
— Randy Alcorn
May 3, 2010
If you know Jesus, then the hand holding yours bears the calluses of a carpenter who worked with wood and carried a cross for you. When he opens his hand, you see the gnarled flesh of the nail scars on his wrists. And when you think he doesn't understand your pain, realize that you don't understand the extent of his pain. Love him or not, he has proven he loves you.
— Randy Alcorn
April 26, 2010
Prayer is surrender—surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.
— E. Stanley Jones
April 19, 2010
One day we’ll see God and truly know him. Then things will make sense. We’ll never understand everything, but we’ll know and trust the God who does understand everything.
— Randy Alcorn, The Promise of Heaven
April 12, 2010
The world forsakes those that are in poverty, disgrace, and want; but God promises most of His presence to them that holy, meekly, and patiently bear the afflictions which He lays upon them. And one drop of this honey is enough to sweeten the bitterest cup that ever drank of. If God be with us, if the power of Christ will rest upon us, then we may even glory in infirmities, as Paul did.
— Thomas Manton
April 5, 2010
Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us from this place and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom. Anyone who has been in foreign lands longs to return to his own native land. . . . We regard paradise as our native land.
— Cyprian, quoted in Heaven
March 29, 2010
The Cross is a lens showing us God's uncompromising holiness and wrath that demand such a price for sin. And it's a magnifying glass showing us the sweeping vastness of God's grace and love, that he would be willing to pay a price he knew would be so horrific.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
March 15, 2010
Your choice of whether you will trust God and worship him today reverberates throughout the universe, honoring or dishonoring your God. It also has enormous implications for eternal rewards God promises us in the next life.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
March 8, 2010
In Wall Street terms, Christ is bearish when it comes to investing on earth. His financial forecast for this world is ultimately bleak. But he’s unreservedly bullish about investing in heaven, where every market indicator is eternally positive!
— Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity
March 1, 2010
In the truest sense, Christian pilgrims have the best of both worlds. We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next, and we take solace whenever it does not.
— Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity
February 22, 2010
Honor God by living in sexual purity. If you do, you’ll experience His blessing and rewards not only today, tomorrow, and ten years from now, but throughout eternity.
— Randy Alcorn
February 15, 2010
All healing in this world is temporary. Resurrection healing will be permanent. For that our hearts should overflow with praise to our gracious God.
— Randy Alcorn
February 8, 2010
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). This is not our place to trash. It’s God’s place to treasure.
— Randy Alcorn
February 1, 2010
To go to heaven fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows. But the enjoyment of God is the substance.
— Jonathan Edwards, quoted in If God Is Good
January 25, 2010
The will of God is not wrapped up in the details of what we do, but the character of who we are.
— Randy Alcorn
January 18, 2010
Being a person is infinitely more significant than being a white person or a black person. In the real world on this earth, race is significant; but in the more real world of heaven redeemed personhood is ten thousand times more significant than race
— John Piper
January 11, 2010
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a Nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skins, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
— Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream"
January 4, 2010
The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is a most monstrous crime to rob it of the life, which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man's house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.
— John Calvin
December 28, 2009
Here's a New Year's resolution to consider: Every time you see or experiencing something beautiful and wonderful in this world, from a loved one's smile to a wonderful meal and laughter to a snowfall or waterfall, wildflowers or animals, music or art, resolve to thank God that this fallen world is but a hint of what awaits us on the New Earth, the place He's preparing for us.
— Randy Alcorn
December 21, 2009
May this Christmas be for you a Christmas full of joyful noises, perhaps, but also may there be a clean blanket of quietness in which you can be still, and know that the baby, born in a Bethlehem barn, is God.
— Randy Alcorn
December 14, 2009
I feel a spirit of adventure not just for the passing joys of Christmas, but for an eternal Christmas, a great story where—as C. S. Lewis put it at the end of the Chronicles of Narnia—every chapter will be better than the one before.
— Randy Alcorn
December 7, 2009
Christmas is about the Creator of the universe, who is not himself part of the universe, moving himself, in the person of his Son, into the universe that he made.
— John Piper
November 30, 2009
A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes... and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing from prison about Christmas
November 23, 2009
Jesus is the only Answer bigger than the questions.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
November 16, 2009
There is no substitute for time spent with our Father in Heaven. Time in His Word and prayer is never wasted. It sets our compass needle to true north, and brings a quality to all the rest of our time. “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you…” (Psalm 63:1)
— Randy Alcorn
November 9, 2009
Prayer is trusting God that He can accomplish more when I'm on my knees than I can accomplish on my feet.
— Randy Alcorn
November 2, 2009
You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.
— John Bunyan
October 26, 2009
God is the highest good of the reasonable creature, and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.
— Jonathan Edwards, quoted in If God Is Good
October 19, 2009
The Word of God was simply everything to me—comfort and strength, guidance and hope, master of my days and companion of my nights, the bread which kept me from starvation and the water of life that refreshed my soul.
— Martin Niemöller, German pastor who spent years in a concentration camp for speaking out against Hitler's influence on the German church
October 12, 2009
Those who drink of immorality are never satisfied. Those who drink of Jesus are fully satisfied.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
October 5, 2009
Thou canst not make me happy with thyself, till thou hast made me holy like thyself.
— from The Valley of Vision: a Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
September 28, 2009
We need to neglect doing the things that countless people want us to do, so that we will be available to do what God wants. And sometimes He speaks in a still small voice, while people speak in a big LOUD voice. We have to make sure we're listening. To do that, we need to put our ear to His Word and pray and seek His face.
— Randy Alcorn, from his blog "Planned Neglect: Saying No to Good Things So We Can Say Yes to the Best"
September 21, 2009
Everything material we have, including money, is either a tool or an idol. If we fail to use it as a tool for God's intended purposes, it mutates into an idol.
— Randy Alcorn, Money Possessions and Eternity
September 14, 2009
Suffering is God's invitation to look to Jesus and look forward to Heaven. The answer to the problem of evil is a person and a place. Jesus is the person. Heaven is the place.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
September 7, 2009
I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable.… Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister's library.
— Charles Spurgeon, quoted in If God Is Good by Randy Alcorn
August 31, 2009
We will enjoy the magnificence of our God and his Heaven, not merely in spite of all we suffered here. We will enjoy it all the more because of everything we suffered here.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
August 24, 2009
Resolve to spend most of your time in thanksgiving and praising God. If you cannot do it with the joy that you should, yet do it as you can.… Doing it as you can is the way to be able to do it better. Thanksgiving stirreth up thankfulness in the heart.
— Richard Baxter, quoted in If God Is Good by Randy Alcorn
August 17, 2009
Worry is momentary atheism crying out for correction by trust in a good and sovereign God.
— Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good
August 10, 2009
Image is how we look on the outside to people who don't know us. Character is what we are in the dark when no one but God sees us. Character is what we really are.
— Randy Alcorn, "Fame or Character?"
August 3, 2009
Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of Heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in If God Is Good
July 27, 2009
In the movie Chariots of Fire, Olympian Eric Liddell said, “I believe God made me for a purpose... and when I run, I feel His pleasure.” Those who’ve discovered the Treasure Principle will testify, “When I give, I feel His pleasure.”
— Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principl
July 20, 2009
Sometimes God calms the storm and sometimes He calms the heart. Both are acts of grace and both should prompt us to praise Him.
— Randy Alcorn, If God is Good
July 13, 2009
When people hear truth spoken graciously, many are drawn to it because of the moral vacuum they feel. Hearts long for truth—even hearts that reject it.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
July 6, 2009
Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man, but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.
— Thomas Carlyle, quoted in Money, Possessions, and Eternity
June 29, 2009
Most people live unprepared for death. But those who are wise will go to a reliable source to investigate what’s on the other side. And if they discover that the choices they make during their brief stay in this world will matter in the world to come, they’ll want to adjust those choices accordingly.
— Randy Alcorn, Heaven
June 8, 2009
“You cannot control me, Nick,” the King whispered to me. “But you can learn to trust me, even when events are too big and your mind is too small. Live each day as if it were your last day there. One of them will be. I’ll be on the other side, waiting for you. And then at last, I will give you Joy unsheathed."
— Randy Alcorn, Edge of Eternity
June 1, 2009
Never underestimate Christ. Sin is not more powerful than God. Don’t imagine there can’t be victory until we get to heaven. God says otherwise. We’re not to wait for victory. We’re to live in it.
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
May 25, 2009
“Jesus said, ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.’ That’s a promise of laughter in Heaven. Jesus also said, ‘leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.’ Can you picture someone leaping for joy without laughing? I think Jesus might have the biggest laugh on the New Earth!”
— Papa to Jake in Tell Me About Heaven by Randy Alcorn
May 18, 2009
How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure.
— Augustine, Confessions
May 11, 2009
If we accurately demonstrate grace and truth, some will be drawn to us and others will be offended by us—just as they were by Jesus. When we offend everybody, it's because we've taken on the truth mantle without grace. When we offend nobody, it's because we've watered down truth in the name of grace.
—Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
May 4, 2009
How many times have we done small acts of kindness on Earth without realizing the effects? How many dishes have been washed and diapers changed and crying children sung to in the middle of the night, when we couldn't see the impact of the love we showed?
God is watching. He is keeping track. In Heaven he'll reward us for our acts of faithfulness to him, right down to every cup of cold water we've given to the needy in his name.
—Randy Alcorn, Heaven
April 27, 2009
There is not one inch in the entire area of our human life about which Christ, who is Sovereign of all, does not cry out, "Mine!"
— Abraham Kuyper, quoted in Heaven
April 20, 2009
God never revoked His plan to entrust the earth's care to us. Romans 8 makes clear that the whole creation fell on our coattails, and, in our resurrection will rise on our coattails—all the more reason that we should care for it.
— Randy Alcorn, "God rejoices in all He has made, and so should we"
April 13, 2009
You've probably heard the old saying: "Nothing is certain but death and taxes." It's cute, but it's only half true. There is such a thing as tax evasion, but there is no death evasion.
Some of us live daily with that awareness. Some of us ignore and deny it. What we call "life" is a minute portion of the life that lies ahead of us, a brief window of opportunity to affect eternity.
— Randy Alcorn, "Death: Signing and Framing Your Life's Portrait"
April 6, 2009
Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.
— C. S. Lewis
It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.
— Matthew Henry
March 30, 2009
If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions, then he is not our Lord. The principle is timeless: There is a powerful relationship between our true spiritual condition and our attitude and actions concerning money and possessions.
— Randy Alcorn, The Law of Rewards
March 23, 2009
When God calls on you to pursue purity, you are not being asked to do what will deprive you of joy. In fact, you are being called on to do what will bring you the greatest joy!
— Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
March 16, 2009 John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived. After he died someone asked his accountant, "How much money did John D. leave?"
The reply was classic: "He left... all of it."
You can't take it with you.
— Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
March 9, 2009
My wife, Nanci, and I have spent some wonderful moments with our family and friends. Sometimes it’s been so good that we’ve said, “It just doesn’t get any better than this.” Have you ever had a great moment when you felt that way?
Well, it does get better than this. Because no matter how good the very best moments of this life have been, the most ordinary moment in Heaven will be far better.
— Randy Alcorn
March 2, 2009
God himself, who is the Author of virtue, shall be our reward. As there is nothing greater or better than God himself, God has promised us himself. God shall be the end of all our desires, who will be seen without end, loved without cloy, and praised without weariness.
— Augustine Quoted in 50 Days of Heaven by Randy Alcorn
February 23, 2009
He who has God and everything has no more than he who has God alone. — C.S. Lewis
Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority.
— John Calvin Quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
February 16, 2009
Suffering is many things, but in the end it is God's invitation to us to trust Him, and to look forward to a place where all suffering will forever be replaced by joy—Heaven.
— Randy Alcorn, "How Could a Good God Allow Evil and Suffering?"
February 9, 2009
It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
— Abraham Lincoln
February 2, 2009
During a British conference on comparative religions, scholars debated what belief, if any, was totally unique to the Christian faith. Incarnation? The gods of other religions appeared in human form. Resurrection? Other religions tell of those returning from the dead. The debate went on until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. The scholars posed the question to him. "That's easy," Lewis replied. "It's grace."
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
January 26, 2009
Those who turn from God to embrace a God-substitute suffer terrible loss. Why? Because they were made to find joy in God, not the substitute. They swap God’s present and future blessing for something they can immediately see, taste, or feel. But that something never satisfies.
Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
January 20, 2009
This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right. Hence, we look forward with joy to newly restored bodies and to living in a newly restored heaven and earth. We can love this world because it is God's, and it will be healed, becoming at last what God intended from the beginning.
— Paul Marshall, quoted in Heaven by Randy Alcorn
It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. — Mother Theresa
January 12, 2009
If the prolife position is correct, the 3,753 abortions occurring every day represent 3,753 human casualties. And though none of these deaths is reported on the evening news (though the same unborn child killed by a bullet would be), each aborted child is just as real and just as valuable as older children. If these unborn are really babies, then America has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.
— Randy Alcorn, Prolife Answers to Prochoice Arguments
January 5, 2009
More children, women and men are held in slavery right now than over the course of the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade. Millions toil in bondage, their work and even their bodies the property of an owner.
More than 2 million children are trapped in forced prostitution.
— International Justice Mission
December 29, 200
As base a thing as money often is, it yet can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor; it can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.
— A. W. Tozer, quoted in The Treasure Principle
December 22, 2008
My favorite Christmas song is "Joy to the World," because as my wife pointed out to me years ago, it's the Christmas song that looks forward to Christ's return and the New Earth. "He rules the world with truth and grace." That's what my heart longs for. "No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found." Christ's redemptive work will restore the earth to what God originally intended. Everything touched by the curse will be renewed and transformed into something great. "Joy to the World"—by the power of the risen Christ, the old world will be transformed into the new!
— Randy Alcorn
December 15, 2008
As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.
— Nate Saint, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
December 8, 2008
How rich we all are who know and love Jesus. We who deserve Hell will forever enjoy Heaven. We'll enjoy the great reunion with loved ones and all who know Jesus. And the best part will be enjoying God's presence and worshipping Him forever. All made possible by the first Christmas, the incarnation that led to redemption.
— Randy Alcorn, Reflections on Christmas 2007
December 1, 2008
Christmas is coming. We live our lives between the first Christmas and the second. We walk on disputed turf, between Eden and the New Earth, not that far from either. The dispute will soon be settled. Christ will forever reign over the universe. And we will reign with him.
— Randy Alcorn, Heaven
November 24, 2008
Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.
— Blaise Pascal
November 17, 2007
Many hear God say, "Do more" and "Do better." But not, "I've done it for you—rest." Yet this is what Jesus meant when He said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden.... Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.... For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
— Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
November 10, 2008
It's increasingly common for Christians to ask one another the tough questions: How is your marriage? Have you been spending time in the Word? How are you doing in terms of sexual purity? Have you been sharing your faith? But how often do we ask, "How much are you giving to the Lord?" or "Have you been robbing God?" or "Are you winning the battle against materialism?"
— Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
November 5, 2008
For the entrance of the greater world is wide and sure, and they who see the straitness and the painfulness from which they have been delivered must wonder exceedingly as they are received into those large rooms with joy and immortality.
— Amy Carmichael, quoted in Heaven by Randy Alcorn
October 20, 2008
In a flash of insight, Finney knew what every child understands about Heaven, that everybody there would be perfect, unblemished, and unscarred. But now he saw that the scars of earth were not pretend or imaginary, but very real, and could only be gone here because Someone Else had chosen to take them on himself. The Carpenter's scars would remain forever. The only one who would appear less than perfect in eternity would be the eternally Perfect One himself.
— Finney's Heaven Homecoming in the novel Deadline by Randy Alcorn
October 13, 2008
When I anticipate my first glimpse of Heaven, I remember the first time I went snorkeling. I saw countless fish of every shape, size, and color. And just when I thought I'd seen the most beautiful fish, along came another even more striking. Etched in my memory is a certain sound—the sound of a gasp going through my rubber snorkel as my eyes were opened to that breathtaking underwater world.
I imagine our first glimpse of Heaven will cause us to similarly gasp in amazement and delight. That first gasp will likely be followed by many more as we continually encounter new sights in that endlessly wonderful place.
— Randy Alcorn, Heaven
October 6, 2008
Why do we not know the country whose citizens we are? Because we have wandered so far away that we have forgotten it. But the Lord Christ, the king of the land, came down to us, and drove forgetfulness from our heart. God took to Himself our flesh so that He might be our way back.
— Augustine, quoted in Heaven
September 29, 2008
We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.
— C. S. Lewis, quoted in The Treasure Principle
September 22, 2008
Success can go to my head, and will unless I remember that it is God who accomplishes the work, that He can continue to do so without my help, and that He will be able to make out with other means whenever He cuts me down to size.
— J. Oswald Sanders, "Peculiar Perils of Leadership"
September 15, 2008
Never put off obedience. The moment of conviction and enlightenment is the moment to act. To procrastinate obedience is to disobey. Trust him enough to begin this life-changing eternity-impacting adventure of giving.
— Randy Alcorn, "Profiles of Christians who Rob God"
September 8, 2008
I need others to help me compensate and concentrate on those things that escape my notice. I need the eyes of others to assist me in identifying and overcoming those blindspots I don't even know I have. I don't know what I don't know—but others can help me understand.
— Bill McCartney, Blind Spots
September 1, 2008
Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart.
— John Wesley, quoted in The Treasure Principle
August 25, 2008
Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell.
— C. T. Studd, missionary to China, India, and Africa
August 18, 2008
The multitudes innumerable began to sing the song for which they had been made, a song that echoed off a trillion planets and reverberated in a quadrillion places in every nook and cranny of the creation's expanse. Audience and orchestra and choir all blended into one great symphony, one grand cantata of rhapsodic melodies and powerful sustaining harmonies. All were participants. Only one was an audience, the Audience of One. The smile of the King's approval swept through the choir like fire across dry wheat fields.
— Randy Alcorn, Safely Home
August 11, 2008
Water is a gift of God. Used properly, it gives life. Out of control, it floods, drowns, and destroys. Fire is a gift of God. Out of control, it brings horrible destruction and death. The greater a thing's potential for good when used rightly, the greater its potential for evil when used wrongly. So it is with money—it has vast potential to be used for either good or evil.
– Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity
August 4, 2008
The church is constantly being tempted to accept this world as her home, and sometimes she has listened to the blandishments of those who would woo her away and use her for their own ends. But if she is wise she will consider that she stands in the valley between the mountain peaks of eternity past and eternity to come. The past is gone forever and the present is passing as swift as the shadow on the sun dial of Ahaz. Even if the earth should continue a million years, not one of us could stay to enjoy it. We do well to think of the long tomorrow.
– A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men, quoted in Money, Possessions and Eternity
July 28, 2008
As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God.
– J. I. Packer, Chapter 1 of Knowing God
July 21, 2008
One of Satan's great lies is that God—and goodness—is joyless and humorless, whereas Satan—and evil—bring pleasure and satisfaction. In fact, it's Satan who's humorless. Sin didn't bring him joy; it forever stripped him of joy. In contrast, envision Jesus with his disciples. If you cannot picture Jesus teasing them and laughing with them, you need to reevaluate your theology of Creation and Incarnation. We need a biblical theology of humor that prepares us for an eternity of celebration, spontaneous laughter, and overflowing joy.
– Randy Alcorn, "Heaven: Home of Laughter"
July 14, 2008
We may be sure that days of adversity, as well as days of prosperity, are full of blessing. The believer does not need to wait until he sees the reason of God's afflictive dealings with him [before] he is satisfied; he knows that all things work together for good to them that love God.
– Hudson Taylor
July 7, 2008
God is an author. The universe itself is his book. Each person is a sentence, paragraph or page. History really is His story. Christ is the Word, the very essence of God, and expression of God. We are created in God's image, and made to be what Tolkien called sub-creators, authors who create and weave together both nonfiction and fiction, marvelous stories on which our imaginations can soar. When we write and read such works, He is pleased.
– Randy Alcorn, Randy Alcorn's Favorite Books
June 30, 2008
Brother, if you have two knees and even if you're stiffened up with arthritis so you can't get on your knees, you can look up in your heart. For prayer isn't getting on your knees—prayer is the elevation of the heart to God. That's all a man needs.
You can pray in a prison, you can pray in an airplane, you can pray in a ship; you can pray anywhere and you can worship God, because it's Himself that we want, Himself.
– A. W. Tozer
June 23, 2008
If we were holy, we'd realize that the strange thing isn't why God would send people to hell. He's infinitely righteous and we're sinners, steeped in rebellion. Send people to hell? No-brainer. Where else would you send them.
The really disturbing question (if we were holy) would be, "How could a holy God send sinful men to heaven?" We ask the wrong questions because we don't grasp the truth. Therefore, we don't grasp the wonders of His grace.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
June 16, 2008
Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw his hand... the rain of His grace is always dropping, the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the wellspring of His love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail.
– Charles Spurgeon, quoted in The Grace and Truth Paradox by Randy Alcorn
June 9 , 2008
Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins. God's love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of love.
– Eric Liddell
June 2 , 2008
People today should only have to look at us to see what Jesus is like. For better or worse, they'll draw conclusions about Christ from what they see in us. If we fail the grace test, we fail to be Christlike. If we fail the truth test, we fail to be Christlike. If we pass both tests, we're like Jesus. A grace-starved, truth-starved world needs Jesus, full of grace and truth. So what does this hungry world see when it looks at us?
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
May 26, 2008
If your treasures are on earth, each day you are moving away from them. If your treasures are in Heaven, each day you are moving toward them. He who spends his life moving away from his treasures has reason to despair. He who spends his life moving toward his treasures has reason to rejoice.
– Randy Alcorn, "Investing in Eternity"
May 19, 2008
Revival comes to people who know they have nothing to offer God, to those who are humbled by how much they have to learn. Revival is slow to come to those who try to think of what they can do for God, to those who feel confident in how much they know.
If we're looking for revival to start, we need look no further than ourselves.
– Nancy Leigh DeMoss, from More Precious Than Silver: 366 Daily Devotional Readings By Joni Eareckson Tada
May 12, 2008
Have we forgotten that all Christ's disciples are committed to using their money and possessions to further the kingdom cause? Have we distanced ourselves so far from the battlefield that our peacetime lifestyles have left us comfortable and complacent, unfit for battle and oblivious to the battle's eternal stakes?
God has called us not to a cruise-ship mentality but a battleship mentality. There's a big difference.
– Randy Alcorn, "Choosing A God-Honoring Lifestyle"
May 5, 2008
Happiness is the attainment that the world is eagerly in search of. But the believer in Christ is its only possessor. He has found it, and found it in Jesus. He has found it in a renunciation of self righteousness, and in a humble reception of Christ.
– Octavius Winslow, True Happiness!
April 28, 2008
Faith has nothing to do with feelings, impressions, outward appearances, nor the probability or improbability of an event. If we try to couple these things with faith, we are no longer resting on the Word of God, because faith is not dependent on them. Faith rests on the pure Word of God alone. And when we take Him at His Word, our hearts are at peace.
– George Mueller
April 21, 2008
If we see God as He really is, and ourselves as we really are, there's only one appropriate response: to worship Him. I once heard someone say, "Only the humble are sane." I have to agree. Humility isn't pretending that we're unworthy because it's the spiritual thing to do; it's recognizing that we're unworthy because it's true.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
April 14, 2008
Some things may be neglected with but little loss to the spiritual life, but to neglect communion with God is to hurt ourselves where we cannot afford it.
– A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous
April 7, 2008
Nineteenth-century British theologian J. C. Ryle said, "I pity the man who never thinks about heaven." We could also say, "I pity the man who never thinks accurately about Heaven." It's our inaccurate thinking, I believe, that causes us to choose to think so little about Heaven.
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
March 31, 2008
When I was young, I was sure of many things; now there are only two things of which I am sure: one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other, that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour. He is well-taught who learns these two lessons.
– John Newton
March 24, 2008
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men...It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Col. 3:23-24).
Is writing included in the "whatever" I do? Yes. And therefore, I do it with all my heart, to the glory of God, as a service to the Lord first and to others second, aware that I must seek to please the Audience of One, whose judgment seat is the only one I'll stand before, and whose opinion of my life is the only one that matters.
– Randy Alcorn
March 18, 2008
As a father who loves his children goes out of his way to help them, God promises that he will always give of himself for us. Why? Because he loves us and wants to show forever his appreciation for our loyalty and service to him in this life. Does that mean we deserve God's grace? Of course not. By definition, God's grace is something we don't deserve. If we deserved it, it wouldn't be grace!
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven for Kids
March 10, 2008
Eighty-six years I have served Him [Christ] and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King, who saved me?
– Polycarp, a leader of the early church in Smyrna, when commanded to curse the name of Jesus Christ and worship Caesar.
Will you show God great in the way you die? Will you say, "To live is Christ and to die is gain"? Will you call this ugly, defeated, torturing enemy sweet names? Will the loss of all your earthly family, friends, and possessions fade at the prospect of seeing and being with Christ?
– John Piper, "By What Death Will You Glorify God?"
March 3, 2008
May we fix our eyes on the eternal Joy purchased for us on the cross of Jesus. No matter what difficulty today or tomorrow may bring, it is overshadowed by what awaits us in the redeemed heavens and earth.
– Randy Alcorn
February 25, 2008
Live in such a way as to hear your Lord say to you one day, "Well done." Get on the right side of the universe's moral system. Honor God by living in sexual purity. If you do, you'll experience his blessing and rewards not only today, tomorrow, and ten years from now, but throughout eternity.
– Randy Alcorn, "Guidelines for Sexual Purity"
February 18, 2008
The person who understands the evil in his own heart is the only person who is useful, fruitful, and solid in his beliefs and obedience. Others only delude themselves and thus upset families, churches, and all other relationships. In their self-pride and judgment of others, they show great inconsistency.
– John Owen
February 11, 2008
When my thirst for joy is satisfied by Christ, sin becomes unattractive. I say no to the passing pleasures of immorality, not because I do not want pleasure, but because I want true pleasure, a greater and lasting pleasure that can be found only in Christ.
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
February 4, 2008
The less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become.
– Hudson Taylor, quoted in The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
January 28, 2008
Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us from this place and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom. Anyone who has been in foreign lands longs to return to his own native land... We regard paradise as our native land.
– Cyprian, quoted in 50 Days of Heaven by Randy Alcorn
January 21, 2008
God is good. But until we understand the truth that He is not safe, that He is not under our control, until we come to grips with the truth of His uncompromising holiness, we will never begin to grasp His amazing grace.
– Randy Alcorn, Is God Safe?
January 14, 2008
We think we own our possessions, but too often they own us. Nothing makes a journey more difficult than a heavy backpack filled with nice but unnecessary things.
Pilgrims travel light.
– Randy Alcorn
January 7, 2008
"Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, 'The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!' At last I replied, 'Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms.'"
– John G. Paton, missionary
Death is merely the doorway to eternal life. The adventure is what comes after death—being in the presence of Christ.
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
January 2 , 2008
I want to be remembered as one of God's grateful errand boys. I want my life and my writing to have said, "It's all about Jesus, not about me."
– Randy Alcorn
December 27 , 2007
"Why does God go to all the trouble to dirty his hands, as it were, with our decaying, sin-stained flesh, in order to reestablish it as a resurrection body and clothe it with immortality? . . . Because his Son paid the price of death so that the Father's purpose for the material universe would be fulfilled, namely, that he would be glorified in it, including in our bodies forever and ever."
– John Piper, quoted in Heaven by Randy Alcorn
December 17, 2007
"If I could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: 'God with us.'We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than the baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth."
– John F. MacArthur, Jr.
December 10, 2007
"It's an indisputable scientific fact that each and every surgical abortion in America stops a beating heart and stops already measurable brain waves. What do we call it when a person no longer has a heartbeat or brain waves? Death. What should we call it when there is a heartbeat and there are brain waves? Life. Every abortion ends a human life."
– Randy Alcorn, Why Prolife?
December 3 , 2007
"Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
November 26, 2007
"Hope is the light at the end of life's tunnel. It not only makes the tunnel endurable, it fills the heart with anticipation of the world into which we will one day emerge. Not just a better world, but a new and perfect world. A world alive, fresh, beautiful, devoid of pain and suffering and war, a world without disease, without accident, without tragedy. A world without dictators and madmen. A world ruled by the only one worthy of ruling."
– Randy Alcorn, The Gift of Hope
November 19 , 2007
"Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead."
– Charles Spurgeon, On the Subject of God
November 12 , 2007
"We do not fall into immorality. We walk into it. Indeed, sometimes we run headlong into it. We must realize from the beginning that immorality is a choice. It is not something that happens to people. It is something that people make happen."
– Randy Alcorn, The Sexual Temptation Booklet
November 5, 2007
"We are never grateful for what we think we deserve. On the contrary, we gripe and complain and think God and others are unfair if it doesn't come to us. Thank God we DON'T get what we deserve. There's a four letter word for it: Hell. Christ took upon Himself what He didn't deserve, so that I would not have to get what I deserved."
– Randy Alcorn, from his blog post The Blessing of Gratitude, the Curse of Complaining
October 29, 2007
"The King looked instead at one man in one prison far away, yet not so far that he could not reach him. He opened toward him his swordless and wounded right hand. 'I await you, loyal servant. In my presence is fullness of joy. At my right hand are pleasures forever more. I am the happiness you have always hungered for, the pleasure you have thirsted after, the peace you have sought in long shadowy nights. The darkness is nearly done. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.'"
– Randy Alcorn, Safely Home
October 22, 2007
"The man of true faith may live in the absolute assurance that his steps are ordered by the Lord. For him, misfortune is outside the bounds of possibility. He cannot be torn from this earth one hour ahead of the time which God has appointed, and he cannot be detained on earth one moment after God is done with him here. He is not a waif of the wide world, a foundling of time and space, but a saint of the Lord and the darling of His particular care."
– A. W. Tozer, Trials and Pain: Ordered by the Lord
October 15, 2007
"The Christian life is not based on avoiding the truth but on hearing and submitting to it. The greatest kindness we can offer each other is the truth."
"Ephesians 4:15 tells us to speak the truth in love, not to withhold the truth in love. Our job is not simply to help each other feel good, but to help each other be good."
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
October 8, 2007
"Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind."
– C. S. Lewis
October 8, 2007
"At death we put the signature to our life's portrait."
– Randy Alcorn, Law of Rewards
October 1 , 2007
"Satan need not convince us that Heaven doesn't exist. He need only convince us that Heaven is a place of boring, unearthly existence."
"Sin doesn't make life interesting; it makes life empty. Sin doesn't create adventure; it blunts it. Sin doesn't expand life; it shrinks it. Sin's emptiness inevitably leads to boredom. When there's fulfillment, when there's beauty, when we see God as he truly is-an endless reservoir of fascination-boredom becomes impossible."
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
September 24, 2007
"Character is what you are in the dark when no one but God is watching. Anyone can look good in front of an audience, or even in front of their friends. It's an entirely different thing to stand naked before God, to be known as you truly are on the inside."
Randy Alcorn, from the article "O.J. Simpson: What Can We Learn?"
"Your reputation is learned in an hour, your character does not come to light for a year."
– William Hershey Davis
September 17, 2007
"God will take you at your word; if you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with."
– G. D. Watson, "Others May, You Cannot"
September 10, 2007
"Soon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don't believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before." "Earth recedes. . . . Heaven opens before me!"
– D. L. Moody (on his deathbed), quoted in Heaven by Randy Alcorn
September 5, 2007
Financial planners tell us, "When it comes to you money, don't think just three months or three years ahead. Think thirty years ahead." Christ, the ultimate investment counselor, takes it further. He says, "Don't ask how your investment will be paying off in just thirty years. Ask how it will be paying off in thirty million years."
– Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
August 27, 2007
"The Enemy calls them to delayed gratification. We call them to instant gratification. Their bodies and their culture cast the deciding vote: instant oatmeal, instant bank deposits, instant entertainment and instant gratification. They grow up having their wants pandered to. They're taught to sacrifice the future on the altar of the present."
– Prince Ishbane, The Ishbane Conspiracy
August 20, 2007
"Repentance means not just turning from impurity, but keeping ourselves from where we'll have to turn." "If we would rehearse in advance the devastating consequences of immorality, we would be far less prone to commit it."
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
August 13 , 2007
"If a man have Christ in his heart, heaven before his eyes, and only as much of temporal blessing as is just needful to carry him safely through life, then pain and sorrow have little to shoot at."
– William Burns, quoted in Money, Possessions & Eternity by Randy Alcorn
August 6 , 2007
"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading." Oswald Chambers
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."
– Corrie ten Boom
July 30, 2007
"When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord."
– Charles Haddon Spurgeon
July 23, 2007
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing."
– C. S. Lewis, In Light of Eternity by Randy Alcorn
July 16, 2007
"Think of the stories Jesus will tell us: about creating the world and distant galaxies, what the universe is like a billion light years away, about making the first dinosaur, becoming an unborn baby, growing up, and healing people. Wouldn't you like to spend an evening with Jesus? A year? Well, He says we can live with Him forever! That's really exciting to me, because Jesus is my Savior, and He's also my best friend."
– Papa to Jake, Tell Me About Heaven by Randy Alcorn
July 9, 2007
"He who provides for this life but takes not care for eternity is wise for a moment but a fool forever."
– John Tillotson, cited in The Law of Rewards by Randy Alcorn
"It is my happiness that I have served Him who never fails to reward His servants to the full extent of His promise."
– John Calvin, cited in The Law of Rewards by Randy Alcorn
July 2, 2007
"Let no one apologize for the powerful emphasis Christianity lays upon the doctrine of the world to come. Right there lies its immense superiority to everything else within the whole sphere of human thought or experience.… We do well to think of the long tomorrow."
– A. W. Tozer, cited in In Light of Eternity by Randy Alcorn
June 25, 2007
"Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other single thing because, when it comes to a man's real nature, money is of first importance. Money is an exact index to a man's true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man's character and how he handles his money."
–Richard Halverson, cited in Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
June 18, 2007
"Dr. Martin Luther King said, 'If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, Here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well.'"
– Li Quan, Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
June 11, 2007
"Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look at its opposite."
– A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God as quoted in The Ishbane Conspiracy
June 04, 2007
"The safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
– C. S. Lewis, quoted in Lord Foulgrin's Letters
May 28, 2007
"The apparent conflict that exists between grace and truth isn't because they're incompatible, but because we lack perspective to resolve their paradox. The two are interdependent. We should never approach truth except in a spirit of grace, or grace except in a spirit of truth"
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace & Truth Paradox
May 21, 2007
"Giving jump-starts our relationship with God. It opens our fists so we can receive what God has for us. When we see what it does for others and for us, we open our fists sooner and wider when the next chance comes."
– Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
May 14, 2007
"Tomorrow's character is built on today's thoughts. Temptation may come suddenly, but sin doesn't. Neither does moral and spiritual fiber. Both result from a process over which we do have control."
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
May 7, 2007
"A holy God made the universe in such a way that actions true to His character, and the laws derived from His character, are always rewarded. Actions that violate His character, however, are always punished. He rewards every act of justice; He punishes every act of injustice."
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
May 01, 2007
"Home as a term for Heaven isn't simply a metaphor. It describes an actual, physical place—a place promised and built by our bridegroom; a place we'll share with loved ones; a place of fond familiarity and comfort and refuge; a place of marvelous smells and tastes, fine food, and great conversation; a place of contemplation and interaction and expressing the gifts and passions that God has given us."
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
April 22, 2007
"Why do we love the great stories? Because they are pictures of the greatest story. There hasn't ever been a story yet with people living happily ever after, since people die. But one story will come out that way. It's a true story. And you and I are part of it."
– Randy Alcorn - How Will the Earth Be Redeemed?
April 16, 2007
"Here, today, the Truth can set us free. But once this life is over, so too is our opportunity to choose the role Truth will play in us. If we have not allowed Truth to be our Liberator in this life, then we leave nothing for Truth but to be our Judge in the next."
– Randy Alcorn
March 26, 2007
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
– Abraham Lincoln - Speech to the 14th Indiana Regiment, 1865
March 19, 2007
"If we believe God's word, we are bound to believe that prayer affects God, and affects Him mightily; that prayer avails, and that prayer avails mightily. There are wonders in prayer because there are wonders in God. Prayer has no talismanic influence. It is no mere fetish. It has no so-called powers of magic. It is simply making known our requests to God for things agreeable to His will in the name of Christ. It is just yielding our requests to a Father, who knows all things, who has control of all things, and who is able to do all things. Prayer is infinite ignorance trusting to the wisdom of God. Prayer is the voice of need crying out to Him who is inexhaustible in resources. Prayer is helplessness reposing with childlike confidence on the word of its Father in heaven. Prayer is but the verbal expression of the heart of perfect confidence in the infinite wisdom, the power and the riches of Almighty God, who has placed at our command in prayer everything we need."
– E. M. Bounds
March 12, 2007
"I am God's errand boy. I have no illusions that I can accomplish anything of value apart from Christ. My desire is to be used of God to help people learn to see the invisible, to gain an eternal perspective and to live each day with heaven in mind."
– Response from Randy Alcorn, when asked by his publisher, "What is one thing you would especially like people to know about you?"
March 5, 2007
"I acknowledge my constant companion through long and sometimes lonely hours spent on this book. He is persecuted when any one of his followers is persecuted. He takes personally every act of dishonor as well as every act of kindness done to his disciples. Thank you, King Jesus, for your loyalty to us and to every one of our suffering brothers and sisters. Thank you for promising a kingdom where righteousness will reign and joy will be the air we breathe. May that kingdom come quickly—and until it does, may you find us faithful."
– Excerpt from the acknowledgments of Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
February 25, 2007
"Death isn't a hole; it's a doorway. It's not the end of life; it's a transition to new life. The best isn't behind us if we know Jesus. The best is still ahead."
– Randy Alcorn
"Christianity proposes not to extinguish our natural desires. It promises to bring the desires under just control and direct them to their true object."
– William Wilberforce
February 22, 2007
"Africa, your sufferings have been the theme that has arrested and engaged my heart... Your sufferings no tongue can express, no language impart."
– William Wilberforce, Speech on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, April 2, 1792
February 05, 2007
"Mark Twain claimed it was heaven for atmosphere but hell for company."
"Meaning what?" Clarence asked, in a voice that makes Darth Vader sound like he's in the Vienna Boys Choir.
"Meaning that heaven might keep your feet from the fire, but you'll have more fun with your buddies in hell."
"You think anyone will have fun in hell? It's God who made fun. He invented laughter. God has a sense of humor. The devil doesn't."
– Randy Alcorn, Deception
(exchange between detective, Ollie Chandler, and journalist, Clarence Abernathy)
January 29, 2007
"The abortion issue isn't about the church needing to speak to the world. It's about the church needing to speak to itself first, and then to the world."
– Randy Alcorn, Why ProLife?
January 22, 2007
"Prochoice advocates once commonly stated, "It's uncertain when human life begins; that's a religious question that cannot be answered by science." Most have abandoned this position because it's contradicted by decades of scientific evidence. However, this out-of-date belief is so deeply engrained in our national psyche that it's still widely believed."
– Randy Alcorn, Why ProLife?
January 15, 2007
"If the prolife position is correct, the 3,753 abortions occurring every day in America are human casualties, more than all lives lost in the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Centers."
– Randy Alcorn, Why ProLife?
January 1, 2007
"There won't be churches or temples in the new universe, not because they're bad, but because they won't be necessary. We won't need to be drawn into God's presence. We'll live there, constantly and consciously."
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
December 25, 2006
"To see God will be our greatest joy. Not only will we see his face and live—we will likely wonder if we ever lived before we saw his face!"
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
December 18, 2006
"Don't underestimate God's plan and Christ's redemptive work. He created us, our bodies, and the earth. And he hasn't given up on us, our bodies, or the earth. He's committed to repairing them... permanently."
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
December 11, 2006
"We do not long for a non-body, non-Earth and non-culture, but for a new body, New Earth, and new culture, without sin and death. This is all part of longing for the resurrection of the dead, which is at the heart and soul of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15)."
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
December 04, 2006
"The Lord's prayer, prayed countless millions of times over the centuries, will be dramatically answered: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
November 27, 2006
Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
– Jerry Bridges, The Disciplines of Grace, Navpress, 1994
November 20, 2006
This week, may your heart overflow with thanksgiving to our kind and gracious God:
You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
Psalm 31:11-12
– Randy Alcorn
October 29, 2006
When Jesus speaks of moths and rust and thieves taking our earthly treasures, he is saying in effect: "You can't take it with you." But then he adds something breathtaking, something revolutionary, a brand-new corollary to the old adage: "You can't take it with you, but... you can send it on ahead."
– Randy Alcorn, Law of Rewards
October 22, 2006
Despite prevailing opinions to the contrary, the prospect of rewards is a proper motivation for the Christian's obedience—including the generous sharing of our money and possessions. If we maintain that it's wrong to be motivated by rewards, we bring a serious accusation against Christ. We imply he is tempting us to sin every time he offers rewards for obedience! When he offered us treasures for ourselves in heaven, was he tempting us toward sin? If rewards are a wrong motive, then he was luring us to do wrong. This is unthinkable. Since God does not tempt his children, it's clear that whatever he lays before us as a motivation is legitimate. It's not wrong for us to be motivated by the prospect of reward. Indeed, something is seriously wrong if we are not motivated by the promise of reward made by our God.
– Randy Alcorn, Law of Rewards
October 09, 2006
To be a biblical Christian, I must not simply affirm the inspiration of God's Word (that is necessary, but not sufficient). I must consciously critique everything else in light of Scripture (otherwise all else will unconsciously conform my mind to the world, the flesh and the devil). I must make a conscious effort to evaluate all my beliefs and my lifestyle preferences in the light of God's Word.
– Randy Alcorn
August 28, 2006
Many, I fear, would like glory, who have no wish for grace. They would [want to] have the wages, but not the work; the harvest, but not the labor; the reaping, but not the sowing; the reward, but not the battle. But it may not be.
– J. C. Ryle, Holiness
August 21, 2006
Shall we beat a retreat, and turn back from our high calling in Christ Jesus, or dare we advance at God's command in the face of the impossible?...Let us remind ourselves that the Great Commission was never qualified by clauses calling for advance only if funds were plentiful and no hardship or self-denial was involved. On the contrary, we are told to expect tribulation and even persecution, but with it victory in Christ.
– Statement from speech given to Moody Class of 1932 by John Stam, missionary martyr in China, December 1934
August 14, 2006
The gnawing emptiness she's feeling affords you understandable pleasure. But the Enemy draws her attention to her emptiness in order to fill it Himself. You must bombard her life with so much noise that she cannot hear the Enemy's still small voice.
When the Enemy or that flunky Jaltor whispers to her about her deepest needs, prompt her to open the refrigerator. Or turn up the radio. Turn on the television. Pick up the phone. Let her do anything besides examine her life, her emptiness, and her mortality.
I was delighted to hear that the suicidal thoughts you instilled in one of our youths has evolved into an actual plan. You can use this not just to ruin one life, but others. They're already headed to hell in a hand basket. All you have to do is keep them from falling out.
– Excerpt from The Ishbane Conspiracy (Prince Ishbane speaking) by Randy Alcorn
August 7, 2006
"The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, [laziness], and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like one traveling in an easy carriage...If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must 'fight.'"
– J. C. Ryle, Holiness
"No one who considers a preborn child a full-fledged person can rationally defend abortion's legality, unless they also defend legalizing the killing of other human beings."
– Excerpt from Randy Alcorn's book, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments
July 31, 2006
"When thou prayest, rather thy heart should be without words than thy words without heart."
– John Bunyan
"All the retaining walls of my mind—carefully constructed to deny the supernatural, to explain away the miraculous—fell to the ground like shacks in a hurricane. Much of what I'd seen in Thuros had beaten upon those walls, but only now did they collapse in ruins. I knew then, in the face of the Woodsman's return from the abyss, that the course of my journey had been charted by an unseen hand, which had led me not just to this world, but to this moment. Yet I felt not only awe, but terror."
– Excerpt from Randy Alcorn's book, Edge of Eternity
July 24, 2006
"This struggle against the sin in our heart is precious because by it we learn what a great price the Lord Jesus has paid. It is in this struggle that we will learn to trust Him and to distrust ourselves, to hate sin and love holiness, to cultivate humility and to long for heaven. And in the midst of it all, we'll learn the joy of obedience and the happiness that is found only in loving God."
– Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart
"'Cosmos-Maker, you who live beyond the realm where stars are born and quasars sing and the great Wind blows the silent stars in the vast explosion of your creation.' He paused, then sang. 'Architect of the cosmos, Builder of worlds; you became Road-Hiker, then Tree-Walker, making the road red with your heart. You are the Crosser of the Chasm.'"
– Excerpt from Randy Alcorn's book, Edge of Eternity
July 17, 2006
"When you speak of Heaven, let your face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of Hell—well, then your ordinary face will do."
– Charles Spurgeon
"He looked again at the fair fabric of Elyon's creation, this delicate living being. In another nine months she would be born, and in the Shadowlands they would say she had become. But she already was, before anyone on earth knew of the pregnancy. Finney had been there to behold her becoming."
– Excerpt from Randy Alcorn's book, Deadline
July 10, 2006
"Children of religious parents...often grow up professing a religion without knowing why, or without ever having thought seriously about it. And then when the realities of grown-up life begin to press upon them, they often astound everyone by dropping all their religion, and plunging right into the world. And why? They had never thoroughly understood the sacrifices which Christianity entails. They had never been taught to 'count the cost.'"
– J. C. Ryle, Holiness
"In eternity, past sins and sufferings won't plague us, nor interfere with God's acceptance of us. We won't dwell on them. Likewise, we'll be capable of choosing not to recall our past troubles and sorrows in any way that would diminish heaven."
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
June 25, 2006
"Though mortification must be done by the strength and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, it is nevertheless a work which we must do. Without the Holy Spirit's strength there will be no mortification, but without our working in His strength there will also be no mortification."
– Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness
"No one who considers a preborn child a full-fledged person can rationally defend abortion's legality, unless they also defend legalizing the killing of other human beings."
– Randy Alcorn, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments
June 18, 2006
"The abortion issue isn't about the church needing to speak to the world. It's about the church needing to speak to itself first, and then to the world."
– Randy Alcorn, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments
"I want to go to Charis, I can tell you that much." Even as I said it, the words struck me, almost as if I'd finally said what I knew deep in my heart. "If the red road will take me there, it's the red road I want. As for the chasm, I'm still not convinced there is one. And if there is, why would I want to go there?"
– Randy Alcorn, excerpt from Edge of Eternity
June 11, 2006
"The primary objective of our quiet time should be fellowship with God—developing a personal relationship with Him and growing in our devotion to Him...I like to think of the quiet time as a conversation: God speaking to me through the Bible and I responding to what He says."
– Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Holiness
"But beware—novels can stimulate imagination, foster thought and self-evaluation. This is never to our advantage. That's why television—or an innocuous piece of nonfiction—is nearly always to be preferred over a novel. When they're reading, the danger is, they may pause and reflect, consider changing their direction. Movies and television are usually nonreflective, undermining their values at the subconscious level, with minimal thought and self-examination. They do their work so well you hardly have to do anything."
At your death, the autobiography you've written with the pen of faith and the ink of works will go into eternity unedited, to be seen and read as is by the angels, by the redeemed, and by God himself.
– Randy Alcorn, excerpt from Lord Foulgrin's Letters
June 04, 2006
"If we are to make any progress in the pursuit of holiness, we must assume our responsibility to discipline or train ourselves. But we are to do all this in total dependence on the Holy Spirit to work in us and strengthen us with the strength that is in Christ."
– Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness
"Your death will be like the final buzzer at a basketball game. No shots taken thereafter will count. If you've failed to use your use your money and possessions and time and talent and energies for eternity—then you've failed, period.
At your death, the autobiography you've written with the pen of faith and the ink of works will go into eternity unedited, to be seen and read as is by the angels, by the redeemed, and by God himself.
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
May 29, 2006
"The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, aught yet to make it their business all their days to [put to death] the indwelling power of sin."
– John Owen, The Works of John Owen
Foulgrin's rule number one: keep them in the dark. The central question is always this—how can we exact revenge on the Enemy? It was he who evicted us from our rightful dwelling, he who chose the sludgebags over us. He made ours a government in exile, driving us out to the hinterlands of the spirit realm, where we have no place to call our own until we colonize Skiathorus.
– Randy Alcorn, excerpt from Lord Foulgrin's Letters
May 22, 2006
"The Christian's instincts of trust and worship are stimulated very powerfully by knowledge of the greatness of God."
– J. I. Packer, Knowing God
"If you wonder if there's anything you've done that God could possibly reward, be encouraged by 1 Corinthians 4:5 which talks of the judgment when 'each will receive his praise from God.' He will find something to reward you for. Will you seek to do more rewardable works for him?"
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
May 15, 2006
"Having convictions can be defined as being so thoroughly convinced that Christ and his Word are both objectively true and relationally meaningful that you act on your beliefs regardless of the consequences."
– Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler Beyond Belief to Convictions
"In eternity, past sins and sufferings won't plague us, nor interfere with God's acceptance of us. We won't dwell on them. Likewise, we'll be capable of choosing not to recall our past troubles and sorrows in any way that would diminish heaven."
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
May 8, 2006
"True worship is deadly dangerous. Having once worshipped the Enemy ourselves—the foul smell still plagues me—we can recall what worship did to us. It's entrapping, intoxicating. It grabs hold of them, changes them, reorients them toward the Enemy."
– Randy Alcorn, excerpt from Lord Foulgrin's Letters
"When I think of friendships without Christ, it saddens me to realize they're like old clocks, winding down with each tick, destined to ultimately stop, the mainspring forever broken, never to be wound up again. My relationship with Jerry wasn't like that. His death wasn't an end to our friendship. It was only an interruption."
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
May 1, 2006
"We must seek, in studying God, to be led to God."
– J. I. Packer, Knowing God
"Scripture makes clear that the one central business of this life is to prepare for the next."
– Randy Alcorn, In Light of Eternity
April 24, 2006
"A conviction is a determinative belief: something you believe so strongly that it affects the way you live."
– Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace
"In moments of strength, make decisions that will prevent temptation in moments of weakness."
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
April 17, 2006
No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God's Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.
– Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
"Never underestimate Christ. Sin is not more powerful than God. Don't imagine there can't be victory until we get to heaven. God says otherwise. We're not to wait for victory. We're to live in it. (see I John 5:4)"
– Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle
April 10, 2006
It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout well done to the Christian man.
– Charles Spurgeon
April 03, 2006
God has given us the spiritual disciplines as a means of receiving His grace and growing in godliness. By them we place ourselves before God for Him to work in us. — Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually. It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God.
– Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
March 27, 2006
Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually. It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God.
– Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness
March 20, 2006
"The most crucial battle in our lives is the continuing one of securing enough time alone in the presence of God. Our spiritual vigor and vitality in everything else depend on the outcome of this battle."
– Paul Little
"The thing I know will give me the deepest joy—namely, to be alone and unhurried in the presence of God, aware of His presence, my heart open to worship Him—is often the thing I least want to do."
– John Stott
March 13, 2006
"It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout well done to the Christian man."
– Charles Spurgeon
March 6, 2006
"Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you must pass through the fire. Fear not, but rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be weaned from earth and will qualify to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light: you will be delivered from clinging to the present and made to long for those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you."
– Charles Spurgeon
February 27, 2006
Here is a book, the Bible, worth more than all others that were ever printed. Yet it is my misfortune never to have found time to read it.
– Patrick Henry
There is no book in the world whose words will yield such treasures of truth, such spiritual richness, such rivers of refreshing water, such strengthening of the soul as the words with which the Holy Spirit has inspired the authors of the books of our Bible.
– Wilber Smith
February 20, 2006
I have got a child now that I wasn't planning to have, and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that....I still don't know if, or what, I am going to tell Jayde when the time comes.
– Stacy Dow, of Perth, Scotland, who is suing a hospital for £250,000 because her daughter, now 4, was not aborted along with her twin.
February 13, 2006
God created you with your unique abilities, and He does want to use them. But He's far more interested in you knowing Him than He is in you knowing your abilities. The world tells us to affirm self, but God tells us to deny self. Your identity and self-worth aren't found in your abilities, but in your relationship with God.
– Henry & Mel Blackaby, What's So Spiritual About Your Gifts
January 29 & February 6, 2006
When their mother asked Jesus for her sons to be seated at his side, Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking... Can you drink the cup I am about to drink?"
I like to think of my brother Jim as having drunk that cup at an early age, like James. James was decapitated as one of the first martyrs. Jim wrote in his journal shortly before his death, "In Thee lives the spirit of the great short-lived One. Art thou sufficient for this, oh my soul?"
I think that it's not the length of one's life; it's the consecration of that life. You can drink that cup by dying, like my brother, at an early age, or you can drink that cup day by day, year by year, as I have done.
– Bert Elliot, Jim Elliot's brother (Bert & Colleen Elliot have been missionaries in Peru for the past 56 years.)
January 22, 2006
"Heaven awaits all of us who love Him. None of us know the timing—I might arrive there first and welcome you. But we do know our God is in charge and numbers our days. And 'there will be no more death or crying or pain.' How glorious. The best is yet to be. We are not past our prime...we are headed toward it.
Our Father will lovingly oversee the eternity of great adventures awaiting us in Heaven and, in the resurrection, on the New Earth."
– Randy Alcorn
January 15, 2006
"In truth thou canst not read the Scriptures too much; and what thou readest, thou canst not read too well; and what thou readest well, thou canst not too well understand; and what thou understandest well, thou canst not too well teach; and what thou teachest well, thou canst not too well live."
– Martin Luther
January 8, 2006
"O you souls who wish to go on with so much safety and consolation, if you knew how pleasing to God is suffering, and how much it helps in acquiring other good things, you would never seek consolation in anything; but you would rather look upon it as a great happiness to bear the Cross of the Lord."
– St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul
January 1, 2006
"A closed mouth before God and silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first listened."
– A. W. Tozer
December 26, 2005
"When we are tempted, let's be motivated not only by our love for God, and our desire to see God glorified. (Lofty as those are, sometimes they seem insufficient to motivate us.) Let's also be motivated by our desire for life rather than death, and gain rather than loss. Let's be motivated by our desire to live smart rather than to live stupid. Let's realize that the passing cost of discipleship, real though it be, pales in comparison to the lasting cost of non-discipleship."
– Randy Alcorn
December 19, 2005
"I have thought that I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning from God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen. I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven—how to land save on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri [a man of one book]."
– John Wesley
December 12, 2005
A steward manages assets for the owner's benefit. The steward carries no sense of entitlement to the assets he manages. It's his job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will.
– Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
December 5, 2005
Another pitfall we need to watch for is the tendency to trust in God's instruments of provision rather than God Himself. In the usual course of events in our lives, God provides for our needs through human means rather than directly...But these human instruments are ultimately under the controlling hand of God. They succeed or prosper only to the extent God prospers them. We must be careful to look beyond the means and human instrumentalities to the God who uses them.
– Jerry Bridges, Trusting God
November 28, 2005
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.
– Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
A sin...consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.
– J. C. Ryle, Holiness
November 21, 2005
Tom Landry, coach of the Dallas Cowboys football team for almost three decades, said, "The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be." In much the same way, Christians are called to make themselves do something they would not naturally do—pursue the Spiritual Disciplines—in order to become what they've always wanted to be, that is, like Jesus Christ.
– Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
November 14, 2005
Theological illiteracy and unbelief have dramatically increased among evangelical Christians in the past three decades. Churches are in desperate need of a fresh infusion of truth, a vigorous teaching of biblical doctrine. Without it, we and our children will have nothing to offer this truth-deprived world.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
November 7, 2005
When you are near death as I am, you will know that all the different states of life, whether of youth or age, riches or poverty, greatness or smallness, signify no more to you than whether you die in a poor or stately apartment. The greatness of the things which follow death (heaven or hell) , makes all that goes before it slip into nothing...What a strange thing! That a little health or the poor business of a shop, should keep us so senseless of these great things that are coming so fast upon us!
– George Whitefield, 1838
October 31, 2005
When we are tempted, let's be motivated not only by our love for God, and our desire to see God glorified. (Lofty as those are, sometimes they seem insufficient to motivate us.) Let's also be motivated by our desire for life rather than death, and gain rather than loss. Let's be motivated by our desire to live smart rather than to live stupid. Let's realize that the passing cost of discipleship, real though it be, pales in comparison to the lasting cost of non-discipleship.
– Randy Alcorn
October 24, 2005
The Loving Presence does not burden us equally with all things, but considerately puts upon each of us just a few central tasks, as emphatic responsibilities...I wish I might emphasize how a life becomes simplified when dominated by faithfulness to a few concerns.
– Thomas Kelly
October 17, 2005
Our God is a God of justice and surprises. Faithful, yet not predictable other than the fact that He is true to Himself and His Word and His people.
The greatest surprise is also the greatest certainty: His grace. So I do not doubt for a moment I will be in Heaven. For it is dependent on Him, not on me. If on me, I would have no doubt either—because I know Hell would await me. I thank Him for His assurance that what He has done for me is far greater even than what I have done against Him (and that is far greater than I grasp).
– Randy Alcorn
October 10, 2005
If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest in it and grasp of it.
– J. I. Packer, Knowing God
October 3, 2005
Biblical truths are guardrails that protect us from plunging off the cliff. A smart traveler doesn't curse the guardrails. He doesn't whine, "That guardrail dented my fender!" He looks over the cliff, sees demolished autos below, and is grateful for the guardrails.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
September 26, 2005
Today merely "believing" isn't enough. Not because believing isn't important; it is. But...in today's culture believing is made out to be more of a preference based on one's subjective feelings at the moment. And that kind of believing isn't enough. [We] need a deeply held belief in God and his Word. A belief that will root and ground [us] in the faith so that no matter what tests or trials or storms of life come [our] way, [we] will stand strong.
– Josh McDowell
September 19, 2005
Our actions flow out of our values, which arise from our beliefs.
– Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler, Beyond Belief to Convictions
September 12, 2005
The difference between God's being and ours is more than the difference between the sun and a candle, more than the difference between the ocean and a raindrop, more than the difference between the universe and the room we are sitting in.
– Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
September 05, 2005
We are never thankful for what we think we deserve. We are deeply thankful for what we know we don't deserve.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace & Truth Paradox
August 29, 2005
At every state of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is our greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.
– John Stott, The Practice of Godliness
August 22, 2005
The promises of God toward the truly humble are almost breathtaking. The infinitely high and lofty One who lives forever promises to dwell with them, to esteem them, to give them grace, to lift them up, and to exalt them...Humility opens the way to all other godly character traits. It is the soil in which the other traits of the fruit of the Spirit grow.
– Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness
August 15, 2005
Consider the wonder of it: God determined that he would rather go to Hell on our behalf than live in Heaven without us. He so much wants us not to go to Hell that he paid a horrible price on the cross so that we wouldn't have to.
– Randy Alcorn, Heaven
August 8, 2005
The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night...For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.
– John Piper, A Hunger for God
August 1, 2005
The subtle influence of that mighty enemy [the world] must be daily resisted, and without a daily battle can never be overcome.
– Jerry Bridges, Holiness
July 25, 2005
...we need to be watchful in the little things of everyday life, the little issues that seem so unimportant—the little lie, the little bit of pride, the little lustful glance, or the little bit of gossip...the truth is, it is in the minutiae of life where most of us live day after day. We seldom have to say no to an outright temptation to adultery. We often have to say no to the temptation to the lustful look or thought. And as some unknown person has said, "He that despises little things shall fall little by little."
– Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace
July 18, 2005
If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation for the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.
– John Piper, A Hunger for God
July 11, 2005
The world...is characterized by the subtle and relentless pressure it brings to bear upon us to conform to its values and practices. It creeps up on us little by little. What was once unthinkable becomes thinkable, then doable, and finally acceptable to society at large. Sin becomes respectable, and so Christians finally embrace it. It is my perception that Christians are no more than five to ten years behind the world in embracing most sinful practices.
– Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace
July 4, 2005
If only we could see our situation clearly—even for a moment. We deserve expulsion; He gives us a diploma. We deserve the electric chair; He gives us a parade. Anything less than overwhelming gratitude should be unthinkable. He owes us nothing. We owe Him everything.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
June 27, 2005
Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity. In fact, it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are, the greater we realize God's grace is.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
June 20, 2005
It is not my aim to introduce doubts and fears into your mind; no, but I do hope self-examination may help to drive them away. It is not security, but false security, which we would kill; not confidence, but false confidence, which we would overthrow; not peace, but false peace, which we would destroy.
– Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
June 13, 2005
Outwardly both true and false Christians may do the same things and enjoy the same privileges. But now enter into their secret prayers and thoughts and what a difference there is!
– John Owen, Communion With God
June 6, 2005
If we get it wrong about Jesus, it doesn't matter what else we get right.
– Randy Alcorn, The Grace and Truth Paradox
May 30, 2005
You cannot enter the kingdom of God on the credit of your parents' religion. You must eat the bread of life for yourself, and have the witness of the Spirit in your own heart. You must have repentance of your own, faith of your own, and sanctification of your own.
– J. C. Ryle, Holiness
May 23, 2005
"Prayer does not equip us for the greater work, Prayer is the greater work."
– Oswald Chambers
May 16, 2005
"God wants worshippers before workers; indeed, the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the art of worship."
– J. I. Packer
May 9, 2005
"That which is for God's glory is also always for our good."
– Randy Alcorn
May 2, 2005
"One day all Christians will join in a doxology and sing God's praises with perfection. But even today, individually and corporately, we are not only to sing the doxology, but to be the doxology."
– Francis Schaeffer
April 25, 2005
"Jesus has forced open a door that had been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because he has done so."
– C. S. Lewis
April 18, 2005
I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less that God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens-that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their course. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebush is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence-the fall of...leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.
– Charles H. Spurgeon
April 11, 2005
"There is no way that we by ourselves can generate sanctification. Our sanctification is Christ. There is no way we can be good. Our goodness is Christ. There is no way we can be holy. Our holiness is Christ."
– A. W. Pink
April 4, 2005
"When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart."
– John Bunyan
March 28, 2005
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times."
– Martin Luther
March 21, 2005
"God works in us and with us, not against us or without us."
– John Owen on "Holiness"
March 14, 2005
"The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. God's one aim is the production of saints."
– Oswald Chambers
March 7, 2005
"God wants worshippers before workers; indeed, the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the art of worship."
–J. I. Packer
February 28, 2005
Three of Randy Alcorn's favorite quotes:
"I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."
– John Wesley
"Only one life, it'll soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last."
– C. T. Studd
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
– Jim Elliot
February 21, 2005
"God is more concerned with the state of people's hearts than with the state of their feelings. Undoubtedly the will of God brings final happiness to those who obey, but the most important matter is not how happy we are but how holy."
– A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men, pp. 48-49
February 14, 2005
"To fight against sin is to fight against the devil, the world and oneself. The fight against oneself is the worst fight of all."
– Martin Luther
February 7, 2005
"The grandest fact under heaven is this — that Christ by his precious blood does actually put away sin, and that God, for Christ's sake, dealing with men on terms of divine mercy, forgives the guilty and justifies them, not according to anything that he sees in them or foresees will be in them, but according to the riches of his mercy which lie in his own heart."
– Charles H. Spurgeon
January 31, 2005
"The great Christian duty is self—denial, which consists in two things: first, in denying worldly inclinations and its enjoyments, and second, in denying self—exultation and renouncing one's self—significance by being empty of self."
– Jonathan Edwards
January 24, 2005
"Christ would have lived, and taught, and preached, and prophesied, and wrought miracles in vain, if he had not crowned all by dying for our sins as our substitute! His death was our life. His death was the payment of our debt to God. Without his death we should have been of all creatures most miserable."
– J. C. Ryle
January 17, 2005
"Now what is the food for the inner man: not prayer, but the Word of God: and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts....."
– George Muller
January 10, 2005
"A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this."
– Jonathan Edwards
January 3, 2005
Of all doctrines, the one of who Jesus really is trumps them all.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6) He didn't merely say He would show the truth or teach the truth or model the truth. He is the truth. Truth personified. He is the source of all truth, the embodiment of truth and therefore the reference point for evaluating all truth-claims.
That Jesus is the God-man, the second member of the trinity come in human flesh, is central to our faith. To deny this is to be a "liar" (1 John 2:22).
If we get it right about Jesus, much else will come out in the wash. If we get it wrong about Jesus, it doesn't matter what else we get right.
Randy Alcorn
December 27, 2004
"The refusal to be committed and the attitude of indifference can in fact never be neutral."
– J. B. Phillips
December 20, 2004
"Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other's roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other."
– John Bunyan
December 13, 2004
"There is no guarantee that men faithful to God will be recognizable by their numbers, their talents or their successes."
– Ian H. Murray
December 6, 2004
"Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise physician prescribes because we need them; and he proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust in his skill and thank him for his prescription."
– John Newton
November 29, 2004
"Just as no one can go to hell or heaven for me, so no one can believe for me and so no one can open or close heaven or hell for me, and no one can drive me either to believe or disbelieve."
– Martin Luther
November 22, 2004
"The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on, anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?"
– Jonathan Edwards
November 15, 2004
"Man...is of few days, and full of trouble." Job 14:1
"It may be of great service to us, before we fall asleep, to remember this mournful fact, for it may lead us to set loose by earthly things. There is nothing very pleasant in the recollection that we are not above the shafts of adversity, but it may humble us and prevent our boasting like the Psalmist in our morning's portion. "My mountain standeth firm: I shall never be moved." It may stay us from taking too deep root in this soil from which we are so soon to be transplanted into the heavenly garden. Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodman's axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and the hour when we must return them to the lender's hand may be even at the door. The like is certainly true of our worldly goods. Do not riches take to themselves wings and fly away? Our health is equally precarious. Frail flowers of the field, we must not reckon upon blooming for ever. There is a time appointed for weakness and sickness, when we shall have to glorify God by suffering, and not by earnest activity. There is no single point in which we can hope to escape from the sharp arrows of affliction; out of our few days there is not one secure from sorrow. Man's life is a cask full of bitter wine; he who looks for joy in it had better seek for honey in an ocean of brine. Beloved reader, set not your affections upon things of earth: but seek those things which are above, for here the moth devoureth, and the thief breaketh through, but there all joys are perpetual and eternal. The path of trouble is the way home. Lord, make this thought a pillow for many a weary head!"
– Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
November 8, 2004
"I have little fear that any nation or combination of nations could bring down the United States and Canada by military action from without. But this I do fear—we sin and sin and do nothing about it. There is so little sense of the need of repentance—so little burden for the will of God to be wrought in our national life. I fear that the voice of blood will become so eloquent that God Almighty will have no choice but to speak the word that will bring us down."
– A. W. Tozer, Echoes from Eden, 44
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles
"Dark providences, never understood before, will then be clearly seen, and all that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the light of the Lamb.... In this world it doth not yet appear what we shall be. God's people are a hidden people, but when Christ receives His people into heaven, He will touch them with the wand of His own love, and change them into the image of His manifested glory. They were poor and wretched, but what a transformation! They were stained with sin, but one touch of His finger, and they are bright as the sun, and clear as crystal. Oh! what a manifestation! All this proceeds from the exalted Lamb. Whatever there may be of effulgent splendour, Jesus shall be the centre and soul of it all. Oh! to be present and to see Him in His own light, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!
– Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening