discipleship

Martin Luther used to say temptation is the best teacher for a minister.

Jesus said his disciples would be known for their love, not for their placards of protest and angry letters to the editor.

Your commitment to Jesus is a beautiful thing, but it will eventually dwindle down, unless you fully understand His commitment to you.

He (Peter) doesn't know if he's looking into the eyes of a madman, or the eyes of a King.

To be in Jesus' easy yoke is an easy way of doing hard things." (p. 202)

Jesus has to become real to us. We need to court him and get to know him better. Go on some dates with the Lord.

In the face of Jesus_ dogged steadfastness, how could we but offer him our own loyal allegiance? As we have seen, our decision to serve Jesus should be made not in order to earn Jesus_ grace but as a response to it. He who has given so much for us can rightly call us to lay down our lives for him. Recognizing that we will continue to stumble and fall short of his impeccable standard, we nonetheless strain onward out of gratitude for his mercy and kindness to us. Why do we serve the poor or preach the Gospel? Why do we continue with the otherwise foolish work of peace-making or justice-seeking? Not out of some neurotic fear of losing God__ favor but precisely because we have tasted that favor and would do anything for the one who died to win it for us.

It is one thing being disciplined to plan and it is another thing being a disciple of great work. Be your own disciplinarian.

Laboratory research suggests that how we look and act in the virtual affect our behavior in the real.

Whatever God permits to happen in your life is a gift to you. God has two goals...His Glory and Your Good!

Alex had cooked, and coaxed, and helped Mark form borders around the shapeless days. Alex had given meaning to the word "servant".

God can make good use of all that happens, but the loss is real.

The way to transmute the pain of life is to reveal the wounded side of things, evil, even, and then place the wound inside of sacred space. The Bible is about naming, facing, and then forgiving the wounds of history.

Because of the Resurrection, our natural reaction must be to get past our emotional reactions as quickly as possible and reflect on what happened in light of the cross and the resurrection and our own baptisms into that defining reality _ to the life-giving and life-affirming waters of forgiveness and reconciliation.

All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain.

I'm not trying to bleed you. I want to renew you.

Father to teenage son: "My relationship with you is more important than anything I've got to say to you.

Half of learning is learning. The other half of learning is unlearning.