Keys To Christian Living
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments that stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love... The test of a man then is not, 'How have I believed?' but 'How have I loved?' The test of religion, the final test of religion, is not religiousness, but love. Not what I have done, not what I have believed, not what I have achieved, but how I have discharged the common charities of life. --Henry Drummond
Suppose someone should offer me a plateful of crumbs after I had eaten a T-bone steak. I would say, "No, thank you. I am already satisfied." Christian, that is the secret—you can be so filled with the things of Christ, so enamored with the things of God that you do not have time for the sinful pleasures of the world. --Billy Graham
There is a spiritual law of choosing, believing, abiding, and holding steady in our walk with God, which is essential to the working of the Holy Ghost either in our sanctification or healing. --Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
The knowledge of Christ's love for us should cause us to love Him in such a way that it is demonstrated in our attitude, conduct, and commitment to serve God. Spiritual maturity is marked by spiritual knowledge being put into action. --Edward Bedore
The great downfall of the Christian life is that, even where we trust Christ, we leave the Father out! Christ came to bring us to God, the Father. Christ lived the life of a man exactly as we have to live it. Christ the Vine points to God the Husbandman. As He trusted the Father, let us trust the Father. In that way, everything we ought to be and have, as those who belong to the Vine, will be given to us from above. --Andrew Murray
Many people think that the mark of an authentic Christian is doctrinal purity; if a person's beliefs are biblical and doctrinally orthodox, then he is a Christian. People who equate orthodoxy with authenticity find it hard to even consider the possibility that, despite the correctness of all their doctrinal positions, they may have missed the deepest reality of the authentic Christian life. But we must never forget that true Christianity is more than teaching - it is a way of life. In fact, it is life itself. "He who has the Son has life," remember? When we talk about life, we are talking about something that is far more than mere morality, far more than doctrinal accuracy. --Ray C. Stedman
The weakness in our Christian life is that we do not take time to believe that this Divine Love really does delight in us. Love will awaken your faith and strengthen it. Occupy yourself with that love; worship it; wait for it. You may be sure it will reach out to you, and by its power take you up into itself as your home." --Andrew Murray
The depths of our spirituality does not depend upon changing the things we do, but in doing for God what we ordinarily do for ourselves. --Brother Lawrence
Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion — it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.--Billy Graham
Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle. The people you rub shoulders with everyday need that kind of challenge. Not prudish. Not preachy. Just cracker jack clean living. Just honest to goodness, bone - deep, non-hypocritical integrity. --Charles ( Chuck ) R. Swindoll
We do not segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or schooling, while keeping parts to ourselves. The idea is to live all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and for the honor and glory of God. That is what the Christian life is all about. --R. C. Sproul
I could be happy; I could be in love with life, if only... Most not-yet happy people have one or more "great" ways to finish that sentence. If only my spouse would drop dead. If only I had a spouse. If only I lived in a better neighborhood. If only I were to win the lottery. These people believe they could love life if only they could somehow reduce the number of their troubles, leave behind the frustrating, anger-producing negatives - as a snake slithers out of its skin and leaves it behind. But just the opposite is true... Without some painful encounters our quality of life is diminished... In every difficulty are good and great things that we can learn to appreciate - that we can use for our benefit and enrichment. All our trials, great and small, can bring more of the two best things in life: love for life and love for others. But only those who take full responsibility for their responses to trials find these loves in their lasting form. --Gary Smalley
One day when a certain man who wavered often and anxiously between hope and fear was struck with sadness, he knelt in humble prayer before the altar of a church. While meditating on these things, he said: "Oh if I but knew whether I should persevere to the end!" Instantly he heard within the divine answer: "If you knew this, what would you do? Do now what you would do then and you will be quite secure." Immediately consoled and comforted, he resigned himself to the divine will and the anxious uncertainty ceased. His curiosity no longer sought to know what the future held for him, and he tried instead to find the perfect, the acceptable will of God in the beginning and end of every good work. --Thomas à Kempis
We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do. --Henri J. M. Nouwen
Wherever a father's heart is turned toward anything other than his children, a curse can be released upon the family. Even Christian households can fall under deception when the priorities of the parents are not in line with God's priorities. In my own household, my heart was more inclined toward deep-sea fishing in the early years, and then later to ministry. I was blinded to the needs of my family, thus we lived under a curse, and the results were obvious: my wife spiraled into a deep depression, and my children were acting out their frustration in unhealthy and angry ways. I was oblivious to it all, because my focus was not on what took place at home; my focus was on building a reputation and a ministry so I could change the world. It didn't matter that I had a ministry that I was touching the lives of thousands of people; I was not making ministry to my own family first priority, and my wife's and children's lives began to fall apart. We needed a restoration, a reversal of the curse that had been allowed to enter and wreak havoc in our home." (See Malachi 4:6 for scriptural support)... --Jack Frost, Experiencing the Father's Embrace
The Christian faith is meant to be lived moment by moment. It isn't some broad, general outline--it's a long walk with a real Person. Details count: passing thoughts, small sacrifices, a few encouraging words, little acts of kindness, brief victories over nagging sins. --Joni Eareckson Tada
Trouble always comes whenever we begin to take credit for any of the gifts of the Spirit, be they gifts of prayer, tongues, prophecy, art, science....Modern medicine suffers, despite all its advances, because it has almost completely forgotten that healing is a gift as well as a science. --Madeleine L'Engle
The single most significant problem in the Christian community is that we men have failed to exhibit the Christ-like leadership that God requires of us. If we did, we would be able to cure relationship problems. We demonstrate this lack of Christ-like leadership by our unwillingness to take the steps to understand women, which prevents us from bringing lasting solutions to relationship problems...Christ-likeness is God's first priority for every man - that we as men become Christ-like in our responses, in our sensitivity to our wives'
spirits. In loving them as Christ loved the Church an gave Himself for it, we become the spiritual leaders that they will respond to with love and loyalty.
--Ken Nair
God is not interested in our good works or our rules. There is nothing we can do, nothing we can offer Him as a Holy God that He can accept - except our faith in Jesus Christ... Has someone told us that if we want to mature in Christ we need to read our Bibles, fast, pray, win souls, memorize Scripture, attend church faithfully, and tithe? This, too, is legalism. To be sure, all of these things have their place in a Christian's daily walk with the Lord. But when someone tries to give us a list of rules or guidelines in terms of how many hours we should spend in Bible study and prayer, how many verses of Scripture we should memorize, or how many souls we should win for Christ, beware! If we fail to measure up - and most of us will - we will feel guilty. If we fail more often than we succeed, we will give up in despair. It's God's grace and the Holy Spirit in us that will bring us to maturity in Christ, not human effort or faithful adherence to a set of procedures... Love is a gift, not a reward for service! --Jack Winter
It is a maxim that will endure: To truly know the living God, this begets humility. To acquire learning, information, speculation, theory and theology and even Scripture, this begets pride. You do not say someone is holy because he puts forth great ideas concerning the knowledge of God and the attributes of God. Look for those who proclaim the love of God in great personal loss and self denial. You will find such wisdom far more among the simple and the humble than it is ever to be found among those who know so much about the things of God but so little of the Lord Himself. -- Michael Molinos, The Spiritual Guide
The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden. --Gilbert Keith G. K. Chesterton
Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth. To the degree that you do this, your behavior will be transformed.--Charles Stanley
I choose goodness...I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.--Max Lucado
True faith does not contradict its words by its conduct.--Anonymous
The greatest thing is to be found at one's post as a child of God, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though our world might last a hundred years. --C. S. Lewis