Food for Thought
Wisdom and reflection from Christian thinkers, pastors and theologians
Jerry Bridges
I have been in full-time ministry for well over twenty-five years and have served both overseas and in the United States. During this time I have met many talented and capable Christians, but I think I have met fewer godly Christians.
The emphasis of our age is on serving God, accomplishing things for God. Enoch was a preacher of righteousness in a day of gross ungodliness, but God saw fit that the brief account of his life emphasised that he walked with God.
What are we training ourselves for? Are we training ourselves only in Christian activity, as good as that may be, or are we training ourselves first of all in godliness?
Billy Graham
To me, there has always been a wondrous mystery to the preaching of the gospel. We are commanded to be faithful in proclaiming the Word and yet, at the same time, every success, every advance, no matter how slight, is possible only because God has been at work by the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit gives us the message, leads us to those He has prepared and brings conviction of sin and new life. When we understand this truth, it frees us from the temptation to manipulation or pressure. It also should free us from pride and boasting because we know that God alone must receive the credit for whatever is accomplished.
When we understand that truth, we also realise the urgency of prayer in evangelism. My own ministry, I am convinced, has only been possible because of the countless men and women who have prayed.
The words from Zechariah should be written indelibly on our hearts and minds: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6 NIV)
Walter Brueggemann
The news of the gospel and the reality of new life depend upon the will of God. The statement of John and the entire Abrahamic narrative speak a judgement against those who cling to their anti-promise ways of identity.
Richard Foster
A misconception about prayer is the common teaching, “Pray once! Any more than that shows a lack of faith.”
No. I understand the good intentions of people who teach this way but, very frankly, it flies in the face of a great deal of biblical experience and teaching, especially Jesus’ parables of persistence.
We are to keep at this work because we are the channel through which God’s life and light flows into individuals and situations.
May I call you to the adventure of prayer. Nothing draws us closer to the heart of God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Real silence, real stillness, really holding one's tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness.
Timothy Keller
Even Nietzsche could not escape his own scalpel. He criticised secular liberals for being inconsistent while simultaneously making his own moral judgments.
He praised courage, nobility and self-fashioning despite claiming there was no objective moral foundation behind those values.
Why is the noble spirit noble? Why is courage good? Where do such moral values come from? By his own philosophy he cannot ultimately justify those claims.
In short, he cannot stop doing what he tells everyone else to stop doing.
Alain de Botton
Loving relationships are fundamental to happiness. Our quest for the external goods of status and money is really another quest for love.