_{What are you doing right now that requires faith?
~ Francis Chan}

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

Uncertainty provides rescue from being stuck in the familiar ways of life that keep us from moving forward into the purposes of God. Wandering into the wilderness of the unknown is God’s divine reorientation, from what we know in the present to what God knows about the future.
~ Shelly Miller, from her book Searching for Certainty, 2020

Exodus 12:1-13

There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice.
~ C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963, British writer

The man of pseudo-faith will fight for his verbal creed but refuse flatly to allow himself to get in a predicament where his future must depend upon that creed being true. He always provides himself with secondary ways of escape; so that he will have a way out if the roof caves in. What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know that they must do at that last day.
~ A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963, writer, magazine editor

I do not put much stock in “believing in God.” The grammar of “belief” invites a far too rationalistic account of what it means to be a Christian. “Belief” implies propositions about which you get to make up your mind before you know the work they are meant to do.
~ Stanley Hauerwas, 1940- , American theologian

God’s grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver. From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can ‘just forgive’ the perpetrator. But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly.
~ Timothy Keller, 1950-2023, pastor, author

We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.
~ James A. Baldwin. 1924-1987, writer, activist

^{What are you doing right now that requires faith?
~ Francis Chan}

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

Our confidence in Christ does not make us lazy, negligent or careless, but, on the contrary, it awakens us, urges us on and makes us active in living righteous lives and doing good. There is no self-confidence to compare with this.
~ Huldrych Zwingli, 1484-1531, Leader in Swiss Reformation

Sir, 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, 1809-1865

Exodus 5:1-2; 7:14-18; 10:21-29

Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self—in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself.
~ C. S. Lewis, 1898-1963, Mere Christianity

Throughout two thousand years of history, Christians, both whole churches and individual believers, have consistently been able to ignore many of Jesus’ key commandments and invitations. We have either been too weak to follow his counsels or we have rationalized them away in some way.
~ Ronald Knox, 1888-1957, English priest, theologian, author, radio broadcaster

In the moral realm, there is very little consensus left in Western countries over the proper basis of moral behavior. And because of the power of the media, for millions of men and women the only venue where moral questions are discussed and weighed is the talk show, where more often than not the primary aim is to entertain, even shock, not to think. … When banality is mistaken for profundity because [it’s] uttered by a movie star or a basketball player, it is not surprising that there is less thought than hype.
~ D.A. Carson, 1946- , The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism