#discipleship

Unless a person can give reasons, there is, literally, no reason why anyone else should take that person seriously. But without reasons, all we are left with is emotional blackmail. We sometimes call it 'moral blackmail,' but it has nothing to do with morals, only with the implied juvenile threat of having a tantrum unless everyone else gives in. ↗

— N.T. Wright

#church #discipleship #inspirational #religion #theology

Jesus, Willard says, “does not call us to do what he did, but to be as he was, permeated with love. Then the doing of what he did and said becomes the natural expression of who we are in him. ↗

— Dallas Willard

#life

Jesus-shaped spirituality hears Jesus say "believe and repent," but the call that resonates most closely in the heart of a disciple is "follow me." The command to follow requires that we take a daily journey in the company of other students. It demands that we be lifelong learners and that we commit to constant growth in spiritual maturity. Discipleship is a call to me, but it is a journey of "we. ↗

— Michael Spencer

#internet-monk #jesus #spirituality #spiritual-growth

Those who are not true leaders will just affirm people at their own immature level. ↗

— Richard Rohr

#discipleship #leadership #leadership

To love with expectations is, in the end, an oppressive, driven thing, and people know it when they receive it. ↗

— Mark Galli

#love #love

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

— Brian Zahnd

#christianity #discipleship #jesus #love #forgiveness

God is not preparing you for anything; obedience is its own end in the purpose of God; be faithful to Him. ↗

— Oswald Chambers

#faith

God in His sovereign goodness often uses the painful and at times debilitating injury of a spear thrower to make us readier for His service. ... One thing you discover about spear throwers is that though it’s not necessary for them to be good, it’s essential for them to appear good. ↗

— Erwin W. Lutzer

#hypocrisy #submission #forgiveness

The "show business," which is so incorporated into our view of Christian work today, has caused us to drift far from Our Lord's conception of discipleship. It is instilled in us to think that we have to do exceptional things for God; we have not. We have to be exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, surrounded by sordid sinners. That is not learned in five minutes. ↗

— Oswald Chambers

#discipleship #ordinary-life #business

We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live. ↗

— Elisabeth Elliot

#letting-go #life