Quotes about Struggle

Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we don't want to do it.

Why is it that so many Christians make such lousy human beings?

Using God to run from God Ignoring anger, sadness, and fear Dying to the wrong things Denying the impact of the past on the

You would think the church and its leaders would be all for healthy leadership and whatever it takes to achieve it. But the truth is that there are parts of church leadership culture that actually work hard against it.

Gregory of Nazianus taught around AD 370: "The responsibility of pastoral office is great indeed, and no one ought to enter who has not deeply examined motive and ability, who has not struggled against call in the face of godly demands of office and the frailty of mere humanity.

Your work and relationship realities. Our work remains "thorns and thistles" (Genesis 3:18). It is hard. We never totally finish. There is always a grief in never having complete fulfillment. Relationships will not be perfect until heaven. Who wouldn't like a perfect, loving church where everyone has the time, energy, and maturity to love everyone else perfectly! We must grieve that limit also or we will demand from them something they cannot give.

In the Psalms, we see that he holds nothing back, freely pouring out his fears, despair, anger, and shame.

The long painful history of the Church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led.

If anything, things are even more difficult for Christian artists. Some churches do not consider art a serious way to serve God. Others deny that Christians in the arts have a legitimate calling. As a result, Christian artists often feel like they have to justify their existence. Rather than providing a community of support, some churches surround them with a climate of suspicion.

I rejected the church for a time because I found so little grace there. I returned because I found grace nowhere else.

Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.