Quotes about Passivity
De Caussade makes this matter of duty very simple, too, as he makes everything simple: "We have two duties to fulfill: we must actively seek to carry God's will into effect and passively accept all that his will sends us" (p. 73). That's all. That's it.
— Peter Kreeft
To be one of God's lilies means an interior abandonment of the rarest kind. It means that we are to be infinitely passive, and yet infinitely active also; passive as regards self and its workings, active as regards attention and response to God. It is very hard to explain this so as to be understood But it means that we must lay down all the activity of the creature, as such, and must let only the activities of God work in us, and through us, and by us. Self must step aside, to let God work.
— Hannah Whitall Smith
The guy who sits in front of the television is unengaged. That man is a bad man.
— John Eldredge
Apathy is the acceptance of the unacceptable.
— John Stott
Luke warm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.
— Francis Chan
After my study of today's church, my conclusion is that the church is politely bored with God.
— AW Tozer
The key here is to be direct. You don't want to be passive, because being passive communicates weakness. In this e-mail you are clearly making an offer. The formula might look like this:
— Donald Miller
Non-violence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Some people worry that prayer may lead to passivity, that we will retreat to prayer as a substitute for action. Jesus saw no contradiction between the two: he spent long hours in prayer and then long hours meeting human needs.
— Philip Yancey
As Robert Bly laments in Iron John, "Some women want a passive man if they want a man at all; the church wants a tamed man—they are called priests; the university wants a domesticated man—they are called tenure-track people; the corporation wants a . . . sanitized, hairless, shallow man.
— John Eldredge
Joy does not come to you if you are spiritually passive; rather, joy is cultivated, but joy is cultivated by things you do.
— Donald Whitney
As soon as one is conscious of the presence of the Master, one must, in all passivity, abandon the work to Him.
— Thomas Merton