Quotes about Purpose

Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him so great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first?

God withholds blessing only in wisdom, never in spite or aloofness.

God will never disappoint us. He loves us and has only one purpose for us : holiness, which in His kingdom equals joy.

God might have given Adam another man to be his friend, to walk and talk and argue with if that was his pleasure. But Adam needed more than the companionship of the animals or the friendship of a man. He needed a helper, specially designed and prepared to fill that role. It was a woman God gave him, a woman, "meet," fit, suitable, entirely appropriate for him, made of his very bones and flesh.

There is a whole world of difference between those who look only for their own happiness in this world and those who know their true happiness lies in the will of God.

This is the context in which the story must be understood—as one incident in human history, an incident in certain ways and to certain people important, but only one incident. God is the God of human history, and He is at work continuously, mysteriously, accomplishing His eternal purposes in us, through us, for us, and in spite of us.

It's He who was the Word before the foundation of the world, suffering as a lamb slain. And He has a lot up His sleeve that you and I haven't the slightest idea about now. He's told us enough so that we know suffering is never for nothing.

I'm convinced that there are a good many things in this life that we really can't do anything about, but that God wants us to do something with.

But God has set no traps for us. Quite the contrary. He has summoned us to the only true and full freedom.

Young people sometimes say to me, I'll just die if the Lord calls me to be a missionary, or words to that effect. Wonderful! I say. That's the best possible way to start. You won't be of much use on the mission field unless you 'die' first. The conditions for discipleship begin with 'dying', and if you take the first step, very likely you will find that you have indeed been 'called'.

It was typical of Jim that, once sure of God's leading, he did not turn aside easily. The "leading" was to Ecuador, so every thought and action was bent in that direction. Jim practiced what he preached when he wrote in his diary: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.

It is not the level of our spirituality that we can depend on. It is God and nothing less than God, for the work is God's and the call is God's and everything is summoned by Him and to His purposes, the whole scene, the whole mess, the whole package—our bravery and our cowardice, our love and our selfishness, our strengths and our weaknesses.