John Ortberg

The greatest bloodbaths in the history of the human race were recorded in the twentieth century in countries that sought to eliminate God, worship, and faith.

Christianity is like a nail," he (Yemelian Yaroslavsky). "The harder you strike it, the deeper it goes.

We complicate our faith and lives in many ways, but at the core, our purpose is simple: We are called to love.

If I think God__ aim is to produce rule-followers, spiritual growth will always be an obligation rather than a desire of my heart.

Skeptics would rather, even at their own expense, appear to be right than take the risk of trusting.

As long as we have unsolved problems, unfulfilled desires, and a mustard seed of faith, we have all we need for a vibrant prayer life.

If we are serious about loving God, we must begin with people, all people. And especially we must learn to love those that the world generally discards.

Every day you and I walk through God's shop. Every day we brush up against objects of incalculable worth to Him. People. Every one of them carries a price tag, if only we could see it.

When we live in the love of God, we begin to pay attention to people the way God pays attention to us.

If you want to do the work of God, pay attention to people. Notice them. Especially the people nobody else notices.

True joy, as it turns out, comes only to those who have devoted their lives to something greater than personal happiness.

We may be unlovely yet we are not unloved.

God says, 'I will measure my people by the one standard that counts. It__ very simple. Are people hungry? Feed them. Are people sick? Help them. Are people oppressed? Stick up for them. Are the widows lonely? Visit them. Are there uneducated children? Teach them. Are people rejected because of the color of their skin? Befriend them.'The widow of Zarephath fed Elijah even though she had but a handful of flour and a little oil in a jug. (1 Kings 17:7_24) In this story she is recklessly generous. She gives the last of what she has to Elijah.We should all pause occasionally to ask if we are living with that kind of generous spirit. Maybe we have an abundance of oil and flour in our jars. Maybe we only have a little. Maybe we have a huge flour jar, or perhaps a very small one. No matter what we have, we can still learn to live with a generous spirit.

The ministry of bearing with one another is more than simply tolerating difficult people. It is also learning to hear God speak through them.

Even you can__ tell yourself how to change, because you didn__ create you. To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God. He has no other agenda. He has no unmet needs he is hoping you can help him with. And he knows what the best version of you looks like. He delighted in the idea of it, and he is already working on it. The apostle Paul said, __e know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him._ Which means God is at work every moment to help you become his best version of you.

Politics, after all, is largely about power. And power goes to the core of our issues of control and narcissism and need to be right and tendency to divide the human race into 'us' vs. 'them.'

For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.

God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure - people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character.