Living by Faith

"Do you recognize the foolishness of seeking fulfillment outside of Him? Do you understand that it's impossible to please God in any way other than wholehearted surrender? Do you grasp the beauty and deep joy of walking in genuine intimacy with God, or holy Father and Friend? Do you want to see God more than you desire security?. . . What does running toward Christ and pursuing Love look like in daily life?" (pp. 113-114)

"Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." (p. 115)

"Since God is real, Paul and the martyrs should be envied more than all people; their suffering was worth it. If we allow ourselves to live recklessly for Him, then we, too, will see His glory. We will see Him do the impossible. Christians today like to play it safe. . . But if we truly desire to please God, we cannot live that way. We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity." (p. 116)

"John clearly tells us that 'whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did' (1 John 2:6). Are you ready and willing to make yourself nothing? To take the very nature of a servant? To be obedient unto death? If your honest answer to those questions is yes, how are those intentions manifested in your life?" (p. 117)

"If we believe that, as Jesus said, the two greatest commands are to 'love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind' and to 'love your neighbor as yourself', then this passage has a lot to teach us. Basically, Christ is connecting the command to 'love God' with the command to 'love your neighbor'. By loving 'the least of these', we are loving God Himself." (p. 118)

"True love requires sacrifice. And our love is shown by how we live our lives: 'Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.'" (p. 119)

"One of the clearest ways we love 'with actions and in truth' is through giving to others. By giving, I don't mean just money, although that is certainly an element of it. Another important element of giving is with our time. Most of us are so busy that the thought of adding one more thing to our weekly schedule is stressful. Instead of adding in another thing to our lives, perhaps God wants us to give Him all of our time and let Him direct it as he sees fit. . .Giving that is not motivated by love is worth nothing. . . Giving results not only in heavenly compensation, but also gives us great joy in our lives here and now. As we love more genuinely and deeply, giving becomes the obvious and natural response. Taking and keeping for ourselves becomes unattractive and imprudent. . . The good things we cling to are more than money; we hoard our resources, our gifts, our time, our families, our friends. As we begin to practice regular giving we see how ludicrous it is to hold on to the abundance God has given us and merely repeat the words thank you." (pp. 120-121)

"This place of trust isn't a comfortable place to be; in fact, it flies in the face of everything we've been taught about proper planning. We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide. But when Christ says to count the cost of following Him, it means we must surrender everything. It means being willing to go without an extra tunic or a place to sleep at night, and sometimes without knowing where we are going. God wants us to trust Him with abandon. He wants to show us how He works and cares for us. He wants to be our refuge." (pp. 123-124)

"Walking in genuine intimacy and full surrender to God requires great faith. . . God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through." (p. 124)

"We are each given different gifts and talents by our Master. The thing that matters most is how we use what we have been given, not how much we make or do compared to someone else. What matters is that we spend ourselves." (p. 127)

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