And what is it we need?

Found on a bumper sticker:

Fountain of youth?
We have enough youth,
what we need
is a fountain of smart...

Great point.
H/T Henry

Book Quote

I just finished a wonderful little book by Phillip Gulley entitled Home to Harmony. This is one of my favorite quotes from the book (p. 177), which aptly sums up so much of church life, pastor and church member alike.

When I became pastor, it was Dale Hinshaw who called to say it would be my job to shovel the walk and spread the salt. I told him I hadn't gone to seminary so I could shovel snow. That was when he quoted from the book of James that faith without works is dead. Dale Hinshaw knew just enough Scripture to be annoying but not enough to be transformed.

Thought for the Day

If all we want to do is produce people who look like Christians, our responsibility is fulfilled when people say and do the "right" things.

Eric Wallace, writing on discipleship in Uniting Church and Home

Another Pertinent Quote

In light of a post I recently wrote at sbc Impact, Holy Competition, I came across this quote from Jared Wilson via Joe Carter:

Warning: If you treat your church like a business, you will treat other churches like your competition.

A Pertinent Quote

Too many unsaved see Christianity as a clique that meets for self-congratulation or theological debate or purely social activity, and has little to do with the struggles of everyday life.

Eric Wallace, Uniting Church and Home

Quote(s) of the Day

Via Dave Black quoting Corrie ten Boom in his latest essay The Astounding Power of Poverty.

“Look inside and be depressed, look outside and be distressed, and look to Him and be at rest.”

Brother Dave goes on to say in retrospect:

This intimate assurance that Christ can be trusted is our security. It resolves the dilemma of our insignificance, our mortality, our futility. Gradually we become aware that God takes unimportant nobodies, fills them with His Presence, and empowers them to live lives of unhypocritical love (Rom. 12:9). Our growing awareness of, and confidence in, the adequacy of Christ constitutes the unshaken rock upon which our faith stands.

Amen.

A Gentle Reminder

Selah V writes this morning:

All the details around me, created to distract, confuse, produce fear and worry. But in the midst of every storm there is peace when our minds are stayed on the Lord Himself.

Thanks Selah.

Quote of the Day

"We cannot keep God's commandments perfectly, but we can keep them purposefully. We can rise each day with longing in our heart to do what is in accordance with God's will. We can pray, 'Lord, not my will but thy will be done. Shape me today by the Word that thou hast spoken, even in a world that repudiates thee.'"

-Dr. Joel Beeke

Quote of the Day

"Christianity is neither creed nor ceremonial, but a life vitally connected to a loving Christ."

- Josiah Strong, 19th century preacher