302 results for tag: Quote for today

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

November 5, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “God loves us and invites us to accept and believe in Jesus, that we might be delivered from religious snobbery and pride, hatred, bigotry, murder, war, lust, greed and self-centeredness of every size, shape and description.  God loves everyone and invited all of us to be delivered from racism, including racists who don’t hesitate to condemn and denounce all who don’t agree with them as racists… Sadly, the human condition seems to include belittling and demeaning others, simply because they are different.  It seems natural and increasingly common today for people to despise those who are not ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

November 2, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “We cannot mow God’s lawn and then expect him to pay us.  We cannot rake the leaves in his backyard, we can’t dust or clean heaven, or make him a wonderful dinner.  When we read and understand God’s revelation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that our relationship with God is not based on human interactions.  But we think, given the way our world works, that if we do things for him then he will be happier with us than he otherwise would have been.”  Originally published in: Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places ------------------------------------- Help Us ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 31, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “I am a critic of religious legalism, but more importantly I am a deeply devoted Christian.  I am also a recovering legalist, and I know the deadly power of religious legalism.  I know that Christ set me free from its bondage.  I know that I was blind but now I see (John 9:25).  I must report what I see and who healed and rescued me, whether modern religious Pharisees like the implications of my story or not. Grace helped me see that it is a travesty and a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be calling oneself a Christian while insisting that the work of salvation is ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 29, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “… salvation is not BY works, but FOR works.  God saves and rescues and re-births us, Christ in us, the hope of glory, works in our lives, producing in and through us the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Only God can create a tree. And the only reason a tree brings forth fruit is that God created the tree and vibrant systems within the tree that enable fruit-bearing.  No stick of wood can plant itself in the ground, and by rigorous effort, expect fruit to be borne on its branches.  Jesus said, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches… without me, you can do nothing (John 15:5).” Originally ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 26, 2023 - Quote for the Day “In our world, whether it’s the workplace or the church, the relationship others are willing to have with you is normally based on a bottom line.  The relationship you have with a bank is based on the money you have on deposit.  If your checkbook doesn’t balance, you are an undesirable.  You must maintain a minimum balance.  In the spiritual realm, many are led to believe that if they don’t show up at church often enough the religious bankers will start adding service charges to their account – or just show them the door that supposedly leads directly to eternal torture in hell.  The kingdom ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 24, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The word ‘religion’ itself, even while it has positive meanings attributed to it, is, at its core, a toxic faith. The etymology of the word goes back to the Latin religare – to bind – and religio – obligation (to the gods).   The use of the word ‘religion’ today generally points toward the practices and beliefs individuals accept as being a true definition of what God (or the gods) expects of them… Toxic faith is religious in the sense that religion binds and imprisons it followers in belief systems that control them.  Healthy faith is Christ-centered in the sense that ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 22, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Quid pro quo means ‘something for something – something received or given in return for something else.’ We humans learn quickly that we must work for what we get in our world. We earn wages for services we render. Quid pro quo. We earn approval and acceptance by deeds we perform. Quid pro quo. People like and love us if we help them, serve them, and make them feel or look good. Quid pro quo. Grace is the opposite of quid pro quo. God is grace.  He gives and loves, without guarantee or prior evidence of any return on his investment.  Not only does God not reward us for what we deserve, ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 19, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “During a discussion with a new acquaintance in which I challenged some of her views, it became obvious to me that she considered the fact that I am an old white male as de facto proof that I am a hateful and bigoted racist. When I pointed out that her judgment of me was itself racist (I’m white), sexist (I’m male) and based on age discrimination (65 is fading fast in my rear-view mirror), she was not amused… I did not bother to tell her I am one of those hateful, bigoted racists who believe in the absolute historical proof of the Holocaust and that I support the right of the nation of ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 17, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Today millions continue to be enslaved by ‘just-around-the-corner’ interpretations of the book of Revelation.  Some live in fear within cultic groups where apocalyptic anxieties allow leaders to combine irresponsible prophecy teaching with authoritarian control, while others experience the rigors of prophetic addiction (prophetic teaching that turns into a religious addiction) within churches that generally teach sound doctrine but corrupt and cheapen the gospel with irresponsible speculation.  In either case Revelation is used as a club to control and intimidate.”  Originally ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 15, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The world that God loves is a gift from our gracious God.  The world, seen and unseen, animal, vegetable and mineral, testifies to the entire world’s absolute dependence on God. The world-at-large demonstrates our inter-relationship with all creatures, our environment and our fellow human beings.”   Originally published in: Wonders of His Love ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 12, 2023 - Quote for the Day: "Eternal conscious torment in hell is an unbiblical, fabricated teaching of Christ-less religion designed to keep its followers in line.  ‘Believers’ in such teaching perceive hell as having positive results because 1) the fear of being consigned to the fiery coals of hell keeps the followers of Christ-less religion in tow, as they ‘toe-the-line,’ and 2) it gives those who are religiously devout ‘hope’ that God will see to it that those who do not faithfully ‘toe-the-line’ as they do will get what they deserve."   Originally published in: Letters to My Friends...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 10, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Who goes to hell (or heaven), what the criteria is, how many people are or will be in hell and heaven, etc. – all of these are religious devices.  Some churches basically teach, while many others carefully but strongly suggest, that heaven will be essentially confined to their little congregation or denomination, and that other riff-raff will be assigned a less favorable eternal destination.”  Originally published in: Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 8, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Remember the Old Testament prophets?  They were a lonely bunch.  They were always outnumbered by the false prophets – who always seemed to enjoy greater success and credibility.  The false prophets had huge followings, somewhat like mega-church pastors. I didn’t say all mega-church pastors are false prophets, but of course some might be!  When it comes to the true gospel, size doesn’t matter. British writer George Bernard Shaw once commented on the silliness of establishing truth by numbers.  At the time the population of Great Britain was about fifty million people.  ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 5, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that our paycheck for everything that we do, good and bad, is death.  But in the same breath, in the same verse, he tells us that the good news is that eternal life is free of charge.”  Originally published in: Bad News Religion ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 3, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Have you ever just wished that someone would believe you? Have you ever been so depressed that you could only hope that someone – at least your parent or sibling or friend or spouse – would believe you?  That’s what God always does for you and me.  He always believes us.”  Originally published in: Spiritual Soup for the Hungry Soul, Volume 3 ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

October 1, 2023 - Quote for the Day “When I was in the second grade, my mother attempted (with little success) to attract some of my attention away from playing baseball to playing the piano.  During my years of enforced piano lessons I became aware of (and later in awe of) the musical genius of Johann Sebastian Bach – often known as JSB. After my baseball and piano playing days were over, I learned of a superscript/subscript Bach placed on almost all his compositions – ‘SCG’ (Soli Deo Gloria) – Latin for ‘to God alone be the glory.’  While my attempts to play the piano always fell short of doing justice to the ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

September 28, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Narcissus is a character in Greek mythology celebrated for his exceptional beauty.  Early in his life Narcissus did not know how truly beautiful he was until the day he saw his own reflection in the waters of a spring, and seeing his own image he fell in love with himself.  Based on this mythological character, the word ‘narcissism’ began to be used about 200 years ago to describe an excessive degree of self-centeredness and selfishness.  Like Narcissus, we are intrigued and mesmerized by our own images in this 21st century Western world.  We’ve peered into the mirror of ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

September 26, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Our spiritual transformation is not a process where we sit and watch.  God does not force us to grow.  We must consent to our growth.  We consent initially, when we are spiritually re-born.  We consent on a daily basis, as we yield to our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lord of our lives.  As we consent to him we grow, and with growth comes growing pains.  God mercifully and carefully and gradually changes us.  He challenges us.  He works with us, teaching us and slowly and inexorably making us his very own handiwork (Ephesians 2:10).  Our spiritual transforma...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

September 24, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The stubborn insistence of the Christ-less perspective of Christendom at large about the appalling fabrication of eternal torture in hell as a just punishment for sinners is one of the most evil, reprehensible and diabolical of all dogmas and teachings – all in the name of God!” Originally published in: Letters to My Friends ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

September 21, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “It’s amazing what we humans find impressive.  Thinking back to religious places I have been, religious displays I have witnessed and religious rituals I have personally performed, I remember many times when I have been impressed by dead men and women walking.  Thinking back throughout my years spent deceived by the devices of institutionalized religion, I have taken plenty of tours in what amounted to spiritually whitewashed tombs.  When I was a dead man living within what was actually a spiritual tomb, I thought I was vibrant and alive.  I thought anyone not in my tomb was dead! ...