You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys
Last week, I wrote a book review for The Hole In Our Gospel: The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision. This week, I want to highlight a sampling of notable and powerful quotes in the book. Some are direct statements by the author, and some are outside quotes he pulled in.
We have shrunk Jesus to the size where He can save our soul but now we don’t believe He can change the world.
-Anonymous, p. 23
If there is a hole in our gospel, in our understanding of the nature of God’s call upon us, His followers, it is not because Scripture is unclear about these issues. Rather, it is because we have chosen…to pay little attention to God’s unmistakeable message to bring the whole gospel to the whole world.
-Richard Stearns, p. 24
To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.
-Confucius, p. 25
Hell will be full of people who thought highly of the Sermon on the Mount. You must do more than that. You must obey it and take action.
-John MacArthur, p. 53
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., p. 53
A paraphrase from Matthew 25 by Richard Stearns: For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointe out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved.
-(RESV-Richard E. Stearns Version), p. 59
Why did God make me? To love, serve, and obey Him. Very simple, yet extremely profound. If we all woke up every morning asking, “How can I love, serve, and obey God today?” it might change everything-it might even change the world.
-Richard Stearns, p. 94
What I have discovered in my travels to more than forty countries with World Vision is that almost all poverty is fundamentally the result of a lack of options. It is not that the poor are lazier, less intelligent, or unwilling to make efforts to change their condition. Rather, it is that they are trapped by circumstances beyond their power to change.
-Richard Stearns, p. 118
Here I want to make a key point: it is not our fault that people are poor, but it is our responsibility to do something about it. God says that we are guilty if we allow people to remain deprived when we have the means to help them.
-Richard Stearns, p. 123
Bob Pierce once said, “Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything.” These are wise words to anyone overwhelmed with the magnitude of human suffering in our world. We are not asked to help all of them at once, just one at a time.
-Richard Stearns, p. 152
Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.
-Leo Durocher, p. 169
If we in the Church are truly dedicated to the Great Commission, then we will first have to do something about the “Great Omission.” We will never effectively demonstrate Christ’s love to the world, if we cannot first demonstrate it to the Church-the whole Church, and that includes those struggling just to survive.
-Richard Stearns, p. 187
If charity cost nothing, the world would be full of philanthropists.
-Jewish proverb, p. 210
The total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion. (That’s more than five thousand billion dollars.) It would take just a little over 1 percent of the income of American Christians to lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty. Said another way, American Christians, who make up about 5 percent of the Church worldwide, control about half of global Christian wealth; a lack of money is not our problem.
-Richard Stearns, p. 216
The bottom line is that the commitment that American Christians, the wealthiest Christians in all history, are making to the world just about 2 percent of 2 percent – actually about five ten-thousandths of our income.
-Richard Stearns, p. 217
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead, p. 241
God has created each of us with a unique contribution to make to our world and to our times. No other person has our same abilities, motivations, network of friends and relationships, perspectives, ideas, or experiences. When we, like misplaced puzzle pieces, fail to show up, the overall picture is diminished.
-Richard Stearns, p. 251
Day 14 of my 28-Day Blogging Challenge completed. Over and out.
