“The gospel will persuade no one unless it has so convicted us that we are transformed by it.”

On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars.

The deepest desire of our hearts is for union for God. God created us for union with himself. This is the original purpose of our lives.

The secret of the mystery is: God is always greater. No matter how great we think Him to be, His love is always greater.

When our inner child is not nurtured and nourished, our minds gradually close to new ideas, unprofitable commitments and the surprises of the Spirit.

we unwittingly project onto God our own attitudes and feelings toward ourselves… But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves — unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely, and freely.

Anyone we come in contact with, we either offer them life, or we drain them.

Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.

My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.

We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh. We have the power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt.

Be daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burnt in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how phony you are.

The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust — not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.

When a man or woman is truly honest, it is virtually impossible to insult them personally.

What makes the Kingdom come is heartfelt compassion: a way of tenderness that knows no frontiers, no labels, no compartmentalizing, and no sectarian divisions.

Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace.

Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don’t have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.

The Good News means we can stop lying to ourselves. The sweet sound of amazing grace saves us from the necessity of self-deception. It keeps us from denying that though Christ was victorious, the battle with lust, greed, and pride still rages within us.

I am a Muslim Arab, in my actions oriented very to the left, in my convictions.

It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions.

You can trust the Bible. You will never be a great Christian until you come to the unshakable conviction that the Bible is the Word of God.

It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions.

Be hated. One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions.

It was the full conviction of this, and of what could be done,

My parents’ convictions, when it came to discipline, were not very strong.

Man’s pursuit of physical desires and earthly possessions is an indication of his lack of conviction that the purpose of his existence is the attainment of spirituality.