Inspirational Quotes by D.A. Carson

“Thus the demand for signs becomes the prototype of every condition human beings raise as a barrier to being open to God. I will devote myself to this God if he heals my child. I will follow this Jesus if I can maintain my independence. I will happily become a Christian if God proves himself to me. I will turn from my sin and read the Bible if my marriage gets sorted out to my satisfaction. I will acknowledge Jesus as Lord if he performs the kind of miracle, on demand, that removes all doubt. In every case, I am assessing him; he is not assessing me. I am not coming to him on his terms; rather, I am stipulating terms that he must accept if he wants the privilege of my company. “Jews demand miraculous signs.”

“It is possible so to lionize some Christian leader that we start making excuses for his or her serious, perhaps even catastrophic, faults. What we must remember is that the leaders are no more than servants.”

“But the theological component is more serious. The Enlightenment tried to make human beings the measure of everything; Rationalism elevated human reason to godlike status; existentialism debunked significance based on knowledge or status, and assigned it to human action, will, decision; now postmodernity insists there is no objective truth that can lay claims on us. At its root, postmodernity is deeply antiauthoritarian, as even its most astute exponents recognize:”

“What we do not need is an arrogant "can do" mentality that tacks God onto the end, or a cliched spirituality that confuses passion with passivity What we do need is the power of the sovereign, transforming, God.”

“David knows that this focus on what God has done is a God-given means of connecting with the living God himself, and that is what he wants: “I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land” (143:6).”

“This lesson is especially important when so many Christians today identify themselves with some “single issue” (a concept drawn from politics) other than the cross, other than the gospel. It is not that they deny the gospel. If pressed, they will emphatically endorse it. But their point of self-identification, the focus of their minds and hearts, what occupies their interest and energy, is something else: a style of worship, the abortion issue, homeschooling, the gift of prophecy, pop sociology, a certain brand of counseling, or whatever. Of course, all of these issues have their own importance. Doubtless we need some Christians working on them full time. But even those who are so engaged must do so as an extension of the gospel, as an extension of the message of the cross. They must take special pains to avoid giving any impression that being really spiritual or really insightful or really wise turns on an appropriate response to their issue.”

“Having elevated self to the place where God is no longer needed, self now proclaims that language is inadequate to talk about objective reality, God included. Having damned interpretation for being manipulative, God, if he were to speak, becomes the arch manipulator. The gagging of God is complete. From a Christian perspective, this is not simply misguided, but lurks, tragically, at the heart of all that is evil.”

“In the Bible, God's utter sovereignty does not diminish human responsibility; conversely, human beings are moral agents who choose, believe, obey, disbelieve, and disobey, and this fact does not make God's sovereignty finally contingent. That is clear from the way God's sovereignty manifests itself in this chapter, that is, in election, even while the chapter bristles with the responsibilities laid on the people.”

“The courage we need in this anti-Christian age is courteous and steadfast. It never apologizes for God. It joyfully believes that God can do anything, but it is prepared to suffer rather than compromise hearty obedience.”

“Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry. The”

“Fear is the opposite of faith. The Israelites are encouraged not to be afraid, not because they are stronger or better, but because they are the people of God, and God is unbeatable.”

“We have reached the stage in pluralization where choice is not just a state of affairs, it is a state of mind. Choice has become a value in itself, even a priority. To be modern is to be addicted to choice and change. Change becomes the very essence of life.16 In other words, the reality, empirical pluralism, has become “a value in itself, even a priority”: it is cherished.”

“SOMETIMES PEOPLE PRESENT PAUL as if he were a cold intellectual. Why “cold” should be connected with “intellectual,” I am not sure. It certainly does not fit Paul. Obviously, God gave Paul a first-class mind. But he was also a man of passionate intensity.”

“On the other hand, ignorance of Scripture almost always ensures a painful immaturity.”

“But although he does not tell his readers that they do not have the Spirit, what he does say is shocking: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual [i.e., as those with the Spirit]” (3:1, emphasis added). Instead, Paul had to address them “as worldly.” The Greek word behind “worldly” is sarkinos, literally “fleshly.” (The word Paul regularly uses for “flesh” is sarx.) The Latin equivalent of “fleshly,” rendered into English, is “carnal,” the word used in the King James Version. And that is how we have come to speak of the “carnal Christian.” There is no doubt there is such a thing. But what is a “carnal Christian,” a “worldly Christian”? It will help us to see what Paul means if we take four steps.”

“The Spirit is the , the downpayment and guarantee of the promised inheritance: there is an eschatological dimension to spirituality, as the bride, the church, joins the Spirit in crying, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22). And so we could go on, adding dimensions to any construct of spirituality controlled by the Word of God, correcting ourselves and our experience by Scripture, so that we may enjoy the fullness of the heritage that is ours in Christ Jesus, while remaining entirely unwilling to be seduced by every passing fad. Only then shall we approximate an all-of-life approach to spirituality—every aspect of human existence, personal and corporate, brought under the discipline of the Word of God, brought under the consciousness that we live in the presence of God, by his grace and for his glory. We shall cry to God that all our expressions of spirituality may be truly spiritual.”

“Joseph's brothers acted, and their intentions were evil; on the other, God acted, and his intentions were good. Both acted to bring about this event, but while the evil in it must be traced back to the brothers and no farther, the good in it must be traced to God. This is a common stance in Scripture. It generates many complex, philosophical discussions. But the basic notion is simple. God is sovereign, and invariably good; we are morally responsible, and frequently evil.”

“It is the best way to limit power and make government more or less responsive; it is not the best way of determining right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and bad.”

“David faces enemies who attack him like a pack of wolves, but if the Lord is his light and salvation, David will not be afraid. With a God this sovereign, this good, this self-revealing, this delightful, how will he not also be our security?”

“The aim of this chapter has been to recognize, within a Christian framework, certain truths in postmodernity, without getting snookered by the entire package. The Scylla of modernity and the Charybdis of postmodernity are equally uninviting to those who want to follow another Way, who are convinced that in a universe made by and for a personal/transcendent and omniscient God who talks, the only reasonable stance is that of the apostle Paul: “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4).”