Troop Carrier or Luxury Liner?

The church, like the SS United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States) has been designed for battle. The purpose of the church is to mobilize a people to accomplish a mission. Yet we seem to have turned the church as troop carrier into the church as luxury liner. We seem to have organized ourselves, not to engage battle for the souls of the peoples around the world, but to indulge ourselves in the peaceful comforts of the world. This makes me wonder what would happen if we looked squarely into the face of a world with 4.5 billion people going to hell and 26,000 children dying every day of starvation and preventable diseases, and we decided it was time to move this ship into battle instead of sitting back on the pool deck while we wait for the staff to serve us more hors d'oeuvre.

-David Platt, Radical

Passion and Purity

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity.

"There is a dullness, monotony, sheer boredom in all of life when virginity and purity are no longer protected and prized."

". . . the bringing of our unruly wills and affections into order will cost us something."

"Do I want what I want, or do I want what He wants, no matter what it might cost?"

"Patient waiting is an important discipline for anyone who wants to learn to trust. . . waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry with oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts. Waiting silently is the hardest thing of all."

"God gives us material for sacrifice. The loneliness itself is material for sacrifice. The very longings themselves can be offered to Him who understands perfectly."

"When obedience to God contradicts what I think will give me pleasure, let me ask myself if I love Him. If I can say yes to that question, can't I say yes to pleasing Him?"

"If the yearnings went away, what would we have to offer up to the Lord? Aren't they given to us to offer?"

"It seems God continually brings me to the end of my endurance,
both emotionally and physically, to reveal the truth about my heart.
What's revealed in those moments of pressure is usually something that needs addressing,
like selfishness, insecurity, jealousy or bitterness.
Getting split apart isn't pleasant.
In fact, it's often painful and embarrassing.
Yet, it's required if I want to become a true follower of Christ."

-Proverbs 31 Ministries, Daily Devo

"Compromise only satisfies the dying part of you."

Stellar Kart

Holding

"Steadfastness - that is holding on;

Patience - that is holding back;

Expectancy - that is holding the face up;

Obedience - that is holding one's self ready to go or do;

Listening - that is holding quiet and still so as to hear."

- Elisabeth Elliot, Passion & Purity

Hmmm.

"Are you learning to listen to God before you speak, or are you saying things, and then trying to make God's Word fit what you have said?"

My Utmost for His Highest

Purpose or Problems

"You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, 'God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.'"

God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.

He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

-Rick Warren, as interviewed by Paul Bradshaw

“I am not merry, but I do beguile the thing I am by seeming otherwise.”

-Desdemona, in

"Othello: the Moor of Venice" (II, i, 124-125)