Quotes 28 Jun

Your deepest heartaches don’t come from enemies of the gospel. Your deepest hurts and disappointments come from those you deeply love. And only the gospel is deep enough to heal the wound.- Gavin Peacock@GPeacock8

“Our conduct is not the basis for our salvation, but is influenced by our salvation.” – John Frame

If you want to know why you were placed on this
planet, you must begin with God.  You were born
by his purpose and for his purpose.
The search for the purpose of life has puzzled
people for thousands of years.  That's because
we typically begin at the wrong starting point--
ourselves.
We ask self-centered questions like "What do I want
to be?"  "What should I do with my life?"  "What are
my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?"
But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our
life's purpose.  The Bible says, "It is God who
directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's
life is in His power." (Job 12:10 TEV)
Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and
seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's
meaning by looking within yourself.  You've probably
tried that already.  You didn't create yourself, so
there is no way you can tell yourself what you were
created for!
If I handed you an invention you had never seen
before, you wouldn't know its purpose, and the
invention itself wouldn't be able to tell you
either.  Only the creator or the owner's manual
could reveal its purpose.
I once got lost in the mountains.  When I stopped to
ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, "You
can't get there from here.  You must start from the
other side of the mountain!"
In the same way, you cannot arrive at your life's
purpose by starting with a focus on yourself.  You
must begin with God, your Creator.  You exist only
because God wills that you exist.
You were made by God and for God--and until you
understand that, life will never make sense.
It is only in God that we discover our origin,
our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our
significance, and our destiny.  Every other
path leads to a dead end.
--Rick Warren (1954-    )
_The Purpose Driven Life_ [2002], Chapter 1

Let us not be troubled by idle prophecies as to the end of the world, even if they claim to be interpretations of Scripture, for what angels do not know has certainly not been revealed to hair-brained fanatics.- C.H. Spurgeon @chsquotes

Certainly, no revolution that has ever taken place
in society can be compared to that which has been
produced by the words of Jesus Christ.
     --Mark Hopkins (1802-1887)
      (In R. Daniel Watkins' _An Encyclopedia of
       Compelling Quotations_ [2001], "Jesus")