At one level, the message of the book of Ruth is that the life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but they do get there.

What defines us as Christians is not most profoundly that we have come to know him but that he took note of us and made us his own.

O, God of wonder, enlarge my capacity to be amazed at what is amazing, and end my attraction to the insignificant.

Does Christ get a good reputation because of the way we live? Is the excellence of Christ displayed in our lives? That should matter to us, not whether we ourselves are praised.

I sometimes fear that we have so redefined conversion in terms of human decisions and have so removed any necessity of the experience of God’s Spirit, that many people think they are saved when in fact they only have Christian ideas in their head not spiritual power in their heart.

Our concern with truth is simply an echo of our concern with God .

Do not be more devoted to your own brain than you are to the Bible.