20 Quotes by Hugh Halter

Jesus shows us that there’s never a change of mind unless there’s a change of heart, and there will never be a change of heart without a conversation between trusted friends.Halter, Hugh (2014-02-01). Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth (p. 167). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.

Jesus is not saying, “Make sure you pray a prayer of repentance, start going to church, and wait for Me to come back.” He is saying, “You can live a radically different life because there’s a new world order that just broke in, so stop walking in the direction you’re going, turn 180 degrees, and walk toward Me and life in the kingdom of God.”Halter, Hugh (2014-02-01). Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth (p. 53). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.

The gospel is not about trying to wedge a little Jesus into our crazy lives. The gospel is about letting God bring redemption and the way of his crazy kingdom into our frantically dysfunctional patterns of living.

What makes the stories of our lives beautiful are not the people we’ve led to faith, or the churches we’ve grown, or the poor and hurting people we’ve renovated. What makes our stories matter are the day-by-day swan dives we take for the King of glory that may never look that glorious – but to God they are!

Influence doesn’t happen by extracting ourselves from the world for the sake of our values, but by bringing our values into the culture.

If Christians simply focused on doing the most basic aspects of Christianity, like “loving” each other, it would say more to the watching world than all the systematic theology we could throw at them.

We love Jesus as a baby on Christmas, and Jesus risen from the grave on Easter, but somehow we miss Jesus the man, the teacher, the sage, the rebel, the subversive King, the local hero, the neighborhood friend.

If you want a safe faith, you will never really know God because He doesn’t hang out in the shallow end much.

The incarnation is what those inside and outside the Christian faith are looking for, and if every Jesus follower truly “got it,” it would fix every negative stereotype people have about Christians, Christianity, and the church. The incarnation of Jesus will give you proof that God understands how hard it is to be human, and it will help you see how to be human to the fullest.