503 Quotes by Philip Yancey

Taken as a whole, the Bible clearly puts the emphasis on what pleases God – the point of worship, after all. To worship, says Walter Wink, is to remember Who owns the house.

A pilgrim is a fellow-traveler on the spiritual journey, not a professional guide.

Stanley Hauerwas, named “America’s best theologian” by Time magazine, summed up the problem: “I have come to think that the challenge confronting Christians is not that we do not believe what we say, though that can be a problem, but that what we say we believe does not seem to make any difference for either the church or the world.

Our confused society badly needs a community of contrast, a counterculture of ordinary pilgrims who insist living a different way. Unlike popular culture, we will lavish attention on the least “deserving” in direct opposition to our celebrity culture’s emphasis on success, wealth, and beauty.

Is God somehow responsible for the suffering of this world? In this indirect way, yes. But giving a child a pair of ice skates, knowing that he may fall, is a very different matter from knocking him down on the ice.

Jesus declared that we should have one distinguishing mark: not political correctness or moral superiority, but love.

I see the confusion of politics and religion as one of the greatest barriers to grace.

I’m convinced that human beings instinctively seek two things. We long for meaning, a sense that our life somehow matters to the world around us. And we long for community, a sense of being loved.

If your church conveys that spirit of condescension or judgment, it’s likely not a place where grace is on tap.