John Conable > John's Quotes

“Man was created as a being whose very existence is derived from and dependent upon a Creator whom he must acknowledge as such and from whom he must obtain wisdom and knowledge through revelation. The purpose and meaning of his life, as well as his very existence, is derived and dependent. He can find none of this in himself. Man is not autonomous.”
― Jay E. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption

“It is a fundamental denial of your humanity to narrow the size of your life to the size of your own existence, because you were created to be an “above and more” being. You were made to be transcendent.”
― Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger than You

“If Genesis 1 is a welcome to transcendence, then Genesis 3 is about the tragedy of the shrinking of transcendence. Adam and Eve were created so that their lives would reach as wide as the kingdom and glory of God. In that one disastrous moment they did not expand their boundaries; they dramatically narrowed them. The vertical “more” for which transcendent human beings were created was replaced by a horizontal “more” that was never to be a human being’s life motivation. In that one tragic moment, Adam and Eve migrated to the center of their world, the one place where glory-wired human beings must never live. They did not just opt for independence; they opted for God’s position, and in doing so they forsook any chance of a personal participation in the transcendent glory of a relationship with God. This is why God sent his Redeemer Son to earth. He came to rescue us from ourselves and return to us participation in his transcendence. In his adoption we are restored to the God glory which is to be central to everything we do. In his church we are restored to the community glory in which we were built to participate. In freeing us from idolatry, rather than being ruled by the creation, we are restored to the stewardship glory over creation to which we were called. In the ministry of his indwelling Spirit, through Scripture, we are restored to the truth glory that was meant to be the interpretive lens of every human being since Adam took his first breath. His is a gorgeous work of rescue!”
― Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger than You

“Authenticity begins when you start by admitting that you are inauthentic.”
― John Piper, Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind

“Faithfulness is only half the equation. God expects fruitfulness as well.”
― John Piper, Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind

“You can learn from anybody if you just know the right questions. The Bible says, “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Prov. 20:5 KJV). In other words, you can learn from anybody if you just learn to draw out his or her knowledge. And how do you do it? You draw it out by asking questions. We all know things that others don’t, and others know things of which we are ignorant. That’s why the Bible says, “Iron sharpens iron” (Prov. 27:17).”
― John Piper, Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind

“You will leave all your material wealth behind, but a wealth of knowledge goes with you.”
― John Piper, Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind

“Suffering is the frame, the context, where we learn to love.”
― Paul E. Miller, A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships

“When you realize that death is at the center of love, it is quietly liberating. Instead of fighting the death that comes with love, you embrace what your Father has given you. A tiny resurrection begins in your”
― Paul E. Miller, A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships

“Accepting ambiguity is immensely helpful in the work of love, because when we encounter this strange mixture of good and bad in another person, we tend to lock onto the evil and miss the good. We don’t like ambiguity. We prefer the clarity of judging.”
― Paul E. Miller, A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships

“You endure the weight of love by being rooted in God. Your life energy needs to come from God, not the person you are loving. The more difficult the situation, the more you are forced into utter dependence on God. That is the crucible of love, where self-confidence and pride are stripped away, because you simply do not have the power or wisdom or ability in yourself to love. You know without a shadow of a doubt that you can’t love. That is the beginning of faith—knowing you can’t love. Faith is the power for love. Paul the apostle tells us that the I beam or hidden structure of the Christian life is “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). Faith energizes love. We handle the weight of love by rooting ourselves in God. Our inability to sustain love drives us into dependence on God. Then faith becomes a continuous cry. Like the tax collector in the temple, we cry out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13). In overwhelming situations where you are all out of human love, you discover that you are praying all the time because you can’t get from one moment to the next without God’s help. You realize you can’t do life on your own, and you need God and his love to be the center. You lean upon God because you can’t bear the weight of love. So faith is not a mountain to climb, but a valley to fall”
― Paul E. Miller, A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships

“We usually recoil from the cost of love, thinking it is an alien substance, but it is the essence of love. This is strangely encouraging because when the pressure of love builds, we think that somehow we showed up for the wrong life. This isn’t what we signed up for. But no, this is the divine path called love.”
― Paul E. Miller, A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships