Gospel Treason Quotes

“Detecting and destroying idols is an ongoing battle.”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“I’m not yet finished changing and growing, for I hope to never be satisfied with who I am in Christ until either he takes me home or he returns.”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“Anything that prevents the gospel from having center stage in your life will dramatically affect the way you live and hinder the degree to which you glorify God.”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“It is impossible to live life effectively without God. He’s the oxygen for life! Yet a man will strap on an oxygen tank and dive into life, trying to make it without God—but he keeps having to come up for air because the tank is limited, finite. And one by one the hoses on those tanks start to burst, and he ends up spending his life underwater, sucking air through a pinched hose and wondering why life isn’t as good as he thought it would be. It’s God that’s missing. This man doesn’t have the real thing! He’s living on substitutes, and substitutes never satisfy. But instead of realizing, “Oh, I’ve got a rubber hose in my mouth and a tank on my back. I wasn’t meant to live like this,” we tend to think, “I don’t have the right tank . . . I’ll try something else” or “I don’t have enough tanks; there’s somebody else who’s got dozens of them. I just need more.” And that’s the lie. We need to come up, shed the tank, drop the rubber hoses, and breathe the fresh, wide-open air of God and God’s grace. Only he can satisfy. Remember, sinning is what you do when you’re not satisfied in God, and sinning is what you do when you’re chasing after something other than God, namely, one of your idols.”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“Oswald Chambers cautioned us when he said, “I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His showroom; He is getting me to the place where He can use me.”2”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“Success in ministry is important, but when I assume it is all-important, I have made it an idol . . .It is possible to make such an idol of success that you prize it more than God.”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deut. 33:27) In you, O LORD, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness. Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated those who regard useless idols; But I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities. (Ps. 31:1–7) God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. (Ps. 46:1, 10–11) For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works. (Ps. 73:27–28)”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“O Lord, Bend my hands and cut them off, for I have often struck thee with a wayward will, when these fingers should embrace thee by faith. I am not yet weaned from all created glory, honor, wisdom and esteem of others, for I have a secret motive to eye my name in all I do. Let me not only speak the word sin, but see the thing itself. Give me to view a discovered sinfulness, to know that though my sins are crucified they are never wholly mortified. Hatred, malice, ill-will, vain-glory that hungers for and hunts after man’s approval and applause, all are crucified, forgiven, but they rise again in my sinful heart. O my crucified but never wholly mortified sinfulness! O my life-long damage and daily shame! O my indwelling and besetting sins! O the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart! Destroy, O God, the dark guest within whose hidden presence makes my life a hell. Yet thou hast not left me here without grace; The cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul. . . . The memory of my great sins, my many temptations, my falls, bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of thy great help, of thy support from heaven, of the great grace that saved such a wretch as I am. There is no treasure so wonderful as that continuous experience of thy grace towards me which alone can subdue the risings of sin within: Give me more of it.6”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“Gary Thomas rightly suggests that when we are constantly anxious about or disappointed with ourselves, perhaps we have made an "idol out of our own piety." To grow into the person God wants us to be, we need to die to out habit of constantly gazing at ourselves, being morbidly occupied, worried and anxious about our performance or lack of perfection. Instead we need to learn to take our eyes off of ourselves and fix them on the perfection, beauty and grace of God.”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols

“When someone is in a rage either at home or in public, you can be sure that someone else has threatened one of his or her idols - and war is about to break out!”
― Brad Bigney, Gospel Treason: Betraying the Gospel with Hidden Idols