Life has an orientation, a final end toward which everything moves. I realize, however, that I can say this only because I am a Christian. I know that the human adventure moves on to fulfillment, not in glory, but in a rupture followed by a re-creation which is the consummation of this whole history. If I step outside this faith, the human adventure has no orientation of its own. It is not true that history as such has meaning. . . . Human history is in fact a tale told by an idiot.

--Jacques Ellul in

"What I Believe"

We must be careful what we bury in our heart. To bury something does not mean it is dead. It may simply mean we have buried something alive that will devour and destroy us from within.

--Maxie Dunnam in

"Let Me Say That Again"

Are you proving that the Christian life is a joyful, happy thing? Do you look glad that you are a Christian? Does your life radiate joy and enthusiasm? Check yourself carefully on this before you teach it. Make the Christian life contagious.

--Henrietta Mears in

"Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story"

Without love, almsgiving is no more important an action than brushing your hair or washing your hands, and the Pharisees had just as elaborate a ritual for those things as they had for alms, too, because all these things were prescribed by law, and had to be done so. But love does not give money, it gives itself. If it gives itself first and a lot of money too, that is all the better. But first it must sacrifice itself.

--Thomas Merton in

"Run to the Mountain: The Journals of Thomas Merton" (Vol. 1, 1939-41)

Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the ...