Ideas

PHILIP YANCEY: The Power of Writing

Columnist

Classic and contemporary excerpts

Growing Downward

We grow up into Christ by growing down into lowliness. …

Off-loading our fantasies of omnicompetence, we start trying to be trustful, obedient, dependent, patient, and willing in our relationship to God. We give up our dreams of being greatly admired for doing wonderfully well. We begin teaching ourselves unemotionally and matter-of-factly to recognize that we are not likely ever to appear, or actually to be, much of a success by the world’s standards. We bow to events that rub our noses in the reality of our own weaknesses, and we look to God for strength quietly to cope. …

It is impossible at the same time to give the impression both that I am a great Christian and that Jesus Christ is a great Master. So the Christian will practice curling up small, as it were, so that in and through him or her the Savior may show himself great. That is what I mean by growing downward.

– J. I. Packer in “Rediscovering Holiness”

God’s Presence-In Us

The emotional ecstasy of black Protestant worship symbolizes a profound religious truth: the preeminent place of God’s presence in this world is the person. His altar is the human heart. Moreover, it is the whole person, body as well as spirit, that makes God present. In a society chronically split between body and spirit, African-American ritual exemplifies embodied spirit and inspirited body in gesture, dance, song and performed word. … A radically personal vision of life flows from this liturgical sensibility. Contrary to the depersonalizing pressures of slavery and racial oppression, the person is of ultimate value because an image of the divine. Anything, then, that defaces that image is sacrilegious.

– Albert J. Raboteau in “America” (May 21, 1994)

His Glory Fills The Earth

In order that we finite beings may apprehend the Emperor He translates His glory into multiple forms-into stars, woods, waters, beasts, and the bodies of men.

– C. S. Lewis in “God in the Dock”

Personal Shake-Up

Anyone who opens his personality to the living Spirit takes a risk of being considerably shaken.

– J. B. Phillips in “For This Day”

The Great Depression

The modern view seems much nicer to talk about than sin. Sin is so depressing. It makes people feel bad about themselves-or so psychologists tell us.

– John Alexander in “The Other Side” (Jan.-Feb. 1993)

We Need Each Other

Communion is strength; solitude is weakness. Alone, the fine old beech yields to the blast and lies prone on the meadow. In the forest, supporting each other, the trees laugh at the hurricane. The sheep of Jesus flock together. The social element is the genius of Christianity.

– Charles Spurgeon from “The Quotable Spurgeon”

Imitators Of God

The study of divinity is not possible apart from what the author of the Epistle to the Ephesians dares to call the imitation of God. … [M]ost people who teach and study at divinity schools miss this point. That the way in which life together is conducted is as essential to the knowledge and love of God as is much reading. … [A]part from the way of life that imitates the life of God, our words about him are more like gossip than truth.

– Philip Turner in “First Things” (October 1992)

Little Is Much When

God is in it

Serving God with our little is the way to make it more; and we must never think that wasted with which God is honored or men are blest.

– Henrietta Mears in “Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story”

Keep Looking Up

Remember the great need you have of the grace and assistance of God. You should never lose sight of Him-not for a moment.

– Andrew Murray in “The Believer’s Secret of the Abiding Presence”

Always The Winner

Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?

– John Milton in “Areopagitica”

Copyright © 1994 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

Re-engineering the Seminary?

Bringing the Poor to the Polls

NORTH AMERICAN SCENE: Church Refuses to Vacate Building

President, Quayle Tout Values Theme

Ministers Decry 'Censorship'

Finance Agency Faces $500,000 Suit

Camping Misses End of World

Is Word-Faith Movement Out on a Limb

State's Religious Ed Questioned in Nicaragua

Haitian Relief Teams Prepare to Return

News

Korean Presbyterian Church Refuses to Vacate Building

Tunnel Mystery Unearthed

Survey Questions Protestant Figures

Gridiron Star Tackles Urban Inner City Problems

BOOKS: Getting to Yes

BOOKS: Worth Mentioning

Whose Feminism?

PHILIP YANCEY: The Power of Writing

ARTICLE: Shouting Heresy in the Temple of Darwin

News

Teaching Manhood in the Urban Jungle

News

News Briefs: October 24, 1994

Wire Story

Clinton Intervenes in RFRA Test Case

Wire Story

Prolifers Arrested in Cairo

Back from Bulgaria

Editorial

Get Real

Editorial

EDITORIAL: Cairoโ€™s Wake-up Call

Editorial

EDITORIAL: Take Us Out of the Ball Game

News

News Briefs: October 24, 1994

ARTICLE: The Good Capitalist

ARTICLE: Why They Helped the Jews

ARTICLE: The Translatorโ€™s Tale

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from October 24, 1994

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Letting the Boat Out of the Bag

News

Is Laughing for the Lord Holy?

View issue

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Be Afraid

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Sometimes, thereโ€™s safety in numbers.

News

In Appalachia, Helene’s Water Crisis Taps a Global Christian Response

North Carolina churches are seeing people suffering dehydration. Disaster groups that work overseas are showing up to help.

Public Theology Project

The Bible Doesnโ€™t Fit an Information Age

Algorithms strip us of mystery. The Gospels restore our ability to be astonished by the truth.

Wire Story

Evangelicals for Harris Asked to โ€˜Cease and Desistโ€™ Billy Graham Ad

Franklin Graham says the campaign is โ€œtrying to mislead peopleโ€ by positioning his fatherโ€™s preaching in contrast to Donald Trump.

Facing My Limits in a Flood Zone

As a minister, Iโ€™m used to helping people during crisis. But trapped at home during Hurricane Helene, I could only care for who was in front of me.

5 Lessons Christians Can Learn from the Barmen Declaration

How a wartime confession resisted Hitlerโ€™s Nazification of the German church, and why its principles are still relevant today.

The Russell Moore Show

Autocracy, Robots, and Outlaws

Russell Moore and Ashley Hales, CTโ€™s editorial director for print, discuss what theyโ€™re reading.

News

Back at Shooting Site, Trump Supporters Pray for His Protection

Still shaken by the tragic attack, Butler, Pennsylvania, welcomed the former president back with cheers of triumph and a memorial for the previous rallyโ€™s victim.

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