Two Powerful Quotes
December 1, 2008
While working on a new post, I came across two powerful quotes I wanted to pass along. Both are worth some time and consideration. Thanks to Becky over at IHOP for posting these.
First from John Piper, Hunger for God, p. 14 -
The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of the triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.
The Second from Allen Hood, The Excellencies of Christ -
Satan the adversary, the ‘bringer of light,’ opposes the advances of the Gospel primarily through the realm of ideas and deception. The object of his deception and the subject matter of his deception is who? It is Jesus.
That is why for the first four-hundred years the Church fought vigorously for the Person of Christ, to the shedding of blood to the laying down of their life. There is a reason why they could not worship at the emperor’s altar. Beloved, if Jesus is just a good teacher, if He just shows you the way to God, then they can easily worship at the altar of the emperor. Yet hundreds and hundreds of thousands of believers year after year after year were led to the lions, were filleted alive, were skinned alive, were run through, were crucified upside down, were hung on crosses, they were burned and set on fire. Why?
Because He is not optional. He is the unique, supreme, revelation of the Living God. When you have Him you have it all. When you do not, you do not. Satan will oppose that revelation over everything, and he will do it through the most popular polished people on the globe. He does not mind feeding the poor. He minds the testimony of Jesus who is the only King who will return and set the poor truly free… [The testimony of Jesus Christ] is the subject matter that will enflame our hearts and set us on fire and make us fearless before the most powerful men and women of the earth.