Quotes from Kent Hughes

The importance of having our ears dug open comes to us from the lips of Jesus: "He who has an ear, let him hear . . ." (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). We need to read God's Word, but we must also pray that He will blast through our granite-block heads so we truly hear His Word.

Conversion meant a conscious turning away from the old way of life.

Again, the emphasis of the language warns against regression, for it literally reads, "You have become having need of milk, not solid food."4 They had begun to eat solid food early on but were now back on the bottle. The truth is, there is simply no such thing as a static Christian. We either move forward or fall back. We are either climbing or falling. We are either winning or losing. Static, status quo Christianity is a delusion!

Just when we think we are the safest, when we feel no need to keep our guard up, to work on our inner integrity, to discipline ourselves for godliness — temptation will come!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer made the observation that when lust takes control, "At this moment God . . . loses all reality. . . . Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.

Among the tragedies of our time is humanity's pursuit of personal peace apart from God's enabling grace. That pursuit takes many forms: material, intellectual, social, even religious; but they all end in futility. When sinners find peace through God's grace, that is beautiful, that is cause for rejoicing! "Grace . . . and peace" is the proper Christian greeting and celebration (v. 2).

So today, at the end of the twentieth century, we have a phenomenon unthinkable in any other century: churchless Christians. There is a vast herd of professed Christians who exist as nomadic hitchhikers without accountability, without discipline, without discipleship, living apart from the regular benefits of the ordinances.

Other helpful passages include Job 31:1, Proverbs 6:27, Mark 9:42ff., Ephesians 5:3-7, and 2 Timothy 2:22, some of which are commented upon below.)

Faith spawns reflexive steps of obedience. It steps out. We must not imagine that we have faith if we do not obey.

Little hearts, though safe and protected, never contribute anything. No one benefits from their shrunken sympathies and visions. On the other hand, hearts that have embraced the disciplines of ministry—though they are vulnerable—are also the hearts that possess the most joy and leave their heart prints on the world. Cultivate

At this moment [of lust] God . . . loses all reality. . . . Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

We will never get anywhere in life without discipline, be it in the arts, business, athletics, or academics.