Quotes from Philip Yancey

Like a sudden thaw in the middle of winter, grace happens at unexpected moments. It stops us short, catches the breath, disarms. If we manipulate it, try to control it, somehow earn it, that would not be grace. Yet not everyone has tasted of that amazing grace, and not everyone believes in it.

Jacob the trickster gets his due. After pulling off the ruse, he has to run for his life and spends 20 years in exile with his uncle. Uncle Laban then gives Jacob a dose of his own medicine by planting an unwanted sister in his wedding bed and by repeatedly changing his wages as head shepherd.

Jesus proclaimed unmistakably that God's law is so perfect and absolute that no one can achieve righteousness. Yet God's grace is so great that we do not have to.

Breaking the cycle of ungrace means taking the initiative. Instead of waiting for his neighbor to make the first move

Forgiveness may be unfair—it is, by definition—but at least it provides a way to halt the juggernaut of retribution.

Civilisation once looked to art as the means of passing wisdom from one generation to the next. Writing itself was invented in part to convey the sacred: permanent things deserved a permanent place, hence the hieroglyphs on Egyptian tombs. But a modern civilisation that no longer believes in permanent things, one that accepts no certain narrative of meaning, resorts to deconstruction, not construction.

I find a simple answer in the Bible's overarching theme that God is love. That quality, more than anything else, makes clear the reason behind all creation. Love cannot really exist without an object to receive it.

Jesus' prayer for Peter shows the same pattern in sharp relief. Satan partially got his way with Peter, sifting him like wheat. But in answer to Jesus' prayer, the sifting rid Peter of his least attractive qualities: blustery self-confidence, a chip on his shoulder, a propensity to violence.

Allen Yuan had served a term of twenty-two years at hard labor for holding unauthorized church meetings in China.

Highlight — Genesis 24:3 Marrying Foreigners From this earliest period of Israelite history, there was an emphasis on not marrying foreigners. The reason had to do with religion, not race—in many cases foreigners were distant relatives, but they worshiped false gods. When foreigners were willing to worship Israel's God, they were welcomed (see the book of Ruth, for example).

Calvary broke up the logjam between justice and forgiveness. By accepting onto his innocent self all the severe demands of justice, Jesus broke forever the chain of ungrace.

The law did not encourage obedience, rather it magnified disobedience. Law merely indicated the sickness; grace brought about the cure.