Quotes from Philip Yancey

Muslims have great reverence in their prayers but not much intimacy.

What I see in the Bible, especially in the book of Psalms, which is a book of gratitude for the created world, is a recognition that all good things on Earth are God's, every good gift is from above. They are good if we recognize where they came from and if we treat them the way the Designer intended them to be treated.

In China, where you can be arrested and imprisoned for your faith, getting together with other Christians is a lifeline and you'll risk anything for the privilege. No one attends church in China casually, or for a social advantage - quite the opposite.

All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window revealing a different way.

Our best efforts at changing society will fall short unless the church can teach the world how to love.

We should be asking: How do we respond to a post-Christian society?

Be salt, and a little bit of salt keeps the whole society from going rancid.

The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.

Dependence, humility, simplicity, cooperation, and a sense of abandon are qualities greatly prized in the spiritual life, but extremely elusive for people who live in comfort.

The surgery of life hurts. It helps me, though, to know that the surgeon himself, the Wounded Surgeon, has felt every stab of pain and every sorrow.

In some ways, evil is backhanded proof of Gods existence.

God already knows the naked truth about us, of course. Why not acknowledge it?