christian living on Dissapproval

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intellige...

The Christian who cares only for God’s approval lives free of the tyranny of conformist pressures, relaxed under the steady direction of the God who loves us and gives himself for us. Those who try to...

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

Don't accept the applause of men, and you won't be destroyed by their criticism.

People try to persuade us that the objections against Christianity spring from doubt. The objections against Christianity spring from insubordination, the dislike of obedience, rebellion against all a...

I find your lack of faith—disturbing.

In this tragic world, we are surrounded by discontented people. Every minute of the day, it is possible to see evidence of this restless discontentment in the way people respond to circumstances. Peop...

[With respect to rejecting the sacraments] Nothing is more odd than for the faithful freely to do without the assistance handed down by the Lord or allow themselves to be deprived.

We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.

Your approval before God is woven into the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, not what other men and women think about you.

It does not spoil your happiness to confess your sin. The unhappiness is in not making the confession.

But to reject, marginalize, trivialize, or be suspicious of the sacraments (and quasi-sacramental acts such as lighting a candle, bowing, washing feet, raising hands in the air, crossing oneself and s...

A certain amount of opposition is great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind.

President Calvin Coolidge returned home from attending church early one Sunday afternoon. His wife had been unable to attend, but she was interested in what the minister spoke on in the service. Cooli...

It goes against the grain to give an image of oneself that is anything less than perfect, and many Christians imagine that they will be rejected by others if they admit to any faults. But nothing coul...

My Christian fellowship circle will allow me not to follow him and even not to plan to follow him, but they will not permit me to say it.

Non-discipleship is the elephant in the church; it is not the many moral failures, financial abuses, or amazing general similarity between Christians and non-Christians. These are only the effects of ...

If God were our one and only desire we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.

Popularity has killed more prophets than persecution.

There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they ...

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.

It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience.

Laughter, ridicule, opposition, persecution, are often the only reward which Christ's followers get from the world.

I don’t know what I did wrong. But he had that “calmer than calm” look that hid a rage inside. I picked up the phone and saw her name. Not now. I can’t handle her right now. I scanned the room, lookin...

Christian disunity is and remains a massive impediment to the gospel itself—the proclamation of which is and should be evangelicalism’s strong suit.

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.

Silence. All human unhappiness comes from not knowing how to stay quietly in a room.

…there are two ways to fail to let Jesus be your Savior. One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex—not to accept his challenge [to accept what the gospel says about our unworthiness]. Bu...

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).

Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can't believe. Unbelief is won't believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light. Unbelief ...