Mike Erre > Quotes

“There is nothing exceptional about today, except that today can be a day of new beginnings, of crossing lines in the sand, of deciding that you are sick of prison, and you want freedom.”
― Mike Erre

“In so many ways, Jesus turned people’s expectations upside down. Who could have imagined the Creator of the universe invading the earth not in glory, but born to an unwed teenage mother who then placed Him in a feeding trough? Who could have imagined that when Israel’s Messiah appeared, He would be found among the prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners of His day, gaining a reputation as a glutton and a drunkard (Matt. 11:19)? Who could have imagined that God would defeat death by dying? Or conquer evil by allowing its triumph on the cross? Or free humanity by bearing upon Himself the cost of human sin and evil?”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“our infatuation with the spectacular can blind us to the ways in which God moves in and through the ordinary and the common.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“our paint-by-numbers, Kinkade Christianity. Instead of escape or pretense, Jesus calls us to be alive and thirsty, allowing disappointment to drive us back to Him. He bids us to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking, all the while feeling the grief and sorrow of human life acutely. To sell Jesus on the basis of meeting felt needs is fine so long as we define how exactly He “meets” those needs. If meeting those needs means the removal of the sin, sorrow, and disappointment of human life, then we’ll be perpetually disappointed. If meeting those needs means that Jesus uses our unfulfilled desires to keep us dependent and reliant upon Him, then we’re getting close to the secret of the full life that Christ offers.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“is a mistake to market God as the answer to our insatiable desires when He was the one who made certain our desires were insatiable in the first place. God is relentless in His pursuit of humanity; He’ll use anything and everything to bring”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“Welcome, child,” he said. “Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?” “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“Religion gives us forms and shapes for God to fit into, but He constantly proves to be bigger, wider, and deeper than our boxes. Just when we think we’ve figured out where God is going next, the wind blows somewhere else.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“Throughout the Scriptures, God gives us constant reminders of his vastness and majesty. He reveals and invites us into relationship, but he never allows us to forget how big he is. In the Old Testament, his name served that purpose. So did the fact that he appeared to people without form. But the Israelites couldn’t handle a God that awesome, and they set about, time and again, to reduce him to a more manageable size. This has always been the temptation of the people of God—to tame him. He increases mystery; we desire to remove it. He introduces paradox; we seek to solve it. We, like the Israelites before us, want a God who is understandable and predictable and safe. We want a God who makes sense and operates according to generally accepted accounting principles. But instead, we meet YHWH and his son, Ye’shua, who don’t play by our rules.3”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Part of our problem is that we confuse God’s reliability with God’s predictability. God is perfectly reliable. His character never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word never fails. He is love. God does not lie, and there is no hint of darkness in Him. But reliability does not equal predictability. To say that God is always good, faithful, or loving doesn’t mean God always makes sense ahead of time.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“As a full-time paid religious person, I understand the desire to restrict God’s work to only those who are formally recognized by our religious institutions. But He’s too unpredictable for that.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“The main issue with the traditional understanding of evangelism and apologetics is that they are too narrowly construed. The Bible teaches that evangelism is life (we are salt and light) and that the greatest apologetic is a life lived in obedience to God.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The more we grow, the longer we walk with Him, the bigger Jesus should get.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“The gospel of Christ wasn't just revolution "back then" (two thousand years ago) or isn't just revolution "someday" (in heaven). It is also right now, right where you are, with the people who surround you in your job, your life, your hobby, your home. Jesus is a threat to everything, for he turns all things upside down. Our job as the community of his followers is neither to add to nor to take away from the offense of Jesus and his message.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“How do we redeem culture? We observe it and engage it on its terms and then demonstrate the message of Jesus through service and love.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Actins, practices, and resources that are sometimes part of pursuing genuine faith are not bad things in themselves. In fact, I believe genuine faith leads to changes in outward behavior... But when the externals become substitutes for the real thing--an authentic relationship with God--they have fallen to the level of empty religion.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Saying you believe in something is one thing but living like you believe is often another. If your words and actions disagree, which will more loudly declare your beliefs?”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“If you passionately commit yourself to living out his purposes and advancing his kingdom, then God will make sure you live in his will. Trust him that if you are not going in the right direction, he will redirect you. But, I urge you, if you are paralyzed by the idea of the will of God, do something. Doing anything God-honoring is far better than doing nothing at all.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God will guide those whose hearts are open to follow.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus calls his churches to overcome--to engage and redeem and be victorious over the culture around them--and then shows them what this looks like. This is one of the paradoxes of our faith--that Jesus conquered and overcame through suffering and sacrificial love.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“How does God grow people? Often by reminding them how big he is and how small we are. By introducing mystery and tension and difficulty into life so that we might be forced to move beyond trusting our faith and religious systems to actually trusting him.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“We say to God, 'Show me and I'll believe.' Instead, God says to us, 'Believe, and I'll show you.' This is the life of following Jesus Christ. We say, 'God, show me your will and I'll obey you.' God says, 'Obey me, and I'll show you my will.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Rules and rituals are given to God's people to remind them what God is like and what he's called them to. God's commands are for our good, but they (by themselves) do not make us right with him.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Christ followers need not be threatened by truth outside the Bible, for all truth is a reflection of the Holy Creator God.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“In the gutters of human treason and filth, one may find the God who makes things new. So we must grieve. Darkness and evil are real, and God is not interested in our pretending. But not as those who have no hope. For God’s promised new creation was launched in Jesus’s resurrection; the sure sign that God will restore all things … and this hope, as the apostle Paul says, will not disappoint us.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“Jesus is not vitally committed to our comfort and safety; he is committed to the advancing of his kingdom revolution in the hearts of people everywhere.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God is relentless in His pursuit of humanity; He’ll use anything and everything to bring us to the place where we’ll acknowledge our need for Him.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“The circle of those whom God loves has always been bigger than the circle the church has drawn. That is the scandal of grace.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God is not looking for 'more and more' obedience but 'deeper and deeper' obedience. True obedience is of the heart. Externals matter only to the degree that they reflect (and affect) the heart.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“What Brueggemann calls disorientation can also be called the “dark night of the soul,” or simply “real life.” None of us are immune to the pain and hurt and loss inherent to human life on earth, no matter how much we wish it otherwise.”
― Mike Erre, Astonished: Recapturing the Wonder, Awe, and Mystery of Life with God

“Jesus's summary of the whole law is simply this: love God and love each other. Focusing on externals will never make that happen. Religion can help us act lovingly, but it can't turn us into loving people. Only the power of God can do that.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?