Matthew Sleeth > Quotes

“Rest shows us who God is. He has restraint. Restraint is refraining from doing everything that one has the power to do. We must never mistake God's restraint for weakness. The opposite is true. God shows restraint; therefore, restraint is holy.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“My grandmother has hundreds of axioms. One of them was 'If you think you want something, wait a month.' One of three things will happen if you follow this sage advice. One: You will forget. Two: You will no longer need it. Or three: You will need it more. Most often numbers one and two will happen.”
― Matthew Sleeth

“The human body runs on oxygen and the energy stores in carbon bonds. That’s how our bodies work. The human soul was built to run on communion with God. That’s how our souls work.”
― Matthew Sleeth, Reforesting Faith: What Trees Teach Us About the Nature of God and His Love for Us

“A bronchogram, or a cast, of our respiratory “tree” is indistinguishable from the shape of a bare oak tree.”
― Matthew Sleeth, Reforesting Faith: What Trees Teach Us About the Nature of God and His Love for Us

“Sabbath is a time to transition from human doings to human beings.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“True change begins in our minds and in our souls.”
― J. Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action

“No one ever found the Lord on the day they won the lottery. Faith is more likely to blossom on the day we lose our job.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“To get to action, one needs faith. Faith results in a convicted heart - a heart that is not proud.”
― Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action

“Christianity is the only religion that weaves trees from one end of its sacred text to the other. Every important character and every major event has a tree marking the spot. There is a tree in the first and last chapter of the Bible, in the first psalm, and in the first gospel.”
― Matthew Sleeth

“Being born anew in the Lord is crucial, but spiritual growth must follow. Spiritual growth is a journey we must actively seek.”
― J. Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action

“Resting one day a week by any name is holy—the point is to stop on that day and look for God.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“Simplifying means having less, wanting less, being satisfied with what you have or less than what you have. It does not mean boredom.”
― J. Matthew Sleeth

“Subtracting a day of rest each week has had a profound effect on our lives. How could it not? One day a week adds up. Fifty-two days a year times an average life span is equal to more than eleven years. Take away eleven years of anything in a lifetime, and there will be a change. This is a law of the universe: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Subtract over a decade of sleep, work, or education, and the entire character of one’s existence is altered. Multiply eleven years times a third of a billion Americans, and you are looking for a lost continent of time. Unfortunately, in our society, it’s not Monday that got mislaid; it’s our Sabbath, our day of rest. If there is to be any hope for recovering the Sabbath, we must first admit that something is missing. Despite reassurances of convenience, safety, and choice, America has been conned.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“As we keep or break the Sabbath day, we nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope by which man rises. Abraham Lincoln”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“To move from thought to action, we must feel some discomfort with who we are.”
― Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action

“Up to this point, everything has been created out of nothing, but on the morning of the seventh day, God makes nothing out of something. Rest is brought into being.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“One of the dangers of keeping up with the neighbors is that we haven't aimed high enough. In 2 Corinthians 10:12, Paul says: "They are only comparing themselves with each other, and measuring themselves by themselves. What foolishness!"
Jesus is the one to aim for.”
― J. Matthew Sleeth

“The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking. Repose is as needful to the mind as sleep to the body. . . . Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength. . . . It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less. Charles Spurgeon”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“We cannot turn back the hands of time. Our 24/7 world is not going to change. Life will only get more intense. New communication tools, nanotechnology, and human engineering will increase the number of tasks an individual can do simultaneously. We will look back with nostalgia at the 24/7 world once these “advances” make 48/7 a reality. If we wish to have a weekly day of rest, it will no longer happen as a societal default. It will happen only as a result of a conscious choice.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word. Make friends of God’s children; help those who are weak, Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone. By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see. Take time to be holy, let Him be thy guide; And run not before Him whatever betide. In joy or in sorrow still follow thy Lord, And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul; Each thought and each motive beneath His control. Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love, Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above. William D. Longstaff”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“The person who begins the day by asking, "What will I wear and how will it look?" may work just as hard as the person who asks, "How can I serve God and save the planet?" It is not the effort put into their actions but the meaning derived from their lives that will vary greatly.”
― J. Matthew Sleeth

“But the opportunity to help abandoned, unconscious human beings... must often be sought out. We can wait a comfortable lifetime to serve unless we put ourselves in a position to help.”
― Matthew Sleeth, Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action

“Whenever the fame and the fury became too oppressive, Jesus found peace speaking to his Father among trees. If Jesus is our teacher, model, and savior, then we should follow his example. When we are tired, when we are discouraged, when we are frustrated, when we are downcast, we need to do what Jesus did: seek solace in the woods. Go to the forest, sit under the trees, and pray. There, beneath the canopy of shade-giving branches, we, like Jesus, can be still and know God (Psalm 46:10).”
― Matthew Sleeth

“As we know from Paul’s writings, early Christians did not have it easy. Monotheistic Jews stoned them, and polytheistic pagans accused them of not getting stoned. They were used as fuel in the lamps at Nero’s parties. Others were served up as lion food in the Coliseum. Romans discriminated against Christians when they hired, and they wouldn’t approve their mortgages. Yet Christianity grew.”
― Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“Genesis 2:7 states, “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground” (KJV). It’s estimated that all the carbon, iron, calcium, and other elements necessary to make a human would cost $4.50 if ordered from a chemical supply house. The image of God’s forming Adam from the dust is not only poetic but also accurate: humans are dirt cheap. The value of a human, however, is not derived from the elements we’re made of. We are jars of clay containing something priceless. It’s the initial breath from God that makes the difference.”
― Matthew Sleeth, Reforesting Faith: What Trees Teach Us About the Nature of God and His Love for Us