Max Cederlund > Max's Quotes

“On many occasions I have been asked if I think persecution will come to the Western church. My answer might surprise you. I believe that if you find yourself enslaved inside a controlling church structure of legalism and bondage, then you are already being persecuted! So many Christians seem impossibly distracted from hearing God's voice. Instead of listening to that still, small voice that brings true peace and joy, they blindly follow the voices of mainstream religion. The worst kind of persecution for a Christian is when you are separated from the joy and presence of the Holy Spirit.”
― Brother Yun, Living Water

“While we can’t force people to be devoted, it may be that we have made it too easy for them not to be. By trying to keep everyone interested and excited, we’ve created a cheap substitute for devotion. Rather than busying themselves with countless endeavors, the early followers devoted themselves to a few. And it changed the world. It seems like the Church of America is constantly looking for the next new thing.”
― Francis Chan, Letters to the Church

“Maybe this is why 75 percent of church-raised children ditch the church when they turn 18. They see the gap between our supposed beliefs and our actions and decide not to join the hypocrisy.”
― Francis Chan, You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.”
― Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

“God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.”
― Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

“‎"Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?”
― Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

“Nothing that we despise in other men is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don't do, and more in light of what they suffer.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others...not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”
― Mother Teresa

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”
― Mother Teresa, A Simple Path: Mother Teresa

“I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.”
― Mother Teresa

“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”
― Mother Teresa

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
― Mother Teresa

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”
― Mother Teresa

“May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.”
― Mother Teresa

“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”
― Mother Theresa of Calcutta

“Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.”
― Mother Teresa

“There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point.
What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house.
That says enough.”
― Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”
― Shane Claiborne

“All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe.”
― Shane Claiborne

“Mother Theresa always said, "Calcuttas are everywhere if only we have eyes to see. Find your Calcutta.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the Kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy, too. But I guess that's why God invented highlighers, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“Dance until they kill you, and then we'll dance some more.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“Sometimes people call folks here at the Simple Way saints. Usually they either want to applaud our lives and live vicariously through us, or they want to write us off as superhuman and create a safe distance. One of my favorite quotes, written on my wall here in bold black marker, is from Dorothy Day: "Don't call us saints; we don't want to be dismissed that easily”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that; not everyone has that gift of vision. It also means that you have a responsibility to lead us in new ways.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“I always tell our community that we should attract the people Jesus attracted and frustrate the people Jesus frustrated. It’s certainly never our goal to frustrate, but it is worth noting that the people who were constantly agitated were the self-righteous, religious elite, the rich, and the powerful. But the people who were fascinated by him, by his love and grace, were folks who were already wounded and ostracized — folks who didn’t have much to lose, who already knew full well that they were broken and needed a Savior.”
― Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Revolution: What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said?

“We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everybody else, they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“What if evangelical mega churches became known around the world for things like providing water access for entire countries or fighting to end the AIDS pandemic? Imagine what integrity that would give to the good news we preach, especially the gospel that Jesus declares is good news to the poor.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical