Joe

“Good behavior is often a means of keeping God at bay. Obedience and obligation can erect as much a barrier to life with God as lawless rebellion and wanton destruction. Duty and debauchery have more in common than we might expect. Selfishness and self-righteousness just might be twins separated at birth. Both good and evil hang from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; the problem is that they are on the wrong tree.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“The Psalms are the steady, sustained subcurrent of healthy Christian living.”
― N.T. Wright, The Case for the Psalms: why they are essential

“There are no shortcuts in growing up. The path to maturity is long and arduous. Hurry is no virtue. There is no secret formula squirreled away that will make it easier or quicker. But stories help.”
― Eugene H. Peterson, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ

“I don't find pastors and professors, for the most part, very interested in matters of formation in holiness. They have higher profile things to tend to.”
― Eugene H. Peterson, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ