Earnest Jackson

“In short, we have no positive, inner desire to pray. We do it only when circumstances force us. Why? We know God is there, but we tend to see him as a means through which we get things to make us happy. For most of us, he has not become our happiness. We therefore pray to procure things, not to know him better.”
― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

“Without the gospel, we may come and ask for things. Without the gospel, we may conceive of a holy God who is intimidating and who can be approached with petitions only if we are very good. Or we may conceive of a God whose “love” just means he regards everyone positively. To approach the first kind of “God” is fearsome; to approach the second kind of God is no big deal. Thus without the gospel, there is no possibility of passion and delight to praise and approach the true God.”
― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

“How do you think of the Bible? Is it law, condemnation, warning, guilt, threats and judgment? Or is it God’s merciful and gracious revelation for fallen, broken humanity?”
― Tedd Tripp, Instructing a Child's Heart

“And when our songs attribute the action of worship to us (“Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down . . .”), then worship is understood as fundamentally an expression of human will, a Pelagian endeavor of self-assertion.”
― James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit