Randy Alcorn Quotes & Sayings

I imagine our first glimpse of Heaven will cause us to gasp in amazement and delight. That first gasp will likely be followed by many more as we continually encounter new sights in that endlessly wonderful place. — Randy Alcorn

When Christ died on the cross for us, he said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The Greek word translated "it is finished" was commonly written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant "paid in full". Christ died so that the certificate of debt, consisting of all our sins, could once and for all be marked "paid in full". — Randy Alcorn

We've fallen for the devil's lie. His most basic strategy, the same one he employed with Adam and Eve, is to make us believe that sin brings fulfillment. However, in reality, sin robs us of fulfillment. Sin doesn't make life interesting; it makes life empty. Sin doesn't create adventure; it blunts it. Sin doesn't expand life; it shrinks it. Sin's emptiness inevitably leads to boredom. When there's fulfillment, when there's beauty, when we see God as he truly is - an endless reservoir of fascination - boredom becomes impossible. — Randy Alcorn

When I save, I lay something aside for future need. If I sense God's leading, I will give it away to meet greater needs. When I hoard, I'm unwilling to part with what I've saved to meet others' needs, because my possible future needs outweigh their actual present needs. I fail to love my neighbor as myself. — Randy Alcorn

Don't forget that the most effective form of child abuse is giving a child everything they want. — Randy Alcorn

If we were to gain God's perspective, even for a moment, and were to look at the way we go through life accumulating and hoarding and displaying our things, we would have the same feelings of horror and pity that any sane person has when he views people in an asylum endlessly beating their heads against the wall. — Randy Alcorn

God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). This doesn't mean we should give only when we're feeling cheerful. The cheerfulness often comes during and after the act of obedience, not before it. So don't wait until you feel like giving - it could be a long wait! Just give and watch the joy follow. — Randy Alcorn

Heaven isn't an extrapolation of earthly thinking; Earth is an extension of Heaven, made by the Creator King. — Randy Alcorn

Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1) This is a direct command to set our hearts on Heaven. And to make sure we don't miss the importance of a heaven-centered life, the next verse says, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." God commands us to set our hearts and minds on Heaven. — Randy Alcorn

If I promised you a new car, would you say, "If it's new, it probably won't have an engine, a transmission, doors, wheels, or windows"? No, you'd never make such assumptions. Why? Because if a new car didn't have these things, it wouldn't be a car. Likewise, when Scripture speaks of a new Earth (2 Peter 3, and Revelation 21), we can expect that it will be a far better version of the old Earth, but it will truly be Earth. — Randy Alcorn

Something nonhuman doesn't become human by getting older and bigger; whatever is human is human from the beginning. — Randy Alcorn

God doesn't make us rich so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children, or so we can insulate ourselves form needing God's provision. God gives us abundant material blessing so that we can give it away, and give it generously. — Randy Alcorn

Foulgrin's Rule Twenty-Three: tactics without strategy are useless. — Randy Alcorn

How Can We Know for Sure That We'll Go to Heaven? — Randy Alcorn

What we love about this life are the things that resonate with the life we were made for. The things we love are not merely the best this life has to offer - they are previews of the greater life to come. — Randy Alcorn

Statistics show that a soldier's chances of survival in the front lines of combat are greater than the chances of an unborn child avoiding abortion. What should be the safest place to live in America - a mother's womb - is now the most dangerous place. — Randy Alcorn

C. S. Lewis wrote, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." Jesus said if your brother "sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him" (Luke 17:4). — Randy Alcorn

Any concept of grace that makes us feel more comfortable sinning is not biblical grace. God's grace never encourages us to live in sin, on the contrary, it empowers us to say no to sin and yes to truth. — Randy Alcorn

When men know they cannot hope in a country, in a political belief, or in themselves, they become free to hope in God. — Randy Alcorn

The everyday choices I make regarding money will influence the very coarse of eternity. — Randy Alcorn

When God provides more money we often think, This is a blessing. Yes, but it would be just as scriptural to say, "This is a test." Abundance isn't God's provision for me to live in luxury. It's his provision for me to help others live. — Randy Alcorn

The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign — Randy Alcorn

Foulgrin: "If you can keep Fletcher from saying a definitive no to a temptation, you've won. Whatever is not a no is merely a postponed yes." (advice to the tempter Squaltaint) — Randy Alcorn

Jewel the Unicorn] cried.- I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this ... Come further up, come further in! — Randy Alcorn

But isn't it wrong to be motivated by reward? No, it isn't. If it were wrong, Christ wouldn't offer it to us a motivation. — Randy Alcorn

Stewardship isn't a subcategory of the Christian life. Stewardship is the Christian life. After all, what is stewardship except that God has entrusted to us life, time, talents, money, possessions, family, and his grace? In each case, he evaluates how we regard what he has entrusted to us and what we do with it. — Randy Alcorn

As you go through life, don't let your feelings-real as they are-invalidate your need to let the truth of God's words guide your thinking. Remember that the path to your heart travels through your mind. Truth matters. — Randy Alcorn

If the Bible is right about what happens to us after death, it means that more than 250 000 people every day go either to Heaven or to Hell. — Randy Alcorn

The grace that has freed us from bondage to sin is desperately needed to free us from our bondage to materialism. — Randy Alcorn

Forgiveness is a matter of choice, not feelings. We demonstrate true forgiveness when we refuse to brood over the sins committed against us. — Randy Alcorn

When Jesus warns us not to store up treasures on earth, it's not just because wealth might be lost; it's because wealth will always be lost. Either it leaves us while we live, or we leave it when we die. No exceptions ... Realizing its value is temporary should radically affect our investment strategy ... According to Jesus, storing up earthly treasures isn't simply wrong. It's just plain stupid. — Randy Alcorn

There's a throne in each life big enough for only one. Christ may be on that throne, or money may be. But both cannot occupy it. — Randy Alcorn

In the United States there are sixteen-and-a-half square feet of mall space for every man, woman, and child. — Randy Alcorn

The devil specializes in rearranging price tags, making the cheap look valuable and the miserable appear happy. (For example, if, before the purchase, people saw photos of themselves after five years of using methamphetamines, would they still buy them?) — Randy Alcorn

Because satan hates us, he's determined to rob us of the joy we'd have if we believed what God tells us about the magnificent world to come. — Randy Alcorn

Good-hearted laughter is a tribute to the happy God, who created laughter and delights to enter into it with us. — Randy Alcorn

Each day every man comes closer to the day of his death. Those who lay up their treasures in Thuros spend each day moving away from them. Those who lay up their treasures in Charis spend each day moving toward them. — Randy Alcorn

Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6, emphasis added). Call that payoff contentment, satisfaction, peace, or excitement - it all adds up to one word: happiness — Randy Alcorn

Anyone who has tasted rotten fruit is right to object to rottenness. But they're wrong to object to fruit itself! There's good fruit and bad fruit. There's righteous happiness and sinful happiness. — Randy Alcorn

Earth is a in-between world touched by both Heaven and Hell. Earth leads directly into Heaven or directly into Hell, affording a choice between the two. The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell. — Randy Alcorn

Many atheistic books and blogs seethe with anger. Remarkably, the authors do not limit their anger to Christians. They seem most livid with God. I don't believe in leprechauns, but I haven't dedicated my life to battling them. I suppose if I believed that people's faith in leprechauns poisoned civilization, I might get angry with members of leprechaun churches. But there's one thing I'm quite sure I wouldn't do: I would not get angry with leprechauns. Why not? Because I can't get angry with someone I know doesn't exist. — Randy Alcorn

God comes right out and tells us why he gives us more money than we need. It's not so we can find more ways to spend it. It's not so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children. It's not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God's provision. It's so we can give and give generously (2 Corinthians 8:14; 9:11) — Randy Alcorn

The vermin explain their sin with sanctimonious language like, "We've prayed about it and sought counsel, and we feel it's the right thing to do." Don't let it down on them that to the Enemy what they feel is inconsequential. His moral laws don't give a rip about how any of them feel. The sludgebags have no more power to vote them in and out of existence than they have power to revoke the law of gravity. — Randy Alcorn

In Heaven, to look into God's eyes will be to see what we've always longed to see: the person who made us for His own good pleasure. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time. — Randy Alcorn

Are you winning the battle against materialism? — Randy Alcorn

We will look into God's eyes and see what we've always longed to see: the person who made us for his own good pleasure. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time. Why? Because not only will we see God, he will be the lens through which we see everything else - other people, ourselves, and the events of our earthly lives. — Randy Alcorn

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." God's thoughts are indeed higher than ours, but when he reduces his thoughts into words and reveals them in Scripture, he expects us to study them, meditate on them, and understand them - again, not exhaustively, but accurately. — Randy Alcorn

God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that He loves us. - Sinclair Ferguson — Randy Alcorn

Imagine you're alive at the end of the Civil War. You're living in the South, but you're a Northerner. You plan to move home as soon as the war's over. While in the South you've accumulated lots of Confederate currency. Now, suppose you know for a fact the North's going to win the war, and the end is imminent. What will you do with your Confederate money? If you're smart, there's only one answer. You should immediately cash in your Confederate currency for U. S. currency - the only money that will have value once the war's over. Keep only enough Confederate currency to meet your short-term needs. Kingdom currency, backed by the eternal treasury, is the only medium of exchange recognized by the Son of God, whose government will last forever. The currency of his kingdom is our present faithful service and sacrificial use of our resources for him. The payoff in eternity will be what Paul called 'a firm foundation' consisting of treasures beyond our wildest dreams. — Randy Alcorn

Jesus tells you exactly how to get it. Put your money in missions-and in your church and the poor-and your heart will follow. — Randy Alcorn

We can't surrender to the culture. We've minimized the role of fathers, so we've created a generation of barbarians, children who become men without growing up. They stay in boyhood through their 20s and 30s, sometimes their whole lives. They think of themselves first, indulge in pornography, do what they feel like, leave their wives, and culture, and churches to raise their children. — Randy Alcorn

There's only one requirement for enjoying God's grace: being broke ... and knowing it. — Randy Alcorn

I feel like a child who has found a wonderful trail in the woods. Countless others have gone before and blazed the trail, but to the child it's as new and fresh as if it had never been walked before. The child is invariably anxious for others to join in the great adventure. It's something that can only be understood by actual experience. Those who've begun the journey, and certainly those who've gone further than I, will readily understand what I am saying. — Randy Alcorn

The most tragic strain in human existence lies in the fact that the pleasure which we find in the things of this life, however good that pleasure may be in itself, is always taken away from us. The things for which men strive hardly ever turn out to be as satisfying as they expected, and in the rare cases in which they do, sooner or later they are snatched away ... For the Christians, all those partial, broken and fleeting perfections which he glimpses in the world around him, which wither in his grasp and he snatches away from him even while the wither, are found again, perfect, complete and lasting in the absolute beauty of God. — Randy Alcorn

Whenever we have excess, giving should be our natural response. It should be the automatic decision, the obvious thing to do in light of Scripture and human need. — Randy Alcorn

We see that the world seeks happiness instead of holiness. Therefore, we assume we should do the opposite. But we're wrong. — Randy Alcorn

Grace and truth are spiritual DNA, the building blocks of Christ-centered living. — Randy Alcorn

The repentant man rightfully loses trust in himself. He recognizes his self-dependence as the source of his problems, not the solution. — Randy Alcorn

Perhaps parents' greatest heritage to pass on to their children is the ability to perceive the multitude of God's daily blessings and to respond with continual gratitude. We should be "abounding in thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:7). — Randy Alcorn

Now think, my brother, you will be in Heaven very soon. Since last year a great number have gone home: before next year many more will have ascended to glory. Sitting up in those celestial seats, how shall we wish that we had lived below?" - Charles Spurgeon — Randy Alcorn

It's always easier to avoid temptation than to resist it. — Randy Alcorn

There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them. - C. S. Lewis — Randy Alcorn

God could have created us without loving us, but He would not have gone to the Cross without loving us. — Randy Alcorn

He who lays up treasures in heaven looks forward to eternity — Randy Alcorn

For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a wold where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand. — Randy Alcorn

A Greek philosopher said, 'All men think it is only the other man who is mortal'. The way we scurry about accumulating things is testimony to our unspoken doctrine that we are exceptions to the law of death. The events of September 11, 2001, were a shocking reminder to millions of Americans of something we should have already understood - our mortality. — Randy Alcorn

It's my responsibility to cultivate the man in my son. I can't be passive about that. — Randy Alcorn

Compassion for the mother is extremely important, but is never served through destroying the innocent. — Randy Alcorn

Ever seen that bumper sticker "He who dies with the most toys wins"? Millions of people act as if it were true. The more accurate saying is "He who dies with the most toys still dies - and never takes his toys with him." When we die after devoting our lives to acquiring things, we don't win - we lose. We move into eternity, but our toys stay behind, filling junkyards. The bumper sticker couldn't be more wrong. — Randy Alcorn

Our society holds to youthfulness with a white-knuckled grip. Ultimately it's all in vain. But the gospel promises us eternal youthfulness in God's presence. — Randy Alcorn

This is one of the great paradoxes of suffering. Those who don't suffer much think suffering should keep people from God, while many who suffer a great deal turn to God, not from him. — Randy Alcorn

Father to teenage son: My relationship with you is more important than anything I've got to say to you. — Randy Alcorn

Ironically, many people can't afford to give precisely because they're not giving. If we pay our debt to God first, then we will incur His blessing to help us pay our debts to men. But when we rob God to pay men, we rob ourselves of God's blessing. — Randy Alcorn

Giving up everything must mean giving over everything to kingdom purposes, surrendering everything to further the one central cause, loosening our grip on everything. For some of us, this may mean ridding ourselves of most of our possessions. But for all of us it should mean dedicating everything we retain to further the kingdom. (For true disciples, however, it cannot mean hoarding or using kingdom assets self-indulgently.) — Randy Alcorn

A nominal Christian often discovers in suffering that his faith has been in his church, denomination, or family tradition, but not Christ. As he faces evil and suffering, he may lose his faith. But that's actually a good thing. I have sympathy for people who lose their faith, but any faith lost in suffering wasn't a faith worth keeping. — Randy Alcorn

If we realize we're undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive. Instead of whining about everything that goes wrong, we're surprised at God's many kindnesses, and our hearts overflow with thanks. — Randy Alcorn

What you do with your resources in this life is your autobiography. — Randy Alcorn

Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavored, partakes of the kingdom's imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness, every resistance of temptation, every motion of repentance, every gesture of concern, every routine engagement, every motion of worship, every struggle towards obedience, every mumbled prayer, everything, literally, which flows out of our faith-relationship with the Ever-Living One, will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at his coming. — Randy Alcorn

I have met no people who fully disbelieved in Hell and also had a living and life-giving belief in Heaven. — Randy Alcorn

We are [God's] by creation, and again by redemption. He has every right to tell me what to do with my mind and body. I have. I right to do whatever I want with my body. — Randy Alcorn

Imagine if our churches were known for being communities of Jesus-centered happiness, overflowing with the sheer gladness of what it means to live out the good news of great joy. Imagine if our children brought their friends to church and their comment was, "Those people seem so nice . . . and happy. — Randy Alcorn

Tomorrow's character is made out of today's thoughts. Temptation may come suddenly, but sin does not. — Randy Alcorn

He's spilled the beans. He's poured out His intentions, allowing us full access. The humans put the Forbidden Book on display tables and shelves. But we actually read it; indeed we must no matter how loathsome. — Randy Alcorn

If economic catastrophe does come, will it be a time that draws Christians together to share every resource we have, or will it drive us apart to hide in our own basements or mountain retreats, guarding at gunpoint our private stores from others? If we faithfully use our assets for his kingdom now, rather than hoarding them, can't we trust our faithful God to provide for us then? — Randy Alcorn

The beginning of the way to heaven, is to feel that we are on the way to hell. - J. C. Ryle — Randy Alcorn

The kingdom of God . . . does not mean merely the salvation of certain individuals nor even the salvation of a chosen group of people. It means nothing less than the complete renewal of the entire cosmos, culminating in the new heaven and the new earth. Anthony Hoekema — Randy Alcorn

Nothing is more poisonous than the spirit of entitlement that permeates our culture and sometimes, sadly, our churches. — Randy Alcorn

It's possible for someone to act sacrificially and selflessly in the best interests of others while enjoying the fruit: feeling good about having done well and receiving God's approval and reward. — Randy Alcorn

Abundance isn't God's provision for me to live in luxury. It's his provision for me to help others live. God entrusts me with his money not to build my kingdom on earth, but to build his kingdom in heaven. — Randy Alcorn

Our minds are so much set on Earth that we are unaccustomed to heavenly thinking. So we must work at it. — Randy Alcorn

You and I are characters in God's Story, handmade by Him. Every character serves a purpose. — Randy Alcorn

Teach your children gratefulness. Do all you can to deliver them from our culture's poisonous entitlement mentality. — Randy Alcorn

If Miss Watson had told Huck what the Bible says about living in a resurrected body and being with people we love on a resurrected Earth with gardens and rivers and mountains and untold adventures
now that would have gotten his attention. — Randy Alcorn

The opportunities for using our financial resources to spread the gospel and strengthen the church all over the world are greater than they've ever been. As God raised up Esther for just such a time as hers, I'm convinced he's raise us up, with all our wealth, to help fulfill the great commission. The question is, what are we doing with that money? Our job is to make sure it gets to his intended recipients. — Randy Alcorn

No pretense or wearing masks. No cliques. No hidden agendas, backroom deals, betrayals, secret ambitions, plots, or schemes. — Randy Alcorn

When I believe ultimate happiness is found only in God, then I will shut out distractions and open His Word. — Randy Alcorn

Real gold fears no fire. — Randy Alcorn

In the silence punctuated only by their footsteps, both men thought not of themselves but of a Man who once made a long,lonely march up a hill, who in the world's worst hour did the most courageous thing ever done.
At the end of His climb,He spread out His arms and permitted guilty men to drive nails into His hands and feet. He endured untold agony to give undeserving men- like Mike Hollis, Derrick Freeman, Nathan Hayes, and Adam Mitchell- a second chance.
To most people none of this - not what these men were doing now, nor what He did two thousand years ago-made sense.
From the outside, grace and truth,honor and courage,seldom do. — Randy Alcorn

He who lays up treasures on earth spends his life backing away from his treasures. To him, death is loss. He who lays up treasures in heaven looks forward to eternity; he's moving daily toward his treasures. To him, death is gain. He who spends his life moving toward his treasures has reason to rejoice. Are you despairing or rejoicing? — Randy Alcorn

Five minutes after we die, we'll know exactly how much we should have given rather than kept. — Randy Alcorn