Skye Jethani Quotes & Sayings

How can a prisoner plot his escape if he doesn't believe a world exists outside the prison walls? — Skye Jethani

As much as we might want to control God, history has proven that he is notoriously uncooperative. — Skye Jethani

By placing all our focus on receiving God's blessings and gifts, we behave just like the arrogant young man in the story [Parable of the Prodigal Son] - we value what God can do for us but not God himself. We seek a relationship with God as a utilitarian means to an end. And although we may praise him with our words, our hearts are set on what we hope to get from him. We become jerks cloaked in religiosity. — Skye Jethani

More than a century of marinating in this stew of products, ads, and desire has transformed the way people see themselves and the world. Although lack of self-control has always plagued humanity, for the first time in history, an economic system has been created that relies on it. If people began suppressing their desires and consuming only what they needed, our economy would collapse. To prevent this, satisfying personal desires has become sacrosanct. — Skye Jethani

In reality, to quote G. K. Chesterton, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."2 Or perhaps it might be more accurately said of our time that Christianity has not been presented and therefore has been left untried. — Skye Jethani

But surrender is only possible if we have total assurance that we are safe. We must be convinced that if we let go we will be caught. This assurance only comes when we trust that our heavenly Father desires to be with us and will not let us fall. — Skye Jethani

Laws may be good, laws may be just. Laws may give us a sense of what's right and wrong, a sense of morality. Laws can put barriers, hedges, gates around how far evil is allowed to go. But what law cannot do is truly rehabilitate us. It cannot restore to us the dignity that God wants us to have as the creatures made in his image. What law cannot do is truly take the evil, the anger, the hatred out of our hearts. — Skye Jethani

Fear and control are the basis for all human religions. From this common beginning the paths diverge dramatically, splinter, multiply, and finally terminate in different places. But each one is an attempt to overcome suffering, fear, and death by exerting control over natural, and sometimes supernatural, forces. — Skye Jethani

Jesus says God isn't like a gumball machine; he's more like the wind: unpredictable, uncontrollable, no more containable than wind in a bottle. — Skye Jethani

The reason, simply put, is that seeking control is not the solution to the human condition but is part of the problem. — Skye Jethani

Silence is the beginning of all worship. — Skye Jethani

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, than Christians have become pop culture's most devoted admirers. — Skye Jethani

But the only thing of value the church has to offer is the gospel. I believe that one result of the emerging Experience Economy will be a longing for authenticity. To the extent that the church stages worldly experiences, it will lose its effectiveness. — Skye Jethani

We may not use the sword to advance the church's mission anymore, but the sword is no longer the predominant instrument of cultural power and influence. Today the church emulates the methods of corporations and business, and many of us never pause to ask whether such tactics are consistent with the ways of Christ. — Skye Jethani

The reason why we look so crazy as Christians is because we see a world that the rest don't see. We see a God-bathed world in which we are perfectly safe. So safe, so set free from fear that we can even love our enemies without thought of the consequences. — Skye Jethani

We ascribe value to him (the literal meaning of the word "worship") based not on who he is, but on what he can do for us. — Skye Jethani

Today, according to the New York Times, each person is exposed to thirty-five hundred desire-inducing advertisements every day. Rodney Clapp wrote, "The consumer is schooled in insatiability. He or she is never to be satisfied - at least not for long. The consumer is tutored that people basically consist of unmet needs that can be appeased by commodified goods and experiences. — Skye Jethani

The LIFE FROM GOD posture is so appealing because it doesn't ask us to change. What we desire, what we seek, what we do, and how we live - all shaped by consumerism - are not disrupted. Our values and way of life are simply projected onto God and incorporated into a religious system in which we receive divine assistance to meet our desires. In this way LIFE FROM GOD is nothing more than consumerism with a Jesus sticker slapped on the bumper. — Skye Jethani

In secular societies, adherence to God's commands has become a matter of individual conscience, but this has put followers of traditional religions in a quandary. They believe God's blessings or curses are dictated by obedience to his commands, but they are no longer empowered to impose their religious convictions on the entire community. Instead they must pursue cultural crusades using channels in politics and popular culture to impress their values on the masses. — Skye Jethani

This philosophy of spiritual formation through the consumption of external experiences creates worship junkies - Christians who leap from one mountaintop to another, one spiritual high to another, in search of a glory that does not fade. — Skye Jethani

Faith is the opposite of seeking control. It is surrendering control. It embraces the truth that control is an illusion - we never had it and we never will. Rather than trying to overcome our fears by seeking more control, the solution offered by LIFE WITH GOD is precisely the opposite - we overcome fear by surrendering control. — Skye Jethani

Jesus is not laying out another law for us to obey. He's illustrating for us what a truly rehabilitated heart looks like. — Skye Jethani

Here's the core problem we have with the Sermon on the Mount: it isn't that Jesus' teachings are absurd; it's that we don't see the world that Jesus sees. We see a world of injustice and anger and hatred and violence--a world where everything good is in short supply and life itself is fragile. But Jesus saw a world in which his father was in control, in which justice was guaranteed, in which goodness was breaking forth, and in which life itself is without end. And if you see that world through the lens of the gospel, then what Jesus tells us to do and how he informs us to live makes perfect sense. — Skye Jethani

Christian researcher George Barna concludes, "American Christianity has largely failed since the middle of the twentieth century because Jesus' modern-day disciples do not act like Jesus. — Skye Jethani