Alcorn Quotes & Sayings

Many [Western Christians] habitually think and act as if there is no eternity ... We major in the momentary and minor in the momentous. — Randy Alcorn

Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry, and other relationships are failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other. — Randy Alcorn

God, like a father, doesn't just give advice. He gives himself. He becomes the husband to the grieving widow (Isaiah 54:5). He becomes the comforter to the barren woman (Isaiah 54:1). He becomes the father of the orphaned (Psalm 10:14). He becomes the bridegroom to the single person (Isaiah 62:5). He is the healer to the sick (Exodus 15:26). He is the wonderful counselor to the confused and depressed (Isaiah 9:6). — Randy Alcorn

I shovel out the money, and God shovels it back - but God has a bigger shovel. - R. G. LeTourneau — 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

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

Yes," Marcus said. "The King is not gone, you know. He walks the planet, disguised as the needy. — Randy Alcorn

Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity; in fact it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are the greater we realize God's grace. — 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

It's dangerous faith in our untamed Savior that leads us to the joy we crave. — 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

When Paul was taken in chains from his filthy Roman dungeon and beheaded at the order of the opulent madman Nero, two representatives of humanity faced off, one of the best and one of the worst. One lived for prosperity on earth, the other didn't. One now lives in prosperity in heaven, the other doesn't. We remember both men for what they truly were, which is why we name our sons Paul and our dogs Nero. — Randy Alcorn

It's crazy to put women in situations where they're bound to go crazy, and then act like there's something wrong with them for going crazy. — Katrina 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

Sin and death and suffering and war and poverty are not natural - they are the devastating results of our rebellion against God. We long for a return to Paradise - a perfect world, without the corruption of sin, where God walks with us and talks with us in the cool of the day. — Randy Alcorn

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

Ithing isn't something I do to clear my conscience so I can do whatever I want with the 90 percent
it also belongs to God! I must seek his direction and permission for whatever I do with the full amount. I may discover that God has different ideas than I do. — Randy Alcorn

Shouldn't we just admit the obvious--that the New Testament call to discipleship, compassion, and giving leaves no room for the way many of us are thinking and living? Is it time to get beyond the theoretical stance of 'I'd be willing to give up anything if God asked me to,' and start actually giving up things in order to do what He's commanded us? — 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

Meanwhile, we on this dying Earth can relax and rejoice for our loved ones who are in the presence of Christ. As the apostle Paul tells us, though we naturally grieve at losing loved ones, we are not "to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our parting is not the end of our relationship, only an interruption. We have not "lost" them, because we know where they are. They are experiencing the joy of Christ's presence in a place so wonderful that Christ called it Paradise. And one day, we're told, in a magnificent reunion, they and we "will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18). — 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

We don't like to think about death; yet, worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour. 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 Hell.9 David said, "Show me, O Lord, my — 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

Well if you're going to be friends with me, you're going to have to get used to the fact that I have no filter and will always state the obvious. — N.A. Alcorn

Some take pains to be biblical, but many [Christian financial teachers, writers, investment counselors, and seminar leaders] simply parrot their secular colleagues. Other than beginning and ending with prayer, mentioning Christ, and sprinkling in some Bible verses, there's no fundamental difference. They reinforce people's materialist attitudes and lifestyles. They suggest a variety of profitable plans in which people can spend or stockpile the bulk of their resources. In short, to borrow a term from Jesus, some Christian financial experts are helping people to be the most successful 'rich fools' they can be. — Randy Alcorn

Wisdom begins with the humility to say there's a great deal I don't understand. — Randy Alcorn

Our desires correspond precisely to God's plans. It's not that we want something, so we engage in wishful thinking that what we want exists. It's the opposite - the reason we want it is precisely because God has planned for it to exist. As we'll see, resurrected people living in a resurrected universe isn't our idea - it's God's. — 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

God isn't just preparing a place for us. He is preparing us for that place. — Randy Alcorn

We're told that a time is coming when God will restore everything. This is an inclusive promise. It encompasses far more than God merely restoring disembodied people to fellowship in a spirit realm. (Because living in a spirit realm is not what humans were made for and once enjoyed, it would not qualify as "restoring.") It is God restoring mankind to what we once were, what he designed us to be - fully embodied, righteous beings. And restoring the entire physical universe to what it once was. — Randy Alcorn

Giving is the safety valve that releases the excess pressure of wealth. — Randy Alcorn

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

Giving sacrificially also means giving the best. If we have two blankets and someone needs one of them, sacrificial giving hands over the better of the two. Sadly, much of our "giving" is merely discarding. Donating secondhand goods to church rummage sales — 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

AL ALCORN. Chief engineer at Atari, who designed Pong and hired Jobs. GIL AMELIO. Became CEO of Apple in 1996, bought NeXT, bringing Jobs back. BILL ATKINSON. Early Apple employee, developed graphics for the Mac intosh. CHRISANN BRENNAN. Jobs's girlfriend at Homestead High, mother of his daughter Lisa. LISA BRENNAN-JOBS. Daughter of Jobs and Chrisann Brennan, born in 1978; became a writer in New York City. NOLAN BUSHNELL. Founder of Atari and entrepreneurial role model for — Walter Isaacson

The greatest deterrent to giving is the illusion that this earth is our home. — 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

The fear of God is the death of every other fear; like a mighty lion, it chases all other fears before it." - Charles Spurgeon "We are more concerned about looking stupid (fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (fear of the Lord)." - Edward T. Welch — 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

The Spirit's work is not to make us holy, in order that we may be pardoned; but to show us the cross, where the pardon is to be found by the unholy; so that having found the pardon there, we may begin the life of holiness to which we are called. - Horatius Bonar — Randy Alcorn

The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. 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 God. - Margaret Clarkson — Randy Alcorn

Real gold fears no fire. — Randy Alcorn

When you once had faith and no longer do, I suppose it's like a woman carrying a dead baby. The sight of live babies becomes painful. — Randy Alcorn

To be truly happy - a man must have sources of gladness which are not dependent on anything in this world. - J. C. Ryle — 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

Think of friends or family members who loved Jesus and are with him now. Picture them with you, walking together in this place. All of you have powerful bodies, stronger than those of an Olympic decathlete. You are laughing, playing, talking, and reminiscing. You reach up to a tree to pick an apple or orange. You take a bite. It's so sweet that it's startling. You've never tasted anything so good. Now you see someone coming toward you. It's Jesus, with a big smile on his face. You fall to your knees in worship. He pulls you up and embraces you. — Randy Alcorn

We cannot expect God to bless and honor our efforts to help the needy if part of our "help" includes distributing chemicals and devices that may kill children who belong not to us, but to them, and above all to God. — Randy Alcorn

The conflicting missions of the two armies seemed to have no fog, no gray, only black-and-white clarity. I had lived my life in terms of compromise, rule-bending, trade-offs, concessions, bargaining, striking deals, finding middle ground. In these two great armies, there was no such thing. Good was good, and evil was evil, and they shared no common ground. — 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

Once we understood that we were giving away God's money to do God's work, we discovered a peace and joy we never had back when we thought it was our money! — Randy Alcorn

every time she remembered something painful, she could lift it up with her hands in worship or prayer and God would take her brokenness like an offering. — Nancy 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

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

We are all theologians, either good ones or bad ones. I'd rather be a good one. Wouldn't you? — Randy Alcorn

If we come to see the purpose of the universe as God's long-term glory rather than our short-term happiness, then we will undergo a critical paradigm shift in tackling the problem of evil and suffering. The world has gone terribly wrong. God is going to fix it. First, for his eternal glory. Second, for our eternal good. — Randy Alcorn

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28, ESV). — 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

Hell is not evil; it's a place where evil gets punished. Hell is not pleasant, appealing, or encouraging. But Hell is morally good, because a good God must punish evil. — 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

I wrote my first novel, 'Deadline,' in 1994 as an experiment. — 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

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

You are made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person. Heaven is the place. — 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

Wealth is a relational barrier. It keeps us from having open relationships. — Randy Alcorn

Seeking happiness apart from a right relationship God is like trying to turn on a light that's unplugged. — 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

The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell. For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to Hell. For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to Heaven. — Randy Alcorn

In Illinois a pregnant woman who takes an illegal drug can be prosecuted for 'delivering a controlled substance to a minor.' This is an explicit recognition that the unborn is a person with rights of her own. But that same woman who is prosecuted and jailed for endangering her child is perfectly free to abort her child. In America today, it is illegal to harm your preborn child, but it is perfectly legal to kill him. — Randy Alcorn

The currency of this world will be worthless at our death or at Christ's return, both of which are imminent. — Randy Alcorn

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

To turn the tide of materialism in the Christian community, we desperately need bold models of kingdom-centered living. Despite our need to do it in a way that doesn't glorify people, we must hear each other's stories about giving or else our people will not learn to give. — Randy Alcorn

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

When we fail to acknowledge God as the Source of all good things, we fail to give Him the recognition and glory He deserves. We separate God from joy, which is like trying to separate heat from fire or wetness from rain. — Randy Alcorn

In the truest sense, Christian pilgrims have the best of both worlds. We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next, and we take solace whenever it does not. C. S. Lewis — Randy Alcorn

Yanked out of the present, Adam discovered the richness of the past in people's stories. — Randy Alcorn

The greater the capacity to love, the greater the capacity to feel the pain. — N.A. 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

I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by six. — 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

The moral high ground to which I aspired had turned into a slippery slope. — Alfred 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

Why aren't you happy? they tend to focus on their current circumstances. Happy people look to Someone so big that by his grace, even great difficulties provide opportunities for a deeper kind of happiness. — Randy Alcorn

What is good about Good Friday? Why isn't it called Bad Friday? Because out of the appallingly bad came what was inexpressibly good. And the good trumps the bad, because though the bad was temporary, the good is eternal. — Randy Alcorn

God created us to love people and use things, but materialists love things and use people. — Randy Alcorn

By trusting Christ's redemptive work for us, we can enter into what we long for: the happiness found only in God. — Randy Alcorn

Jesus didn't tell us not to store up treasures. On the contrary, he commanded us to. He simply said, "Stop storing them up in the wrong place, and start storing them up in the right place." — Randy Alcorn

She was home (in Heaven). She was with the Person she was made for, in the place that was made for her. — Randy Alcorn

Every once in a while, someone will catch your eye. Someone you can't seem to get out of your head - a once-in-a-lifetime kind of girl. A girl who makes you feel like a complete pussy for even entertaining the idea of love at first sight, and sometimes it takes you off guard so much that you might even have to reach down and make sure your balls are still intact. — N.A. Alcorn