6 Quotes from “How to Give Away Your Faith” by Paul Little

1. To enter this relationship [with Jesus Christ] is not a matter of using correct vocabulary or going through the empty motions.  It involves a clear resolve to do his will.  As basic as that resolve is, he does not accept us and love us because of our obedience to him.  But obedience is the evidence of a true commitment to him as our Lord.
2. Faith, in its very nature, demands action.  Faith is action.  Belief can be tested by action.  For instance, suppose a wild-eyed man ran into your room and said the building would be blown up in five minutes.  If you were still there five minutes later, we would know that you really didn’t believe him.  If you did believe him, you’d get out as fast as you could.  We could tell by your actions what you honestly believed.
3. I might tell you I believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior, that life’s full meaning can only be known through him and that apart from him all people are under the eternal condemnation of God.  But if I go my merry way, ignore his words and his will and live a life of complete self-indulgence, I am not honestly believing or entering the kingdom in the biblical sense.
4. How do you treat God?  Do we consider God to be a living person or just a thing on a shelf?  Have we that heart-hunger and thirst that compels us day by day to get away –  alone with him – to study his Word and take time to talk to him in prayer?  Sometimes we sing the old hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer” and yet avoid prayer time like the plague.  Are we honest with ourselves?  Was it yesterday or was it a week ago, a month ago or a year ago that we last met with the Lord alone?
5. … there is no halfway faith in Jesus Christ.  Total and irrevocable commitment to Jesus Christ every day is the prerequisite for a vital relationship with him.  When we begin to hold out on him in some area or to rebel against his will (even in some “minor” detail), our spiritual vitality suffers.
6. How prone we are to think that we know better than God!  Or that we must choose between doing God’s will and our own happiness.  As if God wanted us to be miserable!  Our heavenly Father loves us;  Jesus Christ died for us; the indwelling Holy Spirit is his promise to us.  Certainly the Triune God is not about to short-change us in life.  The well-known Indian pastor Sundar Singh said it well, “The capital of heaven is the heart in which Jesus Christ sits enthroned as King.”  The deepest joy that can be known in our life comes from total commitment to Jesus Christ and his will for us.