Quotes by Mark Batterson

Ryan-chasers have a life wish. They live life to the fullest because they are willing to look foolish.

At its core, sinfulness is selfishness. Its enthroning yourself - your desires, your needs, your plans - above all else. You may still seek God, but you dont seek Him first. You seek Him second or third or seventh. You may sing Jesus at the center of it all, but what you really want is for people to bow down to you as you bow down to Christ. Its a subtle form of selfishness that masquerades as spirituality, but its not Christ-centric. Its me-centric. Its less about us serving His purposes and more about Him serving our purposes.

The goal of marriage is not happiness, it is holiness...There is no mechanism whereby God can sanctify a person more than having them live in close proximity to another imperfect person....Our fundamental problem is that we are selfish. Marriage is the means whereby God eradicates our selfishness because it is not about me anymore, i t is about we.

The blessings of God will complicate your life, but unlike sin, they will complicate your life in the way it should be complicated.

...if you give all of yourself to God, you can ask and expect that God will give all of Himself to you because thats precisely what He wants to do. We have not because we ask not, and we ask not because were not all in!

If you arent hungry for God, you are full of yourself. Thats why God cannot fill you with His Spirit. But if you will empty yourself, if you will die to self, youll be a different person by the time you reach the last page of this book.

...we are overwhelmed with information and dying for wisdom.

Part of my driving desire as a pastor is to remove every obstacle except the cross that would keep people from coming to faith in Christ.

I think faith is the small mustard seed of opportunities every day. For example, Am I going to love this person? Am I going to share my faith with this person? Am I going to pray that little prayer? It really is a daily thing where you seize those little mustard seed opportunities and then see what God does.

Routines are normal, natural, healthy things. Most of us take a shower and brush our teeth every day. That is a good routine. Spiritual disciplines are routines. That is a good thing. But once routines become routine you need to change your routine.

“Embrace relational uncertainty. Its called romance. Embrace spiritual uncertainty. Its called mystery. Embrace occupational uncertainty. Its called destiny. Embrace emotional uncertainty. Its called joy. Embrace intellectual uncertainty. Its called revelation.”

“As I look back on my own life, I recognize this simple truth: The greatest opportunities were the scariest lions. Part of me has wanted to play it safe, but I’ve learned that taking no risks is the greatest risk of all.”