Self is the new god, the new spiritual authority, the new morality. But this puts a crushing weight on the self—one it was never designed to bear. It must discover itself. Become itself. Stay true to itself. Justify itself. Make itself happy. Perform and defend its fragile identity. As my Peloton instructor would say, “Validate your greatness.” But what about the many days when we’re not all that great? The pressure is exhausting. Cue the stats on burnout, anxiety, and mental health.
— John Mark Comer (b. 1980), Pastor und Bestsellerautor
Source: Live No Lies
Topics: Meaning & Identity, Fear & Anxiety
Occasions: For Reflection
John Mark Comer
John Mark Comer (* 1980) ist ein US-amerikanischer freikirchlicher Pastor und Autor, der die Bridgetown Church in Portland mitgründete und die Initiative „Practicing the Way“ leitet. Bekannt wurde er durch Bücher wie „Das Ende der Rastlosigkeit“, in denen er Nachfolge als praktische Einübung geistlicher Disziplinen wie Sabbatruhe, Stille und Entschleunigung beschreibt. Für heutige Bibelleser macht er klassische Formen christlicher Spiritualität alltagsnah zugänglich, stößt jedoch in konservativ-evangelikalen Kreisen wegen seiner Nähe zu kontemplativen Traditionen und der Schwerpunktsetzung auf Praktiken statt Dogmatik auch auf Kritik.
All quotes by John Mark Comer (428)
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Augustine of Hippo
Jesus calls us not to a new religion, but to life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.
Henri Nouwen
To love a person means to see them as God meant them to be.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Inner dignity remains, even when performance capacity and social role decline.
Anselm Grün
There is a God, and I'm not him.
John Mark Comer
God has put eternity into our hearts and filled it with longing.
John Piper
Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.
Eugene Peterson