God has created each of us with a thirst that only He can quench. French philosopher Pascal called it a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that only He can fill. Or as Augustine put it, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Man is perpetually seeking. To whatever degree we don’t know the unseen and eternal realm; we seek answers in the seen and temporal. We look for eternal answers among temporal things. But we discover that they cannot provide them.
— Dan Stone (1929–2005), Pastor, Buchautor und Bibellehrer
Topics: Meaning & Identity, Faith & Trust
Dan Stone
Dan Stone (1929–2005) war ein US-amerikanischer baptistischer Pastor, Hochschuladministrator und Bibellehrer. Er wurde vor allem als Verkündiger des „ausgetauschten Lebens“ (Exchanged Life) bekannt und lehrte, dass der christliche Glaube nicht auf Selbstanstrengung beruht, sondern auf dem Ruhen in der geistlichen Vereinigung mit Christus. Für heutige Bibelleser bieten seine Schriften eine theologische Ermutigung, biblische Aussagen über die Identität in Christus als Befreiung von religiösem Leistungsdruck zu verstehen.
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