“We often read the Bible as if it were fundamentally about us: our improvement, our life, our triumph, our victory, our faith, our holiness, our godliness.” IfsOur LivesVictoryImprovementTriumphHolinessGodliness Author:Tullian Tchividjian
“A lost sheep is, for all practical purposes a dead sheep. It is the admission that we are dead in our sins---that we have no power of ourselves either to save ourselves or to convince anyone else that we are worth saving. It is the recognition that our whole life is out of our hands and that if we ever live again, our life will be entirely the gift of some gracious shepherd. God finds us the desert of death (not in the garden of improvement) and in the power of Jesus' resurrection, he puts us on his shoulders rejoicing and brings us home.” IfsWholeHomeHandsLife IsPurposeJesusLostSinOur LivesGardenWhole LifeImprovementPracticalsShouldersSavingRecognitionDesertConvinceRejoiceResurrectionSheepGraciousShepherdsAdmissionJesus Resurrection Author:Robert Farrar Capon
“The desire for success is inherent within all of us. It is a part of our nature to want to grow, to improve the quality of our lives. However, nothing improves by accident, it requires conscious attention. When you are being bombarded by negatives, improvement, growth and success are easy to forget.” WantDesireGrowsEasyGrowthForgetAttentionQualityOur LivesConsciousAccidentsImprovementInherentBombardedDesire For SuccessBombarded By Author:Bob Proctor
“If we once admit that our life is here for the purpose of race-improvement, then we question any religion which does not improve the race, or the main force of which evaporates, as it were, directing our best efforts toward the sky.... Improvement in the human race is not accomplished by extracting any number of souls and placing them in heaven, or elsewhere. It must be established on earth, either through achievement in social service, or through better children.” IfsHumansChildrenDoeSoulEarthLife IsPurposeForceHeavenSocialNumbersEffortRaceOur LivesSkyAtheismAchievementPositive AtheismImprovementHuman RaceAccomplishedElsewhereBest EffortSocial Service Author:Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The illusion that mechanical progress means human improvement ... alienates us from our own being and our own reality. It is precisely because we are convinced that our life, as such, is better if we have a better car, a better TV set, better toothpaste, etc., that we condemn and destroy our own reality and the reality of our natural resources. Technology was made for man, not man for technology. In losing touch with being and thus with God, we have fallen into a senseless idolatry of production and consumption for their own sakes.” IfsMenHumansMeanMadeRealityNaturalTechnologyOur LivesProgressCarTvsLosingIllusionResourcesSakeProductionsConvincedImprovementFallenEtcConsumptionConsumerismIdolatryNatural ResourcesOverconsumptionToothpaste Book:Seeds Source: Seeds
“Improving the quality of our lives should be the ultimate target of public policies. But public policies can only deliver best fruit if they are based on reliable tools to measure the improvement they seek to produce in our lives.” IfsShouldQualityOur LivesPolicyProduceToolsUltimateFruitImprovementTargetImprovingPublic Policy Author:Jose Angel Gurria
“The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers. Think about the things that have improved our lives the most over the past century - medical advances, the transportation revolution, huge increases in consumer goods, dramatic improvements in housing, the computer. The people who created these things - the doers - are not popular heroes. Our heroes are the talkers who complain about the doers.” PeopleThinkingMenCountryBigsPastOur LivesCenturyHugeRevolutionHeroRepublicanComputerMen And WomenIncreaseDemocratMedicalComplainingImprovementConsumersDramaticGoodsDividesHousingTransportationOver The PastDoersTalkersMedical Advances Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Source: Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays