Eugene H. Peterson Quotes

The goal of the Christian is to grow up into Christ.

There is an enormous difference between growing old in the Lord and growing up in Him. One is automatic and requires no effort at all ... just aging. But the other is never automatic, or easy. It calls for personal discipline, continual determination, and spiritual desire. Churches are full of sleepy saints who are merely 'logging time' in God's family.

As we become more spiritually mature and increasingly steadfast and immovable, we focus upon and strive to understand the fundamental and foundational doctrines of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hate how spiritual formation gets positioned as an optional pursuit for a small special interest group within the church.

For a person to be truly discipled and growing in their faith, they need more than one person discipling them.

Clearly a big challenge for Christianity is how to remain in contact with the millions of people who look for God but do not come to Church.

No one wants pain. Not even long-time, mature Christians who want to grow. We will always find ways to avoid pain. Pain itself is a bad thing.

The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.

Christlikeness is your eventual destination, but your journey will last a lifetime.

There's a difference, you know, between faith and playing make-believe. One will make you grow. The other one will make you sleep.

The key to maturity is time and community. Discernment and godly wisdom develop in a community that spans generations. The church is called to be this place where the [God's] Spirit uses normal patterns and rhythms of the Christian life in a community, so that we may bear fruit like a well-watered tree. Despite common appearances, the church is the place where God's new creation is coming into existence and being sustained by the Spirit like a great vineyard.

Alas! Much has been done of late to promote the production of dwarfish Christians. Poor, sickly believers turn the church into an hospital, rather than an army. Oh, to have a church built up with the deep godliness of people who know the Lord in their very hearts, and will seek to follow the Lamb wherever he goes!

Little works, little thoughts, little loves, little prayers for little Christians, and larger and larger as the years grow.

The goal of the pastor is not to get people to show up but to get people to grow up.

As we mature in Christ, it is actually possible to outgrow fear.

Every church needs to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through through worship, and larger through evangelism.

The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians.

Is my growing old making me any closer to Christ? Am I only getting older or am I getting more godly?

The gospel doesn't just ignite the Christian life but it keeps Christians growing and growing every day. There's no reason to move beyond the gospel. There's only movement more into it.

We should be patient in developing and strengthening our testimonies. Rather than expecting immediate or spectacular manifestations, though they will come when needed, we should pray for a testimony, study the scriptures, follow the counsel of our prophet and other Church leaders, and live the principles of the gospel. Our testimonies then will grow and mature naturally, perhaps imperceptibly at times, until they become driving forces in our lives.

In my creature impatience I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short, easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No shortcut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: The man who would know God must give time to Him.

God uses his Word, people and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God's word provides the truth we need to grow, God's people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment we need to grow.

Affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it and made fit for God.

The God understood as a father figure, who guided ultimate personal decisions, answered our prayers, and promised rewards and punishment based upon our behavior was not designed to call anyone into maturity.

The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.