John Piper Quotes

Being a Christian means renouncing ourselves, taking up the cross and carrying it with Jesus. There is no other way.

Once again, Jesus calls those who follow him to share his passion.

Followers of Jesus who count the cost and are willing to take up their crosses after him must have broad shoulders.

Jesus says if you want to have me, you must give up that other thing that has you.

Christ calls us to carry the Cross; churches call us to have fun in His name.

The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus, you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.

Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have

Jesus said, "Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). We must honestly face the question, "Am I willing to give up a certain practice or habit that is keeping me from holiness?" It is at this point of commitment that most of us fail. We prefer to dally with sin, to try to play with it a little without getting too deeply involved.

Discipleship is crucial to our ultimate destiny, but its cost is total commitment.

Carrying the cross does mean following in Jesus' footsteps. And in His footsteps are rejection, brokenheartedness, persecution and death. There are not two Christs - an easy going one for easy going Christians, and a suffering one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are we willing to follow His lead?

If any want to become my followers," Jesus says. Following him is not something that is self-evident, even among the disciples. No one can be forced, no one can be expected to follow him. ... "If any want to follow me, they must deny themselves ... and take up their cross.

Following Jesus means taking up one's own cross to accompany him on his path, an uncomfortable path that is not one of success or earthly glory, but which leads to true freedom, the freedom from selfishness and sin.

Let us remind ourselves that if we are to be our Lord's disciples, we must take up his Cross and follow him.

In order to mount to the Cross, the summit of sacrifice, and to God, the summit of immateriality, Christ passed through all the stages which the man who struggles passes through.

My life is such a contradiction. My soul yearns for holiness and then runs from the mortification necessary to attain it.

Jesus Christ has taken the lead on the way of the cross. He has suffered first. He does not drive us toward suffering but shares it with us, wanting us to have life and to have it in abundance.

To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.

A man shows himself a true disciple of Christ by carrying the cross in his turn every day in the activity that he is called to perform.

To follow Jesus means putting him first, and stripping ourselves of all the things that oppress our hearts.

If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.

... you are not Christ's disciple, in the sense of following him, if this is not your way of life: rejected and slain daily!

The honour of Jesus Christ is at stake in your bodily life. Are you remaining loyal to the Son of God in the things which beset His life in you? Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate, outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice, 'Follow Me.'

Dare, dare, my dear brethren in Christ, to follow the Captain of your salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings

If we are serious about our discipleship, Jesus will eventually request each of us to do those very things which are most difficult for us to do.

No healthy Christian ever chooses suffering; he chooses God's will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.