Neal A. Maxwell Quotes

Doctrinal rightness and rightness of ecclesiastical position are important, but only as a starting point to go on into a living relationship - and not as ends in themselves.

A religious life is a struggle and not a hymn.

This is what people don't understand. When they might see me do something that's not 'God-like,' then they say, 'Well, I thought you were saved?' I am saved. I'm not perfect. I have emotions still. My name's still Gary. These things here are not all cleaned up. I'm showing you my path.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

I feel like God puts things in our lives to help prepare us for the future.

What's positive is moving from a place of growing in faith to really feeling more grounded in faith, to understand that faith is hard, that I'll stumble, that I'll make mistakes, that I'll sin. But, that's part of being on a faith path; it's part of being a human being.

There has never been a moment when faith hasn't been an important part of my life. There have been moments when I've been more alive in my faith than others. There have been times when I've been more involved in my faith, dedicating more to it, and giving it more importance.

I'm just like you - I want to be a good human being. I'm doing my best, and I'm working at it. And I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm always amazed when people walk up to me and say, 'I'm a Christian.' I always think, 'Already? You've already got it?' I'm working at it. And at my age, I'll still be working at it at 96.

Christians already? It seems to me that it takes a lifetime of work.

In the Book of Acts faith was for each believer a beginning, not an end; it was a journey, not a bed in which to lie while waiting for the day of our Lord's triumph. Believing was not a once-done act; it was more than an act, it was an attitude of heart and mind which inspired and enabled the believer to take up his cross and follow the Lamb whithersoever He went.

I believe a very large majority of church goers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God.

The more you walk with God, the harder it is to scrape your knee

When I first became a Christian I thought I would be glad when I got farther on, and got established. I thought I would be so strong and there would not be any danger; but the longer I live, the more danger I see there is. The only hope of any Christian...is to keep hold of Christ.

In many churches, the message of justification- how to get right with God- is preached over and over again. But much less is said about sanctification- how to live after you're converted.

When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God's work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight.

The Church is simply the path of history, and not the actual kingdom of God.

Every once in a while I check and I say, do I still believe in God? And the answer is absolutely yes. And then I think, I suppose I should go to church now. But after going to so many churches in my life and trying to go with the flow with so many denominations, Eastern and Western, I don't really feel I need to go to church at all.

GodQuest is a awesome resource to explore life's most important questions in a authentic way. It's filled with practical and useful information for both individuals and groups and encourages taking honest steps on the journey with God. I believe many will read it and discover, or re-discover, the God who is our hope!

Becoming like Christ is a long, slow process of growth.

I used to think the Lord's Prayer was a short prayer; but as I live longer, and see more of life, I begin to believe there is no such thing as getting through it. If a man, in praying that prayer, were to be stopped by every word until he had thoroughly prayed it, it would take him a lifetime.

I do not believe one can experience conversion or the fullness of the Christian life apart from the church.

That's what this thing called Christian life is all about, isn't it. Going . . . yet not knowing. As followers of our Lord we believe He leads us in a certain direction . . . or in pursuit of a precise goal.

I joined church by myself in a borrowed suit at 13. I had my neighbor's bible. So my walk and my faith have always been very real.

The real spiritual journey is work. You can make a naïve assertion that you trust in Jesus, but until it is tested a good, oh, 200 times, I doubt very much that it's true.

The life of faith isn't meant for tourists. It's meant for pilgrims.