We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.
John StottRead
A Christian should resemble a fruit tree with real fruit, not a Christmas tree with decorations tied on
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of genuine faith and character over superficial display.
John Stott highlights the difference between true spirituality and mere outward appearances. A Christian's life should bear authentic fruit, symbolizing good deeds and a sincere faith, rather than just showcasing external decorations that lack real substance, much like a Christmas tree that is adorned but does not produce anything of value.
Themes
FaithAuthenticityCharacterSpiritualityFruit
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a church sermon about the importance of living a genuine Christian life.
More from John Stott
All quotes βMission arises from the heart of God Himself and is communicated from His heart to ours. Mission is the global outreach of the global people of a global God.
John StottRead
An unchurched christian is a grotesque anomaly. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community.
John StottRead
Saving faith is resting faith, the trust which relies entirely on the Savior.
John StottRead
It is a great comfort to know that our judge will be none other than our savior.
John StottRead
To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God's love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us and from paralyzing fear because He reigns. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship.
John StottRead
Similar quotes
Write about this man who, drop by drop, squeezes the slave's blood out of himself until he wakes one day to find the blood of a real human being--not a slave's--coursing through his veins.
Anton ChekhovRead
Things like that happen all the time in this great big world of ours. It's like taking a boat out on a beautiful lake on a beautiful day and thinking both the sky and the lake are beautiful. So stop eating yourself up alive. Things will go where they're supposed to go if you just let them take their natural course.
Haruki MurakamiRead
To make an omelette, you need not only those broken eggs but someone 'oppressed' to beat them: every revolutionist is presumed to understand that, and also every woman, which either does or does not make 51 percent of the population of the United States a potentially revolutionary class.
Joan DidionRead
An 'impersonal God'-well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads-better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap-best of all. But God himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, King, husband-that is quite another matter.
C. S. LewisRead
Nobody can be exactly me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.
Tallulah BankheadRead
The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the man wronged.
DemocritusRead