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Ironically, often the thing that keeps me from experiencing joy is my preoccupation with self. The very selfishness that keeps me from pouring myself out for the joy of others also keeps me from noticing and delighting in the myriad small gifts God offers each day. This is why Walker Percy describes boredom as the self stuffed with the self.

John Ortberg

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John Ortberg
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 5
Author
Psychologist
Theologian
Rockford
Illinois
Also
Boredom
Stuffed
Self
Gifts
Describes
Thing
Keeps
Percy
Offers
Preoccupation
Delighting
Joy
Noticing
Walker
Small
Pouring
Myriad
Often
Experiencing
Walkers
Others
Selfishness
Ironically

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The most important task of your life is not what you do, but who you become.
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Everybody wears an unseen sign that reads: Inspire me. Remind me that my life matters call me to be my best self appeal to whatever in me is most noble and honorable. Don't let me go down the path of least resistance. Challenge me to make my life about something more than the acquisition of money or success
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Self-improveme nt is no more God's plan than self-salvation.
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The reason our souls hunger so is that the life we could be living so far exceeds our strangest dreams.
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God is a God of endless opportunities to do good the God of the open door.
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God is never a God of discouragement. When you have a discouraging spirit or train of thought in your mind, you can be sure it is not from God. He sometimes brings pain to his children-conviction over sin, or repentance over fallenness, or challenges that scare us, or visions of his holiness that overwhelm us. But God never brings discouragement.
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True repentance never leads to despair. Its leads home. It leads to grace.
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Our beliefs are not just estimates of probabilities. They are also the instruments that guide our actions.
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It only makes sense to ask God for guidance in the context of a life committed to seeking first the kingdom.
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In the beginning, we're told, was the word. Every once in a while someone shows up on the planet who is word-obsessed and word-gifted and the light and darkness get named again. In our day, that someone is Buechner.
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Joylessness may be the sin most readily tolerated by the church.
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I don't have a problem with delegation. I love to delegate. I am either lazy enough, or busy enough, or trusting enough, or congenial enough, that the notion leaving tasks in someone else's lap doesn't just sound wise to me, it sounds attractive.
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God wishes to be seen, wishes to be sought, wishes to be expected, and wishes to be trusted.
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