Yaconelli Quotes

#1. Rest is the ultimate humiliation because in order to rest, we must admit we are not necessary, that the world can get along without us, that God's work does not depend on us.

Michael Yaconelli

#2. Until we start thinking in terms of revolution instead of compromise the Church will continue to pat itself on the back with token steps of renewal.

Mike Yaconelli

#3. Nothing makes people in the church more angry than grace. It's ironic: we stumble into a party we weren't invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in.

Mike Yaconelli

#4. Children live in a world of dreams and imagination, a world of aliveness ... There is a voice of wonder and amazement inside all of us; but we grow to realize we can no longer hear it, and we live in silence. It isn't that God stopped speaking; it is that our lives became louder.

Mike Yaconelli

#5. I can remember the night I became a Christian. And man, this weight came off of me and all that kind of stuff. What I didn't realize was, that was just the beginning - of a huge journey.

Mike Yaconelli

#6. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring.

Mike Yaconelli

#7. What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed-up people could be godly.

Mike Yaconelli

#8. For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in him will, from that point on, be considered weired by the rest of the world, which means the church should be more like a zoo than a tomb of identical mummies.

Mike Yaconelli

#9. The Church is the place where the incompetent, the unfinished, and even the unhealthy are welcome. I believe Jesus agrees.

Mike Yaconelli

#10. Our world is ... longing to see people whose God is big and holy and frightening and gentle and tender ... and ours; a God whose love frightens us into His strong and powerful arms where He longs to whisper those terrifying words, 'I love you.'

Mike Yaconelli

#11. There have been times where I've said, 'Jesus, I don't believe in you anymore, get out of here. I don't know. I don't even trust you.' And it's like, okay. And he's still hanging on.

Mike Yaconelli

#12. Messy spirituality is the delirious consequence of a life ruined by a Jesus who will love us right into his arms.

Michael Yaconelli

#13. I just want to be remembered as a person who loved God, who served others more than he served himself, who was trying to grow in maturity and stability.

Mike Yaconelli

#14. Religious people love to hide behind religion. They love the rules of religion more than they love Jesus. With practice, Condemners let rules become more important than the spiritual life.

Mike Yaconelli

#15. Spiritual growth is more than a procedure; it's a wild search for God in the tangled jungle of our souls.

Michael Yaconelli

#16. The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us.

Mike Yaconelli

#17. Speed is not neutral. Fast living used to mean a life of debauchery; now it just means fast, but the consequences are even more serious. Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls.

Mike Yaconelli

#18. Play is an expression of God's presence in the world; one clear sign of God's absence in society is the absence of playfulness and laughter.

Mike Yaconelli

#19. Just because we believe the gospel is a life-and-death matter doesn't mean we have to act as if we're dead.

Mike Yaconelli

#20. Speed damages our souls because living fast consumes every ounce of our energy. Speed has a deafening roar that drowns our the whispering voices of our souls and leaves Jesus as a diminishing speck in the rearview mirror.

Mike Yaconelli

#21. Spirituality isn't about being finished and perfect; spirituality is about trusting God in our unfinishedness.

Mike Yaconelli

#22. Jesus cares more about desire than about competence

Mike Yaconelli

#23. Getting stuck can be the best thing that could happen to us, because it forces us to stop. It halts the momentum of our lives. We have no choice but to notice what is around us, and we end up searching for Jesus.

Michael Yaconelli

#24. Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness. (Messy Spirituality)

Mike Yaconelli

#25. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives.

Mike Yaconelli

#26. Spiritual growth thrives in the midst of our problems, not in their absence. Spiritual growth occurs in the trenches of life, not in the classroom.

Mike Yaconelli

#27. I think that when you follow Christ, one of the things that happens when you start listening to His voice is that you really are alone.

Mike Yaconelli

#28. Spiritual growth is more than procedure, it's a wild search for God in the midst of the tangled jungle of our souls, a search for which involves a volatile mix of messy reality, wild freedom, frustrating stuckness, increasing slowness and a healthy dose of gratitude

Mike Yaconelli

#29. There are a whole lot of people who are so freakin' busy - they've so cluttered up their lives - they're at their wits' end. And if they'd only just stop for a minute, they could hear the God of the universe whisper to them, I love you.

Mike Yaconelli

#30. The grace of God is dangerous. It's lavish, excessive, outrageous, and scandalous. God's grace is ridiculously inclusive. Apparently God doesn't care who He loves. He is not very careful about the people He calls His friends or the people He calls His church.

Mike Yaconelli

#31. Spirituality is a mixed-up, topsy-turvy, helter-skelter godliness that turns our lives into an upside-down toboggan ride of unexpected turns, surprise bumps and bone shattering crashes ... a life ruined by a Jesus who loves us right into his arms.

Mike Yaconelli