If I have the smile of God, all other frowns are inconsequential.
TIMOTHY KELLERChristians tend to motivate others with guilt. We tend to say: You would do this if you were really committed Christians, indicating that we are committed and all that is needed is for others to become as good as we are!
More Timothy Keller Quotes
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Religion operates on the principle ‘I obey-therefore I am accepted by God.’ But the operating principle of the gospel is ‘I am accepted by God through what Christ has done-therefore I obey.’
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If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.
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God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back… No other religion-whethe r secularism, Greco-Roman paganism, Eastern religion, Judaism, or Islam-believes God became breakable or suffered or had a body.
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Nothing is more important than to learn how to maintain a life of purpose in the midst of painful adversity.
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When I forget the gospel I become dependent on the smiles and evaluation of others.
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Pride is the carbon-monoxide of Sin. It silently and slowly kills you without you even knowing.
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When love of one’s people becomes an absolute, it turns into racism. When love of equality turns into a supreme thing, it can result in hatred and violence toward anyone who has led a privileged life. It is the settled tendency of human societies to turn good political causes into counterfeit gods.
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The more you understand how your salvation isn’t about your behavior, the more radically your behavior will change.
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No one is too bad for Jesus. A lot of people think they are too good for Jesus.
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Love is the effort and desire to make someone else everything they were created to be.
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In the original language, ‘Fear the Lord’ doesn’t mean be afraid. It means sustaining a joyful, astonished awe, and wonder before Him.
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What you do today is shaped by what you believe about tomorrow.
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If the church does not identify with the marginalized, it will itself be marginalized. This is God’s poetic justice.
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If you don’t feel like praying, pray to God to give you the desire.
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So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you’ll experience blessing now).
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The sin that is most destructive in your life right now is the one you are most defensive about.
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Christianity does not provide the reason for each experience of pain, but it does provide deep resources for actually facing suffering with hope and courage rather than bitterness and despair
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The purpose of Jesus’s coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore the creation, not to escape it.
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I am going to judge my circumstances by Jesus’ love, not Jesus’ love by my circumstances.
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Success and suffering will either darken your heart or make you wise, but they won’t leave you where you were.
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God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.
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The Gospel is news of what God has done to reach us. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God.
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It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel superior to him or her.
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We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that.
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It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.
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If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself.
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