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.’
TIMOTHY KELLERThis leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.
More Timothy Keller Quotes
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How you experience your present is completely shaped by what you believe your ultimate future to be.
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Yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
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If God is not at the center of your life, something else is.
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When we grasp that we are unworthy sinners saved by an infinitely costly grace, it destroys both our self-righteousn ess and our need to ridicule others.
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The world values power, comfort, success, and recognition. Jesus frees us to value grief, sacrifice, weakness, and exclusion.
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Legalistic remorse says, “I broke God’s rules,” while real repentance says, “I broke God’s heart.”
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Money isn’t an idol. It just shows you where your idols are.
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Forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness. To not retaliate is to absorb the cost.
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Only on the cross do you have a totally holy God and a totally loving God.
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The great basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.
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Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.
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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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…the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.
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If you love anything in this world more than God, you will crush that object under the weight of your expectations.
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Religion says earn your life. Secular society says create your life. Jesus says, ‘My life for your life.
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