In the realm of wisdom and inspiration, Timothy Keller, a renowned theologian and author, has left an indelible mark with his profound insights and thought-provoking words. His teachings have resonated with countless individuals, guiding them on a journey of self-discovery, spirituality, and personal growth.
As we delve into the world of Timothy Keller Quotes, we are invited to explore the depth of human understanding, the complexities of faith, and the enduring quest for meaning that defines the human experience.
Timothy Keller Quotes (2024)
Timothy Keller's words are a wellspring of wisdom, offering profound insights into matters of faith, love, and the human condition. As we explore this collection of Timothy Keller Quotes, we find guidance, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of life's complexities and the enduring quest for spiritual and personal growth.
"The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me."
"Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws."
"To be loved and not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear."
"Grace changes us and the change is painful."
"Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God; it is setting our hearts on something besides God."
"The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope."
"Prayer is not asking God for things; it is communion with God."
"To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear."
"The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access."
"God's love and forgiveness can pardon and restore any and every kind of sin or wrongdoing. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done."
"If we make our relationship with God the most important thing in our lives, everything else will be okay."
"When you suffer, don't begin by looking inward. Begin by looking upward."
"To be known but not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything."
"The basic premise of the Bible is that God is a loving Father and we are His children."
"God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows."
"Suffering in the path of Christian obedience is not a sign of God's disfavor but of His favor."
"The world can get along without God as a master designer, but not as a savior and friend."
"There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord. One is by breaking all the moral laws and setting your own course, and one is by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good."
"A lack of trust in the Lord's timing betrays a lack of trust in the Lord's heart."
"God never uses anyone greatly until he tests them deeply."
"The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'"
"Your value is not determined by your productivity."
"Grace means you’re in a different universe from where you had been stuck, when you had absolutely no way to get there on your own."
"Acceptance means you dare to believe that someone can see you fully, know you truly, love you completely."
"Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God; it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God."
"In prayer, you are not trying to manipulate God to get what you want, but rather to align your will with His."
"The gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy."
"God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows."
"Your identity is not determined by your feelings but by the fact that you are God's child."
"Suffering is actually at the heart of the Christian story."
"To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything."
"The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to do what we could not do for ourselves."
"When Christ comes into your life, He enters as a King with His demands. But He also enters as a Savior with His grace."
"You must be changed by the gospel, not simply given a gospel sticker to put on your life."
"The ultimate freedom is found only in obedience to Jesus."
"Sin is not just breaking God's rules; it is putting yourself in God's place as Savior, Lord, and Judge."
"To be a Christian means I am not justified by my righteousness but by Christ's, not by my work but by His work."
"Self-righteousness is when you think your good works make you superior to others, or they save you."
"When we understand that the good news of Jesus is not just about him forgiving you and then leaving you to live the Christian life but about Him empowering you to live the Christian life, everything changes."
"If the gospel is about Jesus Christ crucified for sinners, you can say it very straight. The people who are offended are not the people who are open."
"Prayer is an act of rebellion against the world's contrary definition of reality."
"God gives us the right to ask him to do things according to his will and purpose, things that glorify his name and give us joy."
"The gospel is not just the 'ABCs' of the Christian faith; it is the 'A to Z' of the Christian faith."
"The gospel does not say, 'I am obeying, therefore I am accepted.' The gospel says, 'I am accepted, therefore I obey.'"
"Prayer is not asking God for things; it is ultimately the exchange of love."
"You don't get the Spirit as a result of doing; you get the Spirit as a result of believing."
"In Christianity, grace means God’s love in action toward people who merited the opposite of love."
"The gospel is not 'God helps those who help themselves.' The gospel is 'God helps those who are at the end of their rope.'"
"God’s love and forgiveness can pardon and restore any and every kind of sin or wrongdoing."
"Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return."
"In Jesus, God is saying, 'I’m not standing aloof to you. I’ve become one of you.'"
"Prayer is not just asking God for things; it's asking God for Himself."
"You can only find your identity in Christ, not in your career or your hobbies or your achievements."
"Realize that your life isn’t about what you acquire, but who you become."
"God’s love doesn’t require my strength to make it effective. My weakness, my doubt, my darkness don’t compromise the love of Christ."
"Hope is not tied to circumstances but to the character of God."
"The gospel is this: We are so sinful that Jesus had to die for us, and we are so loved that Jesus was glad to die for us."
"It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you."
"The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man."
"Love is the opposite of laziness."
"God is more committed to your happiness than you are."
"The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome."
"The goal of marriage is not happiness but holiness."
"People who are wronged by evil have a debt to repay. They owe the evil nothing. But they do owe the evil a commitment to justice and love."
"When Jesus looked down from the cross, He didn’t think, 'I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me.' No, He was in agony, and He looked down at us, denying Himself in every sense of the word because He already knew how unworthy we were."
"The only way to get rid of the pain of the past is to add better chapters to the story."
"God will not leave you comfortless, you will see God."
"God does not merely give us answers, He gives us Himself."
"The point of Christianity is not for us to build our own kingdom but to devote ourselves to building God’s kingdom."
"When you pray, ‘Your will be done,’ you are praying, ‘Bring my will into line with Yours.'"
"Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God; it is setting the whole heart on something besides God, something that we think we must have."
"In the gospel, God has lovingly delivered us from our pride, but He also delivers us from our fear."
"The Christian is the one who is realistic about their flaws and yet, in light of them, wholly accepts themselves."
"Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it."
"The essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less."
"If we love someone, but do not love God, we demand too much of them."
"The message of Christianity is not 'God will love you if you change.' The message is, 'God loves you so that you can change.'"
"The person who is not a Christian will tell you that you can believe anything, but the gospel tells you that you can’t."
"People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it."
"In the gospel, you see the arrogance of your pride and the depth of your sin, but you also see the sufficiency of God’s grace and the depth of His love."
"The only way to get rid of the pain of the past is to add better chapters to the story."
"We can't love people unless we know them, and we can't know them if we don't listen to them."
"Our hope is not based on the short-term ebb and flow of our circumstances, but on the unchanging character of God."
"We never 'get beyond the gospel' in our Christian life; to move on from the gospel is to move on from Christianity."
"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 gospel does not say, 'I am okay, you are okay.' The gospel says, 'I am worse than I ever dared to admit, and God is better than I ever dared to hope.'"
"In prayer, God hears more than our words."
"Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through His Word and His grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with Him."
"God's love is not 'if,' or 'because.' It is 'although' and 'yet.'"
"You will never be able to forgive anyone more than God has forgiven you."
"Sometimes we want to hear a word from God when God wants us to BE the word to someone else."
"You need to trust God’s character when you can’t see His hand."
"Religious people obey God to get things. Gospel people obey God to get God, to delight in and resemble Him."
"To be loved and not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God."
"The gospel is neither religion nor irreligion, but something else entirely – a third way of relating to God through grace."
"In the gospel, you have acceptance that is not based on performance."
"In Christ, we are simultaneously sinful and yet accepted."
"The gospel is not that we obey in order to be accepted; the gospel is that we are accepted, and that’s why we obey."
"An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, 'If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.'"
"You are not just a sinner who needs saving; you are a loved sinner who needs saving."
"Our spiritual history is one of failing and being forgiven, falling and being restored, being blind and then seeing."
"Religious people find God useful. Gospel people find God beautiful."
"The gospel is the good news that we don’t get what we deserve."
"In Christ, God absorbed all the pain of the world into Himself."
"Idolatry is when we build our lives around something else, some created thing rather than God."
"To be 'discovered' by the love of Christ is to become deeply known and deeply loved at the same time."
"People who are forgiving are people who are free."
"An idol is what you look at and say, 'If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.'"
"Your identity should not be rooted in your performance but in God's love for you."
"God accepts you, not because you are good, but because He is good."
"If we are saved by faith alone, then all other religions are wrong."
"The Gospel is not good advice; it's good news."
"The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you."
"The way to free yourself from the burden of the past is not to deny it, but to understand it, and then accept God’s forgiveness and move on."
"When we sin, we are looking for something, but we are looking for it in the wrong place."
"To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God."
"A God who withholds comfort is a God who is giving us Himself."
"The gospel has to be both the motivation and the engine for all your relationships."
"The more you grasp the gospel, the more you begin to rely on Christ in all areas of your life."
"Every year, most of us take a vacation. We need a break from work, from stress, and from our routines. But what if the gospel were our vacation, our rest, our time away?"
"Your identity is not established by what you do, but by what Christ has done."
In the grand tapestry of life, we often find ourselves navigating a labyrinth of challenges and questions, searching for meaning and purpose. As Timothy Keller wisely stated, "God has given us glimpses of the eternal perspective to take away the bitterness of the here and now." Indeed, our journey through life is illuminated by these glimpses, the moments of clarity and insight that remind us of a higher purpose and a deeper understanding of our existence.
