Tullian Tchividjian Quotes - Page 9

Christianity is not about good people getting better. If anything, it is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The heart of the Christian faith is Good News, not good advice, good technique, or good behavior. Too many people have walked away from the church, not because they’re walking away from Jesus, but because the church has walked away from Jesus.

The truth is, narratives of self-justification burble beneath more of our relationships and endeavors than we would care to admit.

The focus of the Christian faith is not our morality; it is Jesus, who died for our immorality.

I never had an intellectual struggle with the Bible, with the gospel, with the claims of Christ.

Even those of us who have tasted the radical saving grace of God find it intuitively difficult not to put conditions on grace.

Death is the operative device that sets us free in Christ - when we die, we truly live.

God has hardwired me to thoroughly enjoy and be sharpened by good and friendly theological discussion about the gospel.

Christmas is the beachhead of God’s campaign against sin and sadness, darkness and death, fear and frustration.

If we read the Bible asking first, 'What would Jesus do?' instead of asking 'What has Jesus done?' we’ll miss the good news that alone can set us free.

Grace is the most dangerous, expectation-wre cking, smile-creating, counterintuitiv e reality there is.

An identity based in the one-way love of God does not take into account public opinion or, thankfully, even personal opinion.

Grief, of course, is not something that operates according to a specific time frame, and it seems cold to suggest otherwise. Yet when we do not grasp that God is present in pain, we eventually insist on victory or, worse, blame the sufferer for not "getting over it" fast enough. This is more than a failure to extend compassion; it's an exercise in cruelty.

I was afraid that if I surrendered my life over to God, God would tell me not to do those things that I desperately wanted to do.

Grace loves without reference to what may or may not happen-which is precisely why such incredible things do happen!

I enjoy receiving love from my wife. I'm ecstatic when Kim loves me and expresses affection toward me. Something in me comes alive when she does that. But I've learned this freeing truth: I don't need that love, because in Jesus, I receive all the love I need.

I became frustrated with myself for not being as sturdy and unquestioning as I knew a man in my position should be.

We are not responsible for finding the right formula to combat or unlock our suffering.

For the life of the believer, one thing is beautifully and abundantly true: God's chief concern in your suffering is to be with you and be himself for you.

I agree we have enough books that attempt to explain why God allows suffering, presumably in a way that lets God off the hook. And while much smarter men than I have constructed elaborate systems in this pursuit, they are by definition exercises in speculation.

I was spending way too much time thinking about me and what I needed to do, and far too little time thinking about Jesus and what he had already done for me.

Being the middle child, I couldn't figure out where I fit in the home. I couldn't figure out whether I was the youngest of the older three or the oldest of the younger three.

God's grace is so counterintuitive and everything we do in our life is just based on conditions. You do this for me and I'll do that for you. Or if you don't do this for me, I won't do that for you. And God's grace works in a completely different direction.

My lifestyle got so disruptive to my family that my parents had no choice but to say, "You can't live here any longer if you're going to live this way." So, I was thrilled about it - thrilled!

Christianity is in no way a stoic faith. It fundamentally rejects the "stiff upper lip" school of thought.

My daily sins require daily distribution of God's grace. In that sense, it never ceases to surprise me because I don't deserve any of it. I mean, I deserve to be locked in a cage and for God to throw away the key.