“When I’m doing things my way, I’ve stopped being the branch and am trying to be the vine. . . . Instead of connecting with Jesus and finding what I need in him, I’m trying to find it in myself. . . . This approach will inevitably stop working, and when it does, some predictable […]
“Think of a controlling metaphor as the hub of a wheel, with all the spokes connected to that hub. The controlling metaphor anchors the concept and conversation. . . . There is incredible power in identifying the controlling metaphor for your life. These metaphors give us a common language, clear direction, and a firm foundation.”- […]
“When your way isn’t working, check your connection with the Vine. You are the branch, and the branch’s most important job is to stay connected with the Vine.”- Kyle Idleman “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me […]
“I was struggling with the fact that I was struggling, which made my struggling more of a struggle. The people around me had to see it because they weren’t hearing it from me.”- Kyle Idleman “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in […]
The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah . . . The late Timothy Keller (1950-2023) wrote The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy (Viking) in 2018. The founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, Tim Keller first notes that Jonah wanted a God of his own making. So when the real God […]
“The book of Jonah is a shot across the bow. God asks , how can we look at anyone — even those with deeply opposing beliefs and practices — with no compassion? If your compassion is going to resemble God’s, you must abandon a cozy world of self-protection.”- Timothy Keller “These inward trials I employ, […]
“Grace abolishes fear of failure. . . . So many of our deepest longings to succeed are really just ways to be for ourselves what Christ should be for us. . . . When we stop trying to steal self-acceptance from other sources, we lose our fear. We become fearless without becoming defiant.”- Timothy Keller […]
“The main purpose of the book of Jonah is to get us to understand grace. . . . Ignorance of the depth of God’s grace causes our most severe problems. Until we understand it we are, like Jonah, just a shadow of what we could be and should be.”- Timothy Keller “The gospel is bearing […]
“Whatever you have is only by God’s gift and appointment (1 Chronicles 29:12-14). So to not share with those who have less, to fail to meet their basic human needs . . . is being not simply unmerciful but unjust.”- Timothy Keller “But who am I {King David], and who are my people, that we […]
“Christian identity, however, is received, not achieved. . . . To ground your identity in your own efforts and accomplishments — even in the amount of love you have for Jesus — is to have an unstable, fragile identity.”- Timothy Keller “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that […]
“Since no human society reflects God’s justice and righteousness perfectly, supposedly apolitical Christians are supporting many things that displease God. So not to be involved politically, is to be political. . . . Individual Christians can and should be involved politically, as a way of loving our neighbors.”- Timothy Keller “For not with swords loud […]
“Behind Jesus’s parable [of the Good Samaritan] is one of the bedrock truths of the Bible, namely, that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). . . . It is clear that this makes every human being of value and worth.”- Timothy Keller ” ‘Which of these three […]