Timothy Keller Quotes

Legalistic remorse says, "I broke God's rules," while real repentance says, "I broke God's heart."

God sees us as we are, loves us as we are, and accepts us as we are. But by His grace, He does not leave us as we are.

The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God's will to mine, but to mold my will into His.

Jesus didn't come to tell us the answers to the questions of life, he came to be the answer.

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

Everyone says they want community and friendship. But mention accountability or commitment to people, and they run the other way.

God looks at the anxious and says, I tore my Son to shreds for you, and you're afraid I will not give you what you need?

There are some needs only you can see. There are some hands only you can hold. There are some people only you can reach.

If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.

In religion, you obey because God is useful. In Christianity, you obey because God is beautiful.

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

We need to remember that we are saved by grace when we fail. But we need to remember it much more when we succeed.

Jesus Christ was treated as we deserved so that when we believe in Jesus, God treats us as Jesus deserves.

After creation God said, 'It is finished'-and he rested. After redemption Jesus said, 'It is finished'-and we can rest.

The more you understand how your salvation isn't about your behavior, the more radically your behavior will change.

Religion: 'My identity is built on being a good person.' Gospel: 'My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on Christ's.'

Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.

Secularism and Religion are both all about your personal performance. The Gospel is the performance of another applied to you.

Love is the effort and desire to make someone else everything they were created to be.

Many times people think if God has called you to something, he's promising you success. He might be calling you to fail to prepare you for something else through the failure.

Those who understand the gospel cannot possibly look down on anyone, since they were saved by sheer grace, not by their perfect doctrine or strong moral character.

Religion says earn your life. Secular society says create your life. Jesus says, 'My life for your life.

Jesus came into this world not as a philosopher or a general but as a carpenter. All work matters to God.

If you love anything in this world more than God, you will crush that object under the weight of your expectations.

I am going to judge my circumstances by Jesus’ love, not Jesus’ love by my circumstances.

Legalism is looking to something besides Jesus Christ in order to be acceptable and clean before God.

We are called not simply to communicate the gospel to nonbelievers; we must also intentionally celebrate the gospel before them.

Job never saw why he suffered, but he saw God, and that was enough.

If the church does not identify with the marginalized, it will itself be marginalized. This is God's poetic justice.

When I forget the gospel I become dependent on the smiles and evaluation of others.

We must have a strong inner life of fellowship and intimacy with Jesus if we are going to have a strong outer life of ministry

You don't fall in love. You commit to it.

Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.

If you say: I believed in God, I trusted God and He didn't come through - You only trusted God to meet your agenda.

The way to find your calling is to look at the way you were created. Your gifts have not emerged by accident.

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.

When you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly.

If we have not seen our sin and sought radical forgiveness from God, we will be unable to forgive and to seek the good of those who have wronged us.

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.

The Bible says that our real problem is that every one of us is building our identity on something besides Jesus.

People are messy; therefore, relationships will be messy. Don't be surprised by messiness.

It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel superior to him or her.

Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire.

If God is not at the center of your life, something else is.

Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing , religious people of his day.

Look at Jesus Christ. Every time he was in trouble he used the Word of God. When he was tempted he used the Word. When he was suffering on the cross he used the Word.

The infallible test of spiritual integrity, Jesus says, is your private prayer life.

In the church we have to deliberately let ourselves be transparent and accountable to others. We're a family.

What you do today is shaped by what you believe about tomorrow.

Think like a prophet, serve like a priest, and plan like a king.