So Paul does not look to the Corinthians for his identity. He does not go to them for the verdict that he is a ‘somebody’. He does not get that sense of identity from them. But he does not get it from himself either. He knows that trying to find self-esteem by living up to a certain set of standards is a trap.

— Timothy J. Keller

Timothy J. Keller Quotes

To some degree the answers to many of our petitions would be facilitated by changes in us, but we usually do not take time to consider this as we pray.

— Timothy J. Keller

Everything in this life is going to be taken away from us, except one thing: God’s love, which can go into death with us and take us through it and into His arms.

— Timothy J. Keller

Fools cannot bear to have anyone over them, and so they ignore God or deny he exists. Some of this rebellion exists in every heart. Every sin is a kind of practical atheism – it is acting as if God were not there. That also means that belief in God must be a gift.

— Timothy J. Keller

Bottomless stores of mercy and unbending demands for righteousness almost never go together in any human being. Our temperament inclines us one way or the other. But these are perfectly combined in God.

— Timothy J. Keller

Forgiveness, then, is a form of voluntary suffering. In forgiving, rather than retaliating, you make a choice to bear the cost.

— Timothy J. Keller

David shows us straightaway. He doesn’t say, “I will take refuge in God,” but rather shows that he already has, that he is already safe. How can he feel that way before he knows whether the smear campaign will be thwarted? The answer: if we trust in God’s wisdom and will, then we have peace regardless of the immediate outcome.

— Timothy J. Keller

Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.15.

— Timothy J. Keller

If you are filled with shame and guilt, you do not merely need to believe in the abstract concept of God’s mercy. You must sense, on the palate of the heart, as it were, the sweetness of his mercy. Then you will know you are accepted. If you are filled with worry and anxiety, you do not only need to believe that God is in control of history. You must see, with eyes of the heart, his dazzling majesty. Then you will know he has things in hand.

— Timothy J. Keller

Repentance is not less than being sorry for individual sins, but it means much more.

— Timothy J. Keller

Today’s outspoken believer may be tomorrow’s apostate, and today’s outspoken unbeliever may be tomorrow’s convert. We must not make settled, final decisions about anyone’s spiritual state or fate.

— Timothy J. Keller

You have heard the phrase in “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” – “Mild, he lays his glory by.” What does that mean? He did it voluntarily, willingly, and lovingly. No one forced him. It wasn’t just a duty. He faced unimaginable pain and death out of love for you.

— Timothy J. Keller

Common grace means that nonbelievers often act more righteously than believers despite their lack of faith; whereas believers, filled with remaining sin, often act far worse than their right belief in God would lead us to expect. All this means Christians should be humble and respectful toward those who do not share their faith.

— Timothy J. Keller

The doctrine of common grace is the teaching that God bestows gifts of wisdom, moral insight, goodness, and beauty across humanity, regardless of race or religious belief.

— Timothy J. Keller

Everyone gets an identity from something. Everyone must say to himself or herself, “I’m significant because of This” and “I’m acceptable because I’m welcomed by Them.” But then whatever This is and whoever They are, these things become virtual gods to us, and the deepest truths about who we are.

— Timothy J. Keller

When you say, “I won’t serve you, God, if you don’t give me X,” then X is your true bottom line, your highest love, your real god, the thing you most trust and rest in.

— Timothy J. Keller

If you want to understand your own behavior, you must understand that all sin against God is grounded in a refusal to believe that God is more dedicated to our good, and more aware of what that is, than we are. We distrust God because we assume he is not truly for us, that if we give him complete control, we will be miserable.

— Timothy J. Keller

Lord, give me the wisdom to seek skillfulness, but not be taken with my own cleverness. Give me the discernment to perceive excellence, but not be enamored of pedigree and credentials.

— Timothy J. Keller

Most of us are either temperamentally direct, bold, and persistent or gentle, calm, and deferential – but never both. Yet the wise learn to be both. They follow the one who always showed boldness without harshness, humility without uncertainty, who spoke truth but always bathed in love.

— Timothy J. Keller

Everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.

— Timothy J. Keller

Money has the power to make you think that ruthlessness is just normal. Where have you seen the power of money to make us ruthless?

— Timothy J. Keller
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