Inspirational Quotes by Gary Thomas

“Why does it seem like there’s something the matter with everything? Because there is something wrong with everything!”[2]”

“Now the LORD I AM, Yahweh, The one true God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make his face to shine upon you, And be gracious unto you. The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, And give you peace, now and always. I conclude with an invitation: “And let God’s people reply . . . ” Then they answer heartily, “Blessed be the LORD I AM, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

“The gospel news is of an all-or-nothing venture undertaken by our blessing God. He pursued us all the way into the far country of our lost and forsaken condition. He ran his game plan until it killed him. The final report is simple and all encompassing: Jesus is risen. Therefore life wins. Death loses. God wins. Satan loses. Grace wins. Sin loses. Jesus is risen and he comes to us even now within locked doors saying, “Peace be with you.” Let’s consider how the news of this story rallies us to bless the triune God even today. We, too, may well have locked the doors against the world. Hurt in love, many of us have locked the doors of our heart, hoping never to be vulnerable again. Betrayed, we have locked the doors of hope and put on a mask of clever cynicism. We don’t ever again want to be surprised and embarrassed for trusting. We will be negative first; we will expect the worst and mock anyone trying to love in good faith. Struck down by failures, we have locked the doors against the world, hiding away the passion that used to urge us to dare more, try more. We will not venture out again. We will not show what matters most to us to anyone. But the risen Jesus trampled the gates of death and hell. He is not kept out by any paltry locked doors. They don’t stop him. He comes to us with a blessing hand upraised. “Peace be with you.” He shows us his wounds. “Look, I understand. I bear the same wounds you have. I was pierced for my faithfulness, mocked for my trust, cursed for living out my passion to bless. I died at the hands of those I came to save. But I live again. I have overcome the world. See my wounds. See how I have been where you have been. See me alive again. You too will live again. Not only in the next life but in this life! Be of good cheer.”

“Surrendering to Jesus as Lord means that we value His truth over our personal opinions and experiences.”

“Christ came to redeem us from under the laws of frail, fickle human love on which no one can depend,”

“I would rather this young woman marry a broken man who walks in grace than a “perfect” man who is spiritually proud and independent.”

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The people stood by cursing him. Jesus blessed them from the cross. The people had demanded his condemnation. From the cross he prayed mercy for them. We judged him for death; he prayed for clemency for us. His arms were outstretched in agony. His hands were pierced with nails and pulsing with searing pain. Yet by his words of grace, he turned the pose of execution into the pose of everlasting blessing. Father, forgive them.”

“Honoring the Lord means, by faith, pressing into all that He is with great confidence. With that assurance, we can ask any question, turn over every rock, and expose every mess without fear.”

“The barriers and differences my husband and I experience are not simply problems I need to accept. They each represent an invitation for us to love each other. In stretching to love each other, we catch a glimpse of how passionate and steadfast Jesus’s love is.”

“Kelly Kapic has argued powerfully for the possibility that Jesus’ final blessing was that of the high priest giving Aaron’s benediction to the people after atonement for sin had been made. The branding blessing from Numbers 6 takes on even more significance if we consider it coming from mouth of the incarnate Lord himself. Kapic’s conclusion thrills me every time I read it: Whereas Aaron could lift his arms and pray for God’s face to shine on the people, in seeing Jesus ascending into the heavens these believers saw the actual face of God shining. While they had heard of God’s graciousness, now they had seen him who is Gracious. While they had held out for God’s lifted countenance, they now saw it actualized. While they had longed for the peace promised in the benediction, they now knew him who was Peace. The great High Priest came and not only pronounced the benediction, but he became the benediction. Here the medium is the Mediator, and thus he is not to be looked beyond, but rather looked to. Those who saw the ascension witnessed the personification of Aaron’s benediction in Jesus Christ![6]”

“Christians should be the greatest psychologists on the planet. Our study of psychology and every other endeavor must be rooted in Scripture, led by the Spirit, and surrendered to God’s authority. We should wholeheartedly commit ourselves to understanding and integrating as much as we can about how God created humanity, how the Fall has resulted in brokenness, and how God brings healing to broken minds, souls, and relationships.”

“Jesus goes while blessing, and he remains in that gesture of blessing. His hands remained stretched out over this world. The blessing hands of Christ are like a roof that protects us. . . . In faith we know that Jesus holds his hands stretched out in blessing over us. That is the lasting motive of Christian joy.[3] The blessing hands of Christ are over us. Whenever we look up at the sky, we can imagine the ascending Christ with his arms outstretched. Wherever we go, we go under the sky above us, so wherever we go, we go under the blessing protection and the blessing mission of the Lord Jesus. As Benedict wrote elsewhere of the disciples, “They knew that they were forever blessed and stood under blessing hands wherever they went.”[4] The implications for daily life are stirring. How hard are circumstances pressing you? Can you yet look up and see sky? That sky represents the blessing hands of Jesus keeping you even through these days. Have your powers been curtailed by illness or age? Can you at least still imagine sky? Let it remind you of the one who claims you and loves you. He went up to heaven still in the body. He is still wedded to our humanity. He has promised that he will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:21)—we too will live in rippling, embodied resurrection life. How hopeless does the future of the world seem? How far does the arm of evil reach? Look at the sky and remember Jesus’ blessing hands. Evil cannot ever go where Christ is and pull him down into our mire. Nor can it ever prevent his return to set all things right. He is still over us like the sky, his blessing hands like a great shell of protection all of our days on this earth.”

“This is the spiritual truth contained in the phrase from the Apostles’ Creed: “He descended into hell.” He has come to get us out of prison and out of the tombs. There is no place he would not go to retrieve us. David prayed, “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there” (Psalm 139:8). Indeed, even when we are hell-bent on running from God and create all manner of hell for ourselves and our loved ones, Jesus goes to the depths with us. He can get us out and bring us home. Even when others open up a can of living hell all over us, when they release the hounds of their madness into our lives, when they empty their evil onto us, Jesus is not daunted nor defeated. He has been to hell and he reigns even there.”

“How often I take for granted the astounding news that God loves me with a callous, “Yeah, yeah, he loves me, now what about God giving me what I want for myself right now?” I can fly right over the stunning surprise of this news. God created me and God loves me. Personally, individually, deeply, eternally, passionately.”

“For Christians, morality isn’t simply based on not hurting someone else, but our reverence for the Creator’s design and intentions.”

“I refuse the rat race because God has called me to the sacred race.”

“Listen carefully, never assume that just because a smaller problem hasn’t exploded into a bigger problem before, it’s never going to. Wrong. That’s exactly what the enemy wants us to think. Don’t ever forget what a schemer he is.”

“Thank God for any slap on the wrist, any sense of warning. It means you have a future. God always shows a way forward when we are open to His will. Wisdom is knowing the next step forward; God will show you the next thing to do.”

“When we love others in a way that goes beyond our own natural instincts, we tend to the deepest desire of God’s heart for the world—that the world may know His love. And as we deeply love others, something in our own soul gets healed along the way.”

“Marriage is the greatest test in the world . . . but now I welcome the test instead of dreading it. It is much more than a test of sweetness of temper, as people sometimes think; it is a test of the whole character and affects every action. T. S. Eliot”