Inspirational Quotes by Gary Thomas

“Christian life is a journey toward love, growing in love, expanding in our ability to love, surrendering our hearts to love, increasingly becoming a person who is motivated by love.”

“From time to time, we all forget what we look like to Him. Sometimes He pours out fresh grace and we can actually feel the truth of our worth. But other times He asks us to walk by faith in the absence of any feeling whatsoever. Those are tough times—when all of the messages coming our way seem to contradict what we know to be true.”

“We must not confuse resting on our laurels with walking intimately with God. If we rely on our past victories, we’ll fail in our current battles. However, if we rest in God more than we trust ourselves—because we have a history with Him—He’ll cover us, equip us, empower us, and protect us whether we feel up for the battle or not.”

“A defeatist attitude kills almost as many marriages as do affairs.”

“you don’t marry a position. You marry a person.”

“It is the duty of God’s people to trust in Him when in darkness…It may look as though God has forsaken them and does not hear their prayers. Many clouds may gather and many enemies may surround them formidably, threatening to swallow them up. All events of providence seem to be against them and all circumstances seem to render the promises of God too difficult to be fulfilled. Yet God must be trusted when He is out of sight, when we cannot see how it is possible for Him to fulfill His word. When everything but God’s Word makes it look so unlikely, it is then that people must believe with hope against hope.10”

“But all too often, we manage our time like we manage our money—more goes out than what comes in. We don’t realize how our busyness makes us less stable and more vulnerable.”

“Our wives don’t have to “deserve” it. A Christian husband doesn’t love his wife only when she is lovable. He loves her whenever Christ deserves to be reverenced, which, of course, is always.”

“The Bible clearly says we shouldn’t feel forced to marry or feel prohibited from marrying; this is one of those life decisions God leaves up to us.”

“we are afflicted with the idea that we are not accomplishing anything unless we are always busily running back and forth.”

“The warning behind this reality is that if we make too much of marriage, we make too little of our relationship with God. And when we make too little of our relationship with God, we undercut our source of love, which makes success in marriage less likely. Focusing on marriage too much is, ironically enough, the best way to kill it. Men”

“Let us become intentional to use personal slights, inconveniences, acts of gossip and slander, times of difficulty, and even sickness as opportunities to grow in patience and understanding and humility instead of bitterly resenting each one.”

“When we were lying helpless on the floor, he saw us. When we were crying from breathing the toxic air of this world, he took pity on us. When we were helplessly wallowing about in the blood and water of our birth, crying out for food, for care, he saw us, nodded and reached toward us. When we could have been left to die, when we could have been sold as slaves, the Father said, “Mine!” He took us in his arms and claimed us.”

“The sad reality is that when we get married for trivial reasons, we will seek divorce for trivial reasons. We need something much more lasting on which to base a lifelong commitment—one that even has eternal implications.”

“What if I ran all my actions through this grid: “If my son-in-law treated my daughter the way I’m treating my wife, how would I feel?” Men, that’s the way what you’re doing looks like to God. Women, just switch the genders. Imagine hearing your (perhaps future) daughter-in-law talking to her friends about your son with the same tone and words you use to describe your husband: How does that feel?”

“It’s sort of like signing a mortgage or buying a business while drunk. You need to “dry out” a bit and think this thing through before you commit the rest of your life to someone you can’t objectively evaluate”

“If we have never sought, we seek Thee now; Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars; We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow, We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars. The heavens frighten us; they are too calm; In all the universe we have no place. Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm? Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars, we claim Thy grace. If, when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near, Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine; We know to-day what wounds are, have no fear, Show us Thy Scars, we know the countersign. The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak; They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne; But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.[1]”

“I cannot promise you that if you respond with a blessing when you’re hurt or wounded, your husband will change. I cannot promise you a life of happiness and personal fulfill-ment, but I can promise you that you are living according to your purpose and calling as a Christian; you are obeying the will of God and there is peace in obedience.”

“We can assume that when the Bible teaches submission, God knew full well that wives would have to watch their husbands fail and make mistakes. Thankfully, this verse also presents some boundaries. If you submit “out of reverence for Christ,” you are never obligated — ever — to do anything that would offend Christ.”

“This is the journey marriage calls us to, to seek to understand and empathize, for each of us to strive to become a redemptive partner rather than a legal opponent. If we truly want to love God’s sons and daughters, we have to seek to understand God’s sons and daughters. Men and women, have you ever asked God why your spouses are the way they are? In the midst of your frustration, have you ever sought God’s perspective for what has “bent” them in their current direction?”