Inspirational Quotes by Ray Ortlund Jr.

“Most of what we call friendship is little more than acquaintanceship. But acquaintanceship is to friendship what snorkeling is to deep-sea diving. Snorkeling is fine, but skimming along the surface isn’t exploring the deep.”

“Without friendship, the ring never would have made it, and Middle Earth would have been destroyed. Actually, we never would have imagined Middle Earth in the first place because, without friendship, Tolkien never would have finished writing the story. He said that it was only C. S. Lewis’s steady encouragement that kept him writing. Perhaps this is why the theme of friendship stands out so prominently in the story. In Tolkien’s day, authors only produced “fairy stories” (as they were called) for children, not adults. But Tolkien wrote for adults too. He eventually wrote The Lord of the Rings, but it was only because of his relationship with Lewis. Two years after Lewis died, Tolkien reflected on Lewis’s role in his life: The unpayable debt that I owe to him was not “influence” as it is ordinarily understood, but sheer encouragement. He was for long my only audience. Only from him did I ever get the idea that my “stuff” could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought the L. of the R. to a conclusion.13 Lewis and Tolkien experienced true friendship. They knew that their experience was both wonderful and rare in their culture. This is why both men wrote to promote the joys of true friendship in their own day—Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, and Lewis in The Four Loves.”

“Two things are essential in this world—life, and friendship. Both must be prized highly, and not undervalued. They are nature’s gifts. We were created by God that we might live; but if we are not to live solitarily, we must have friendship. Augustine”

“In the heart of our Lord Jesus there burns such friendship towards us that all other forms of it are as dim candles to the sun.”

“If you are his friend, then he has set his heart on you, and it will never be moved.”

“When thou hast found such a man, and proved the sincerity of his friendship; when he has been faithful . . . to thee, grapple him to thyself with hooks of steel and never let him go. Charles Spurgeon”

“Empathy shapes the whole tone of a relationship. Without it, we trade honoring friends for one-upping them. We trade affirmation for sarcasm. We trade talking with for talking at. We trade listening to sorrows for changing the subject.”

“We need to remember, therefore, that when friends tell us our faults, they are as Charles Spurgeon put it “performing on [our] behalf the most heroic act of pure charity.”13 Who wouldn’t want a friend like that?”

“We thank God for friendship, we treasure God above friendship, and we enjoy God through friendship.”

“Covenant community, the hand of God will write”

“Pablo escribe: «Porque para Dios somos grato olor de Cristo en los que se salvan, y en los que se pierden» (2 Co. 2:15). Las palabras enfáticas son de Cristo. Es el fuerte aroma de Cristo lo que la gente detecta cuando nuestras iglesias están llenas del evangelio. ¡Es increíble que experimenten a Cristo mismo a través de nosotros! Somos tan diferentes a él en tantos aspectos. Y aun así, su perfume pasa a través de nosotros.”

“We get into wisdom the hard way, through the Lord’s instruction and discipline, through being chastened and corrected.”

“If the church is what it should be, young people will be there. But they will not just ‘be there’—they will be there with the blowing of horns and the clashing of high-sounding cymbals, and they will come dancing with flowers in their hair.”

“It is joyous for a church to stand together as one and say: “We don’t know exactly how this is going to play out. But we’re going to trust the Lord and move forward, because all that matters to us is the greater glory of Jesus in our world today.”

“Becoming a Christian doesn’t just add something to the old you; it creates a new you. The risen Christ indwells you now, never to leave (Rom. 8:10–11).”

“Bienaventurados los que tienen derechos, porque se salen con la suya. Bienaventurados los despreocupados, porque están cómodos. Bienaventurados los prepotentes, porque ganan. Bienaventurados los que tienen su propia justicia, porque no necesitan nada. Bienaventurados los vengativos, porque serán temidos. Bienaventurados los que no son descubiertos, porque tienen buen aspecto. Bienaventurados los discutidores, porque tienen la última palabra. Bienaventurados los ganadores, porque hacen lo que quieren.”

“If God has drawn you to himself, then he has put you ‘in Christ Jesus’.”

“When the doctrine is clear and the culture is beautiful, that church will be powerful. But there are no shortcuts to getting there. Without the doctrine, the culture will be weak. Without the culture, the doctrine will seem pointless.”

“El evangelio no es ley, que requiere que nos ganemos algo. El evangelio es un anuncio de bienvenida, que declara que Jesús lo pagó todo.”

“We do not need more frightening punishments and more withering scoldings. We need the all-sufficiency of Jesus applied in rich measure to our deepest points of personal need.”