Jared C. Wilson Quotes & Sayings

Because He lives, I can face yesterday. — Jared C. Wilson

Dallas Willard explains: The world has succeeded in opposing intelligence to goodness. . . . And today any attempt to combine spirituality or moral purity with great intelligence causes widespread pangs of "cognitive dissonance." [As with Jesus,] Mother Teresa . . . is thought of as . . . nice, of course, but not really smart. "Smart" means good at managing how life "really" is. — Jared C. Wilson

The remedy for our deadness to God's grace is more grace.5 — Jared C. Wilson

I had been feeling that it was more important for me to understand how much Jesus loved me than it was for me to figure out how to love Him. — Jared C. Wilson

We are no more secure in Christ with a strong faith than with a small faith, so long as that small faith is true faith. — Jared C. Wilson

God razes us before he raises us. — Jared C. Wilson

The gospel of Jesus Christ solves the innate problem we have of "glory greed." We are, every one of us from birth, incompetent thieves of the glory that belongs only to God. We know in our insidest insides that we fall short of his glory, and so we are constantly clawing and scratching to make up that difference in some way. This is how all sin is fundamentally idolatry and how all accumulations of worldly treasures - be they material goods or religious merit - are fundamentally acts of self-worship. Then in the gospel of Christ, God forgives our petty theft, sets us free from the bondage of our idols, and unites us Spiritually, irrevocably, and satisfyingly to himself. Now the glory we tried to steal is shared with us freely, and it is real glory this time, not these pathetic knockoffs we think will do the trick. — Jared C. Wilson

He is no fool who believes the man who knows everything. — Jared C. Wilson

I am plum tuckered on Monday morning. I face ample temptation to wallow. But Jesus promises rest. I may be a shell of a pastor at this time each week, but God is no less God. His might is no less mighty. His gospel is no less power. His reach is no less infinite. His grace is no less everlasting. His lovingkindness is no less enduring. — Jared C. Wilson

Some days taking up your cross feels like putting up with an annoying coworker or a flat tire. And some days taking up your cross feels like what it is - death. — Jared C. Wilson

The gradual dawn of gospel wakefulness is occurring for you as the Spirit brings your sin to mind, pours more grace upon you, and bears more fruit of good character and good works in you. To this end, then, you should read the gospel, listen to the gospel, sing the gospel, write the gospel, share the gospel, and preach the gospel, all the while asking God to administer its power more and more to your life. Situate yourself constantly in the crosshairs of the gospel. You cannot "Behold!" it if you aren't looking. As my friend Ray Ortlund has been known to say, "Stare at the glory of God until you see it."7 — Jared C. Wilson

The way the church wins its people shapes its people. So the most effective way to turn your church into a collection of consumers and customers is to treat them like that's what they are. — Jared C. Wilson

People who know the gospel's power will share it powerfully. — Jared C. Wilson

We will always prefer lesser satisfactions to the satisfaction of Christ, because the lesser ones appeal to the god of self - a ravenous, insatiable, fickle idol indeed - while satisfaction in Christ requires that we assassinate that god. We won't know what it really means for the joy of the Lord to be our strength until we've had intravenous idolatry yanked out and all other crutches kicked away. For many of us, Jesus won't be our absolute treasure until we are out of options. — Jared C. Wilson

Christ's sacrifice on the cross and resurrection out of the grave are big enough, grand enough, effective enough, and eternal enough to cover your shoddy Christian life, — Jared C. Wilson

The cross is proof that God loves sinners. — Jared C. Wilson

Kids have faith. Adults have the facts that make faith seem like kid's stuff. — Jared C. Wilson

There are no coach seats on the journey to Christ when he calls his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to another. — Jared C. Wilson

But really, my ability to exercise oversight willingly flows from my vision. No, not a vision for an "awesomely bold" church - at least, not at first - but of my God and for the flock of God that is among me. — Jared C. Wilson

It's possible to do "Jesusy" stuff without knowing Jesus. It's possible to do good as part of some religious self-salvation project and not out of the joy of being saved. — Jared C. Wilson

Once upon a time, a king came to earth to tell stories, and the stories contained the mystery of eternal life. — Jared C. Wilson

The Devil is like a rat in a jar that is filling with ether. We should expect that as his death gets ever-nearer, he will beat his claws more furiously against the glass. — Jared C. Wilson

For believers in Christ, affliction often has a softening effect on the heart. This is why cancer patients are posting uplifting thoughts in my Facebook newsfeed and teenagers are complaining about their phones not working right. Suffering is when life gets real. Our interests are narrowed. Our attention is grabbed. What really matters? The — Jared C. Wilson

Let's stop trying to conjure up God (by which, let's be honest, we're often just trying to conjure up our emotions), and let us marvel and enjoy that he cannot be conjured. — Jared C. Wilson

We forget that the kingdom does not come through political plotting but through the proclamation of the gospel. We stretch our branches to the wrong king. — Jared C. Wilson

The religious climate of Jesus's day was evidence of what happens when no one stops the counterfeit. The Spirit of God had gone silent after Malachi, but that did not stop the spiritual authorities from trying to keep the whole mechanism turning under the power of their own self-righteousness. Can you imagine what it might be like to have been faking spiritual power for hundreds of years when suddenly the real thing shows up? — Jared C. Wilson

The frightening thing is that, to enter hell, all one has to do is nothing. — Jared C. Wilson

Leaders must lead, not push. Leaders must serve, not domineer. — Jared C. Wilson

The way some people read the parables reminds me of Aesop's Fables. And the way others read them reminds me of the way some discern clue after perplexing clue in their Beatle albums as evidence for a cover-up of Paul's having died in a car accident. — Jared C. Wilson

Or as my friend Ray Ortlund has been known to say, "In Acts, they preached and awe came down. You can't put that in your worship order. 10 a.m.: awe comes down. — Jared C. Wilson

Every agnostic has a minister, Mike. Otherwise, they's be atheists. — Jared C. Wilson

The reality is that Jesus knows exactly how things really are, and in fact he knows how things really are better than anyone else. We may look over the ethos of the Sermon on the Mount and find the whole thing utterly impractical toward getting ahead in the world, but one of the underlying points of the Sermon is that getting ahead in the world is a losing gambit to begin with. We come to Jesus's teaching looking for tips on playing checkers, when all along he is playing — Jared C. Wilson

That was a time of innocence, a time when life was on hold. When life was carefree. The only expectation was to be a good boy. No grand ambitions. No long-range goals to mold your existence around. Not then. — Jared C. Wilson

I once led a church largely made up of young adults - twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, mostly. Many lamented that we weren't more multigenerational (you know, like the church), but at the same time the married young people wanted to be in a separate small group from the single young people because they didn't have anything in common with the singles. "You mean, besides Jesus?" I asked. — Jared C. Wilson

I've concluded that God is as much, if not more, interested in doing a great work in us as he is in doing a great work through us. — Jared C. Wilson

Gospel wakefulness means treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring his power more sweetly. — Jared C. Wilson

Only God can write a story that resonates not just in the power of the imagination or the heart or the mind, but in the very soul; only God can write a story that brings dead things to life. — Jared C. Wilson

His job ruled his day. Cable television infomercials and YouTube searches ruled his nights. — Jared C. Wilson

The beauty of Christ and his gospel continues to captivate millions of believers all over the world and drive them to passionate worship while it simultaneously disgusts, angers, or bores millions of others. — Jared C. Wilson

The kingdom is the manifest presence of God's reign. — Jared C. Wilson

The well-known evangelist D. L. Moody is reported to have said that he had more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other person he met! — Jared C. Wilson