Jefferson Bethke Quotes & Sayings

We children of God have been acting the same since the beginning of time toward our Father God. Yet he invites us to enjoy him and all that is his. Like both the older and younger brothers, we must learn that the joy of our lives is not in what we get from the Father but how we get to be with him as his children. He's throwing a party, and we are all invited. — Jefferson Bethke

Grace always wins. — Jefferson Bethke

As Christians, God doesn't promise us an easy life, but he does promise to be with us in whatever we go through. He will never leave us or forsake us. — Jefferson Bethke

God wants us to pursue him first. — Jefferson Bethke

Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy. — Jefferson Bethke

We know that sometimes the best place to see the stars in all their glory is the wilderness. — Jefferson Bethke

Because the truth is, no matter how ugly or how deep the scars, there is always hope. — Jefferson Bethke

God gets glory for everything, and everyone eventually will glorify God, be it his grace or his justice. — Jefferson Bethke

God's grace is so much more powerful of a motivator than fear. Love is the deepest motivator. Only love can produce not only willing obedience but also lasting obedience. If you are being motivated by fear, rules, anger, or some other emotion, it usually only lasts while that emotion is there. Love, being a state of the heart, lasts even past the initial emotion. — Jefferson Bethke

A crooked stick can still draw a straight line, and a messed-up dude like me can still write about an awesome God. — Jefferson Bethke

The problem with fear-based Christianity is we only obey when the fear is there. If you only want to obey God when you feel threatened by his commands, it's not God you worship, but your fear. — Jefferson Bethke

Many people had been sold religion with a nice Jesus sticker slapped on it. Many people had been burned by so-called Christians. Many people had been abused, hurt, mistreated, and maligned all in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But what their souls were craving was the true Jesus. The One who heals. The One who redeems. The One who gives life. — Jefferson Bethke

I think too many times as Christians, we confuse benefits with essence. We pursue the benefits of a relationship rather than the essence of that relationship. — Jefferson Bethke

Our lives on earth aren't just placeholders until we go to heaven. We are to create, cultivate, and redeem while we're here. The misconception, I've realized, has come from a lack of knowledge of why we were created. — Jefferson Bethke

Proper worship is living a life in spirit and truth. — Jefferson Bethke

The Bible isn't a rule book. It's a love letter. I'm not an employee. I'm a child. It's not about my performance. It's about Jesus' performance for me. Grace isn't there for some future me but for the real me. The me who struggled. The me who was messy ... He loves me in my mess; he was not waiting until I cleaned myself up. — Jefferson Bethke

Many Christians don't really care about God; they just want to use him to get what they truly want - status, a nice job, a car, forgiveness - you name it. — Jefferson Bethke

Avoiding sin isn't about us not getting in trouble; it is about us trusting that the Creator knows his creation best and has designed the world to work in a certain way. — Jefferson Bethke

We refuse to turn off our computers, turn off our phone, log off Facebook, and just sit in silence, because in those moments we might actually have to face up to who we really are. — Jefferson Bethke

I think thanksgiving is the secret to a healthy Christian life. — Jefferson Bethke

There is something so tough about grace, though, that some people refuse to accept it. Other world religions or worldviews make ladders we need to climb to get to heaven, when the real Christian faith can only be lived by army crawling to get it. We have to get low. We have to humble ourselves. And I promise joy is on the other side. — Jefferson Bethke

People don't flaunt their brokenness when trying to prove themselves. — Jefferson Bethke

When Jesus and his righteousness are ultimate, then you actually see evil as the source of evil, — Jefferson Bethke

In a weird way it seems the only qualification for us to be justified is to be ungodly. It's like God is saying the only way to qualify is to admit you don't qualify. — Jefferson Bethke

The reality is that it's harder for religious people to come to Christ than anyone else because they think they are already good to go. — Jefferson Bethke

I hear a lot of people say that the fear of death and the fear of public speaking are two of the main fears in my generation, but I disagree. I think it's the fear of silence. We refuse to turn off our computers, turn off our phones, log off Facebook, and just sit in silence, because in those moments we might actually have to face up to who we really are. We fear silence like it's an invisible monster, gnawing at us, ripping us open, and showing us our dissatisfaction. Silence is terrifying. — Jefferson Bethke

We don't celebrate the gift of Jesus on Christmas. We celebrate the gifts we get. — Jefferson Bethke

He actually does the opposite. He says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it."1 If Jesus wanted to grow a church, didn't he know telling people they need to daily pick up an instrument of torture, death, and shame wasn't the way to do it? Jesus opposed the pharisaical legalism of his time, but he also opposed the watered-down, flimsy, cultural religion. He was essentially saying, "I know my miracles are awesome. I know I have immense power. But don't follow me for the wrong reason. The cost is high. The road to follow me is tough, it's painful, it hurts, and you might even face death, but I promise there is joy on the other side. Do you want in? — Jefferson Bethke

Both fear and love might cause obedience, but only love causes joy. — Jefferson Bethke

We've lost the real Jesus - or at least exchanged him for a newer, safer, sanitized, ineffectual one. We've created a Christian subculture that comes with its own set of customs, rules, rituals, paradigms, and products that are nowhere near the rugged, revolutionary faith of biblical Christianity. In our subculture Jesus would have never been crucified - he's too nice. — Jefferson Bethke

Shalom is the Hebrew word for "peace." For rhythm. For everything lining up exactly how it was meant to line up. Shalom is happening in those moments when you are at the dinner table for hours with good friends, good food, and good wine. Shalom is when you hear or see something and can't quite explain it, but you know it's calling and stirring something deep inside of you. Shalom is a sunset, that sense of exhaustion yet satisfaction from a hard day's work, creating art that is bigger than itself. Shalom is enemies being reconciled by love. Shalom is when you are dancing to the rhythm of God's voice. — Jefferson Bethke

The more I read, the more I felt the Bible looked a lot more like the movie 300 than the movie Pleasantville. — Jefferson Bethke

Grace just flows. It's a one-way type of love that runs the conduit directly from God's heart to ours. — Jefferson Bethke

Are you a Genesis 1 Christian or a Genesis 3 Christian? Do you start your story with shalom or with sin? Shalom is the Hebrew word for "peace." For rhythm. For everything lining up exactly how it was meant to line up. Shalom is happening in those moments when you are at the dinner table for hours with good friends, good food, and good wine. Shalom is when you hear or see something and can't quite explain it, but you know it's calling and stirring something deep inside of you. Shalom is a sunset, that sense of exhaustion yet satisfaction from a hard day's work, creating art that is bigger than itself. Shalom is enemies being reconciled by love. — Jefferson Bethke

Too many times people portray God as the ultimate judge, waiting to sentence us for our sins. The truth is, he is a loving husband who compels us with his love and not fear. — Jefferson Bethke

But Jesus isn't rocking a cardigan, and he doesn't talk softly through his nose. He's a roaring lion. — Jefferson Bethke

Having joy in God not because of circumstances but despite circumstances is what makes God look great - and it's a true joy that comes from within. — Jefferson Bethke

Trying to be good enough to earn heaven is like trying to jump to Hawaii from the coast of California. Everyone looks like an idiot, some drown, some get three feet, some get ten feet, but no one even gets close to Hawaii. — Jefferson Bethke

The problem with trying to be relevant is it makes us copy what culture is already doing. To be relevant, you have to copy what is cool. So we put our mouths on the tailpipe of secular culture in hopes we can recycle some of it and use it for ourselves. The problem with this is that it automatically puts us ten to fifteen years behind culture because rather than setting the precedent, we are copying their systems. This is where we get a huge section of Christian apparel and coffee mugs that simply copy secular logos. My favorite is the shirt with the words "Holy Spirit" printed in the same font and logo as Sprite. Or the one with "A bread crumb and a fish" instead of Abercrombie and Fitch. We call it redeeming, but it's actually stealing. Making bad art is bad in and of itself, but if we are Christians, this takes on a whole other level of weight. Because we are called to mirror and reflect God, everything we do should give people a proper picture of who he is. — Jefferson Bethke

Most of the time we're persecuted not because we love Jesus, but because we're prideful, arrogant jerks who don't love the real Jesus. We're often judgmental, hypocritical, and legalistic while claiming to follow a Jesus who is forgiving, authentic, and loving. Sometimes people will hate us because we preach the same gospel Jesus preached, and sometimes people will hate us because we're jerks. Let's not do the second one and blame it on the first. — Jefferson Bethke

A grace economy is backward to most of us - those who think they qualify, don't; and those who admit they don't qualify, do. — Jefferson Bethke

We can be honest and transparent about our sins and failures because we aren't the ones fighting. Jesus fought for us. This is good news because it means we are free to be messed up. — Jefferson Bethke

God uniquely highlights marriage as one of the main ways we know who he is and how he relates to us. — Jefferson Bethke

You can worship God by cleaning up baby puke with a thankful heart just as much as if you were to be writing a Bible study for thousands of people. This is because the way you train that child, the way you teach him the ways of Jesus, and the way you display grace and truth firsthand is God displaying his ministry of reconciliation through you. — Jefferson Bethke

It's only when we understand that in Jesus we are cleansed, washed, and renewed that we see our sin fall by the wayside. — Jefferson Bethke

He came not to save people but to save his entire creation, which we are a part of. — Jefferson Bethke

No matter how we come to Jesus - whether we are coming to him for the first time or finding our way back to him after faking it, or even if we have tried to be righteous by adding our own rules to the Bible - we are all in need of his grace and truth. — Jefferson Bethke

But I always wonder why we Christians are the ones who get slapped with the too-narrow-and-exclusive card when everyone's point of view is the same. Think about it: Every worldview is exclusive to itself. Even by that classmate saying I was arrogant for thinking my was right, she was doing the same thing-saying I was wrong, and she was right. How arrogant of her-not really, but according to her own logic. yes. — Jefferson Bethke

The most dangerous thing about the human heart is that we want to reverse the roles by making God the responder and us the initiators. — Jefferson Bethke

God is most glorified in our lives when we show him to be most glorious regardless of what is thrown our way. — Jefferson Bethke

My generation is the most fatherless and insecure generation that's ever lived, and we are willing to sacrifice everything if we just can be told we are loved.
If only we knew just how loved we really are. — Jefferson Bethke

And so the beautiful truth is that since we were created by a community, we were created for community. If we are made in God's image and God is a community, then that means we are rejecting our humanness when we live isolated and alone. That's fundamental to what it means to be human. That is intimacy. — Jefferson Bethke

Isn't that the story for many of us in America? Christianity is our default setting. — Jefferson Bethke

As God's children, we are to use our lives knowing they reflect back to him and bear his image. Too often, instead of acting like mirrors pointing back to Jesus, we try to act like billboards, advertising ourselves. — Jefferson Bethke

Relationships are not efficient; they are messy, time-consuming, and unpredictable. — Jefferson Bethke

Loving an enemy means loving "them. — Jefferson Bethke

The minute you think you have gotten on God's good side by your own behavior, you are naturally prone to demonize those who haven't. — Jefferson Bethke

Without the rain there is no beauty in the summer. Rain gives depth, it gives beauty, and it gives roots. If a plant is only exposed to sun and no rain, it becomes dry, flimsy, and dead. Too many times we curse the rain in our lives-suffering, trials, hardships-but the truth is without rain nothing grows. — Jefferson Bethke

We can exhaust money. We can exhaust sex. We can exhaust our jobs. But we can't exhaust God. He gives us the one thing that will never run out, never get old, and never fail: himself! — Jefferson Bethke

In a postmodern world where all religious activity is seen as what we do for God, we need to proclaim Christianity is about what God has done for us. — Jefferson Bethke

No one is more religious than the Christian who gives grace to everyone except the religious older-brother types. God gives grace to the younger and the older. No one is past redemption. No one is past grace. All God wants is for both the religious and the rebellious to come into the party. We can wallow in self-righteousness, or we can enjoy all that is our Father's. — Jefferson Bethke

Heaven isn't a place for people who are scared of hell; it's for people who love Jesus. — Jefferson Bethke

Even though there are few to no credible passages - properly interpreted - in Scripture that call things such as alcohol and tattoos utterly sinful, some fundamentalists insist they are. — Jefferson Bethke

Trying to live without community is like trying to live without oxygen. We weren't created to do it. — Jefferson Bethke

So let's be done with the comparison game. Let's be done with constantly fighting for the higher moral ground to stand on and look down on everyone else. Let's be done with thinking we can actually earn something that is impossible to earn. Let's stop trying to be perfect and righteous because those are not the people God is looking for. God is looking for people who can admit their needs and surrender to a Savior, because if the Bible is any indication, it doesn't matter how messed up you are. If you love him, he can and will use you. — Jefferson Bethke

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their mouths and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. — Jefferson Bethke

New Testament Christians were most known by their love for their neighbors, but today we are most known for our segregation of the lowly. — Jefferson Bethke

True freedom is being able to give up all your rights for another out of love. Just ask Jesus. He willingly came to earth. Willingly lived life for thirty-three years. Willingly let himself be beaten, scourged, and crucified. All for others. All for us. — Jefferson Bethke

As I've heard said, "Of 100 unsaved men, one might read the Bible, but the other 99 will read the Christian."1 Ouch. — Jefferson Bethke

I was just lying there, swimming in my own shame and guilt, when this still small voice whispered into the depths of my soul: I love you. I desire you. I delight in you. I saw you were going to that before I went to the cross, and I still went. — Jefferson Bethke

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep lowing concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. — Jefferson Bethke

The issue isn't whether someone is good or bad, but whether he is repentant or unrepentant. — Jefferson Bethke

All the other religions essentially say, "This is what you have to do to be in right standing with God." Jesus comes to earth and says, "This is what I've freely done for you to put you in right standing with God." Religion says do. Jesus says done. Religion is man searching for God. Jesus is God searching for man. Religion is pursuing God by our moral efforts. Jesus is God pursuing us despite our moral efforts. Religious people kill for what they believe. Jesus followers die for what they believe. — Jefferson Bethke

The problem with wearing masks is even when we receive love, it's really the mask that is receiving the love, not us. Whatever gets thrown at us will always hit the mask and can't penetrate our souls. So it is with God's grace. Every second of every day he pursues us and offers grace, but until we take off our masks, we will never be able to accept it. — Jefferson Bethke

When you concentrate on God, you can actually enjoy his gifts in a meaningful way. But when you pursue just the gifts themselves, they become the product of despair rather than joy. — Jefferson Bethke

God is constant. Always forgiving. Always loving. Never changing. — Jefferson Bethke

Religious people see "them" as the problem; Jesus-followers see "us" as the problem. — Jefferson Bethke

That's the truth with any idol - it will rock you to your core when it leaves. When a good thing leaves you, it might make you sad. But when an ultimate thing leaves you, you feel like you can't live anymore. — Jefferson Bethke

One of the most dangerous things about the Bible is that it is big enough to say whatever we want it to say if we are willing to remove the context. — Jefferson Bethke

We often miss that our "righteous acts" are "filthy" before God. Not just our bad days, but our extremely good days too! — Jefferson Bethke

God doesn't give us a nice tidy answer on why suffering and evil exist, but he does blatantly and explicitly show us what the reason isn't. Knowing what Jesus did on the cross, his love is too potent and too obvious for us to say he must not care. A God who hates suffering and evil just as much as we do was willing to subject himself to it in order to reconcile us to him. He got involved in our mess. He got involved in our hurt. He got involved in our pain. — Jefferson Bethke

So what do we do then? What do you do when the only thing you want to do is yell at God and tell him how awful it is? You do exactly that. Cry. Yell. Scream. Be honest. Be transparent. And be vulnerable. For the first nineteen years of my life, I wanted God to give me an answer, but now I've found it is better when I get him. An answer isn't going to bring that spouse back. An answer won't ease that pain. But what will is God's Grace in the depths of our souls. — Jefferson Bethke

God is faithful. — Jefferson Bethke

if you care more about flaunting your Christian freedom than promoting Christian unity, you're probably not free. You are actually a slave to your so-called freedom. — Jefferson Bethke

God should get a lot more glory for things than we give him. — Jefferson Bethke

If getting more girls and drinking more beer meant I'd be 'cool,' then why not? But I soon discovered that lifestyle was like drinking saltwater. If you are extremely thirsty, you'll settle for it, but it just makes you thirstier. — Jefferson Bethke

Persecution, like fire, burns up the weak elements (wood and hay) but actually purifies the strong ones (silver and gold). It — Jefferson Bethke

His face, and his face alone, needs to be the driving force of our lives. If it's not, we are worshiping something else, and sooner or later that idol will be taken from us by a trial, circumstance, or death. — Jefferson Bethke

Thinking you can earn eternal life by just reading the Bible a lot is like staring at the windshield while driving, hoping you'll get where you want to go. The windshield isn't there to be looked at; it is designed to be looked through. — Jefferson Bethke

Jesus says you can read the Bible as a checklist, but if you do, you miss the whole point. — Jefferson Bethke

Be honest about your weakness, be honest that you're scared, and be honest about the fact that it's Jesus who defeats the sins that trip you up, not you. God cast us as Israel, not the hero. — Jefferson Bethke

We have branded Jesus beyond recognition. Church has become a business. Jesus is our marketing scheme. We create bookstores, T-shirts, bracelets, bumper stickers, and board games all in the name of Jesus. — Jefferson Bethke

The Bible rarely tells me to fight against someone who doesn't believe what I believe, but it frequently tells me to fight against my sin and the disease in me that's drawing me away from Jesus. — Jefferson Bethke

When I was trying to earn Jesus by being good, I missed the real Jesus who wants us to love him and serve him not for what he gives but for who he is - dangerous, unpredictable, radical, and amazing. — Jefferson Bethke

Only when we humbly call on God to speak into our lives - knowing if he doesn't, we won't succeed - are we actually in a safe place. — Jefferson Bethke

If you have a thankful heart and are using that domain to reflect God's beauty as a Creator, then you are worshiping. Listening to Hillsound United isn't worship; it's and aid for worship. I found a deeper level of joy and connection with Jesus when I realized that eating a good meal with thankfulness was just as holy as my prayer time. The truth is, Go doesn't just want your "Christian" things. He wats it all. When we realize the beauty of God's grace in the mundane, not just the religious, that's when we will begin to see him correctly. — Jefferson Bethke

You can bring God glory wherever he has already placed you. You don't need to feel guilty that you're a chef. You don't need to feel guilty that you only paint, but your dad wants you to be a pastor. Too many times Christians want to go into ministry because of outside pressures by their parents or pastors, not realizing where they already are is their mission field. — Jefferson Bethke

I don't know where you are or where you're coming from, but I know Jesus has a better plan for your life than you do. He is a better king of your life than you are. No one has caused me more hurt, shame, guilt, and pain than me. He knows, and he rescues me. He can do the same for you. Just come as you are. — Jefferson Bethke

We give our entire lives on the altar of false gods - money, sex, reputation, work, etc. - and God continues to pursue us. He continues to chase us. He continues to woo us. That is the God of the Bible. — Jefferson Bethke

Let me be straight with you: I'm not really qualified to write this book. I don't have a Bible or seminary degree. I'm not a pastor or a counselor. I don't know biblical languages and don't know how to do exegesis - whatever that even is. Again, I'm just a messed-up twenty-three-year-old guy. But I know that God has quite the sense of humor. It only takes a quick peek into Christian history to realize I'm almost the exact type of person he is looking for. A wise man two thousand years ago put it this way: "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."1 Paul tells us that God loves using people who are useless by worldly standards - because then he gets all the credit. A crooked stick can still draw a straight line, and a messed-up dude like me can still write about an awesome God. I've tasted grace and can't help but tell others about it. — Jefferson Bethke