J Ortberg Quotes & Sayings

I read my first P.G. Wodehouse when I was 12. — Mallory Ortberg

I am the God of the universe, maker of heaven and earth. I designed your body, I fashioned your world, I created your potential. I have wisdom and guidance and love that I long to communicate to you but I can't get through. Your heart and life are too noisy, and I will not scream. I love you. But you need a button for — John Ortberg

(Remember you always have the option of taking to the sea.) — Mallory Ortberg

A lot of my creative energy is spent coming up with a concept that, once I get it, I feel like it writes itself. — Mallory Ortberg

Work is a form of love. We cannot be fully human without creating value. — John Ortberg

The child in Bethlehem would grow up to be a friend of sinners, not a friend of Rome. He would spend his life with the ordinary and the unimpressive. He would pay deep attention to lepers and cripples, to the blind and the beggar, to prostitutes and fishermen, to women and children. He would announce the availability of a kingdom different from Herod's, a kingdom where blessing - of full value and worth with God - was now conferred on the poor in spirit and the meek and the persecuted. — John Ortberg

Disciplined people can do the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reason. — John Ortberg

Some people give gifts in order to bewilder, confuse, and manipulate their recipients. — Mallory Ortberg

The ministry of bearing with one another is learning to hear God speak through difficult people. — John Ortberg

At the heart of Christian faith is the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. — John Ortberg

Our soul begins to grow in God when we acknowledge our basic neediness. — John Ortberg

My parents are both pastors. In the '80s and '90s in the mainstream Christian world, it was not really common for a woman - especially a married woman and a mother - to be a pastor. — Mallory Ortberg

Anyone who thinks it's funny to name their network "Tom'sHugeEtc" is going to think it's funny that one of his neighbors is also named Tom and is embarrassed by it. — Mallory Ortberg

Sloth is the failure to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done - like the kamikaze pilot who flew seventeen missions. — John Ortberg

There are usually multiple messages that could be preached from the same text. — John Ortberg

This is precisely why when somebody asked Jesus once, "What is the most important of all the commandments?" he answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." It is not coincidental that all the parts of the person we have been talking about are here in the most important commandment. Your heart (that is, your will, your choices), your mind (all your thoughts and desires), your strength (all of your body), and your soul are all to be bound together and focused on love of God, and then the love of all that flows out of this. — John Ortberg

why did you turn my friends into pigs i don't know maybe the real question is why are your friends so turn-into-pigsable — Mallory Ortberg

What makes a man's 80 year-old Irish uncle skip like a little boy? Me Father is very fond of me! — John Ortberg Jr.

haha must have been a weird typo it's illegal to hunt men but exhilarating — Mallory Ortberg

sacred pathways Naturalist - finds God in nature Ascetic - is drawn to disciplines Traditionalist - loves historical liturgies Activist - comes alive spiritually in a great cause Caregiver - meets God in serving Sensate - senses God through five senses Enthusiast - loves to grow through people Contemplative - is drawn to solitary reflection and prayer Intellectual - loves God by learning (For more information on these categories, read — John Ortberg

A soul centered in God always knows it has a heavenly Father who will hold its pain, its fear, its anxiety. — John Ortberg

Sin is not just the wrong stuff we do; it's the good we don't do. It's the starving children we don't want to look at, the volunteering we avoid, the poor we don't want to serve, and the money we don't want to give. — John Ortberg

Brother Lawrence called this "practicing the presence" of God, and the most important part of that practice lay in "renouncing, once and for all, whatever does not lead to God. — John Ortberg

Someone who has a disability is not necessarily in distress. You may be embarrassing and inconveniencing someone by butting in and making assumptions. — Mallory Ortberg

The only true and lasting inspiration for life is genuine love for God, and submitted gratitude that I get to be a part of the redemptive quest. — John Ortberg

Love of learning led to monasteries, which became the cradle of academic guilds. — John Ortberg

You don't need to hide the fact that you're in recovery, but you don't have to share your history of addiction with acquaintances at work, either. — Mallory Ortberg

Usually my writing is very over the top and bombastic and very, like, 'I'm amazing! Look at me!' — Mallory Ortberg

To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God. — John Ortberg Jr.

True repentance never leads to despair. Its leads home. It leads to grace. — John Ortberg