MATT SMETHURST
Tim Keller (1950–2023) has gone home to be with the Savior he so faithfully loved, wrote about, and preached. It’s difficult to measure this man’s impact on my life and ministry—and on countless others. Here are 12 of my favorite Keller quotes.
– “All death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better.”
– “The central basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.”
– “To be loved but not known is superficial. To be known but not loved is our nightmare. Only Jesus knows us to the bottom and loves us to the sky.”
– “Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can’t accept; but Christians should reverse that, allowing the Bible to examine us, looking for things God can’t accept.”
– “Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves.”
– “Only if your god can outrage and challenge you will you know that you worship the real God and not a figment of your imagination. . . . If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.”
– “To say ‘I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself’ means you’ve failed an idol whose approval is more important than God’s.”
– “The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 a.m. for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.”
– “The gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.”
– “The temptation for those who suffer is to assume that because we can’t think of any good purposes God may have for our suffering, there can’t be any.”
– “A good sermon is not like a club that beats upon the will but like a sword that cuts to the heart.”
– “[These are] Christianity’s unsurpassed offers—a meaning that suffering cannot remove, a satisfaction not based on circumstances, a freedom that does not hurt but rather enhances love, an identity that does not crush you or exclude others, a moral compass that does not turn you into an oppressor, and a hope that can face anything, even death.”
