The ironic thing about legalism is that it not only doesn't make people work harder, it makes them give up. Moralism doesn't produce morality; rather, it produces immorality. Tullian Tchividjian More Quotes by Tullian Tchividjian More Quotes From Tullian Tchividjian God does everything through people who understand they're nothing. And God does nothing through those who think they're everything. Tullian Tchividjian doe people thinking The more I focused on my need to get better the worse I actually got - the more neurotic and self-conscious and self-absorbed I became. Tullian Tchividjian get-better self needs Spiritual growth is marked by a growing realization of just how much grace you need. Tullian Tchividjian growth grace spiritual If you have suffered the loss of a family member to chronic disease, if you suffer debilitating seasons of depression, if you have lost your job and livelihood, gone through a divorce that came out of the blue, know that God is not punishing you. He is not waiting for you to do something. Tullian Tchividjian divorce loss jobs I think for far too long the Church has concluded that Christians don't need the gospel, it's simple what non-Christian people need in order to be saved. Tullian Tchividjian simple christian thinking God is not interested in what you think you should be or feel. He is not interested in the narrative you have construct for yourself, or that others have construct for you. He may even use suffering to deconstruct that narrative. Tullian Tchividjian narrative church thinking Because the church has moved away from the gospel anytime you move away from the gospel, you at the same time move toward pretense, you move toward image-keeping, you move toward the need to pretend. Tullian Tchividjian church moving needs The Christian life has been nothing more and nothing less than a daily dependence on and a rediscovery of God's grace. Tullian Tchividjian rediscovery grace christian My job as a pastor and theologian is to tease out the nature and the necessity of the gospel in meticulous ways, in everything I say, in everything I like. I want desperately for the church in America to rediscover the power and the beauty and the nature and the necessity of the gospel. Tullian Tchividjian church jobs america The gospel sets us free to become the romantic leaders of our marriages without fright or hesitation. Because we have been forever wooed by Jesus, we are now free to forever woo our wives. Tullian Tchividjian wife leader jesus Hollywood is not known as a culture of grace. Dog-eat-dog is more like it. People love you one day and hate you the next. Personal value is very much attached to box office revenues and the unpredictable and often cruel winds of fashion. Tullian Tchividjian fashion hate dog There's absolutely no way you can feel the freedom to embarrass and humiliate yourself unless you have finally recognized that your identity is in someone other than yourself. Tullian Tchividjian identity feels way I enjoy receiving love from my wife. I'm ecstatic when Kim loves me and expresses affection toward me. Something in me comes alive when she does that. But I've learned this freeing truth: I don't need that love, because in Jesus, I receive all the love I need. Tullian Tchividjian receiving-love wife jesus The world tells us in a thousand different ways that the bigger we become, the freer we will be. The richer, the more beautiful, and the more powerful we grow, the more security, liberty, and happiness we will experience. And yet, the gospel tells us just the opposite, that the smaller we become, the freer we will be. Tullian Tchividjian powerful opposites beautiful What is indisputable is the fact that unbelief is the force that gives birth to all of our bad behavior and every moral failure. It is the root. Tullian Tchividjian roots giving facts The passive righteousness of faith frees me from passing final judgment on myself. Tullian Tchividjian judgment passing finals The best evangelists, the best preachers, the best teachers are desperate people. Tullian Tchividjian desperate teacher people God's grace meets us in messy places because messy places are all that there are. Tullian Tchividjian messy gods-grace grace When Martin Luther was asked what we contribute to our salvation, he said, "Sin and resistance" Tullian Tchividjian luther resistance sin There's nothing like suffering to reveal how small and needy you are. Pain has the remarkable capacity to reveal the weakness of the things you're leaning on to make life worth living. Tullian Tchividjian weakness pain suffering