Home / Authors / Tullian Tchividjian

Tullian Tchividjian

Tullian Tchividjian Quotes

Pastor

Tullian Tchividjian is a well-known pastor and theological writer, recognized for his contemporary and insightful approach to Christian faith and practice. Born on July 13, 1972, he has been influential in Christian circles, particularly for his emphasis on grace and the transformative power of the Gospel.

Filter quotes by topic

All Grace Jesus People Christ Needs Christian Ifs Thinking Way Sin

Famous Tullian Tchividjian Quotes

“We don't need answers and explanations as much as we need God's presence in and through the suffering.”

Needs Suffering Answers Explanation God's Presence Need God

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“For the life of the believer, one thing is beautifully and abundantly true: God's chief concern in your suffering is to be with you and be himself for you.”

Suffering One Thing Concern Believer Chiefs True God

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“The Gospel is not ultimately a defense from pain, it is the message of God's rescue through pain. In fact, it allows us to drop our defenses, to escape not from pain but from the prison of "How" and "Why" to the freedom of "Who?"”

Facts Pain Messages Prison Defense Rescue Message Of God

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“We are not responsible for finding the right formula to combat or unlock our suffering.”

Suffering Findings Responsible Formulas Combat

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“Only the Holy Spirit can comfort a person in the depths of grief.”

Persons Spirit Grief Holy Comfort Depth Holy Spirit

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“The Gospel frees us to speak honestly about the reality of pain, confident that nothing is riding on our ability to cope with or fend off suffering.”

Reality Pain Suffering Speak Ability Honestly Riding

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Before we can even begin to grapple with the frustrations and tragedies of life in this world, we must do away with our faithless morality of payback and reward.”

World This World Morality Tragedy Rewards Frustration Faithless Payback

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“We must reacquaint ourselves with the biblical weight of the problem that we less-than-perfect human beings contend with in the face of a holy and righteous God.”

Humans Problem Faces Human Beings Perfect Holy Weight Righteous Biblical

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“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.”

Ifs Knows Jobs Suffering Lost Waiting Loss Gone Members Disease Seasons Blue Divorce Family Members Livelihood Waiting For You

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“You are not obligated to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and find a way to conquer the odds, to be stronger or transform yourself into some better version of yourself. The pain you are feeling (whatever the degree) may be a reminder that things are not as they should be.”

Way Should May Feelings Pain Degrees Stronger Versions Conquer Odds Reminders Bootstraps

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Christianity is in no way a stoic faith. It fundamentally rejects the "stiff upper lip" school of thought.”

Way School Christianity Lips Rejects Stoic Stiff Upper Lip

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“Unfortunately, some Christians are guilty of throwing out an equivalent sentiment when they play the "God is sovereign" card as a way to trump every evil that comes your way.”

Way Play Christian Evil Trump Cards Guilty Sentiments Throwing Sovereign

Book:Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

Source: Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free

“God is inviting you today to appropriately grieve your pains and losses and to acknowledge the world is seriously broken.”

World Today Pain Loss Broken Acknowledge Grieving Inviting Pain And Loss

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“We are all both victims and victimizers. Just as everyone suffers, no one is innocent of causing suffering themselves.”

Suffering Victim Innocent

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“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.”

Thinking Feels Should Church Narrative Not Interested

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“The pain cleared my vision, and once it was taken away, I realized just how much I'd been relying on the endorsement of others to make me feel like I mattered.”

Feels Pain Vision Taken I Realized Endorsements

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I had turned personal validation into my primary source of meaning and value, so that without it I was miserable and depressed.”

Values Source Miserable Primaries Validation Primary Source

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I became frustrated with myself for not being as sturdy and unquestioning as I knew a man in my position should be.”

Men Should Position Frustrated Sturdy

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I was spending too much time thinking about how I was doing, if I was learning everything I was supposed to be learning during this difficult season, whether I was doing it right or not, taking my spiritual pulse, etc - my inner lawyer was working overtime.”

Ifs Thinking Spiritual Difficult Too Much Seasons Spending Lawyer Supposed To Be Etc Pulse Learning Everything

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I was spending way too much time thinking about me and what I needed to do, and far too little time thinking about Jesus and what he had already done for me.”

Thinking Way Littles Done Jesus Too Much Needed Spending Little Time

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“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.”

Needs Self Conscious Focused Get Better Neurotic Self Conscious Self Absorbed

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“God did not rescue me out of the pain, He rescued me through the pain!”

Pain Rescue Rescue Me

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Being the middle child, I couldn't figure out where I fit in the home. I couldn't figure out whether I was the youngest of the older three or the oldest of the younger three.”

Children Home Three Middle Figures Fit Middle Child

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“When you don't know where you fit inside the home and you're young and you're desperate to fit in somewhere, I'd figured where I would fit outside the home. So I made some obviously bad decisions about who I hung out with and the things that I did.”

Knows Made Home Young Decision Fit Desperate Hung Bad Decision

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“My lifestyle got so disruptive to my family that my parents had no choice but to say, "You can't live here any longer if you're going to live this way." So, I was thrilled about it - thrilled!”

Ifs Way Choices Parent My Family Lifestyle Disruptive

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“The Christian life has been nothing more and nothing less than a daily dependence on and a rediscovery of God's grace.”

Has Beens Christian Grace Christian Life Dependence God's Grace Rediscovery

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Every time we sin in thought, word, or deed, we're essentially saying in that moment that, "I don't need you God. I don't want you God. I like my way better than your way."”

Way Want Needs Moments Sin Deeds My Way That Moment Need You Don't Need You I Don't Need You

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I think it's super important for the church itself to rediscover the gospel.”

Thinking Important Church

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“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.”

People Thinking Needs Long Christian Order Church Simple Saved

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Once God saves us He doesn't move us beyond the gospel, but He moves us more deeply into the gospel.”

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“The gospel doesn't just ignite the Christian life but it keeps Christians growing and growing every day. There's no reason to move beyond the gospel. There's only movement more into it.”

Reason Christian Moving Growing Movement Christian Life No Reason Ignite

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“There are a still lot of people in today's church who can easily identify the idolatry outside the church and are pretty proud of the fact that they are not like them. And yet, we are far too slow to recognize the idolatry inside the church and more painfully, the idolatry inside our hearts.”

People Heart Stills Facts Today Church Proud Idolatry

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I think there is tribalism is a big deal inside of the church, that the church thinks of themselves as a tribe and not a mission.”

Thinking Bigs Church Deals Missions Tribes Big Deal Tribalism

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“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.”

Needs Moving Church Moved Pretense

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“The gospel is not about a lifestyle that we live, it's about the law-fulfilling life that Christ lived.”

Law Christ Lifestyle Fulfilling Fulfilling Life

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I didn't realize that I was in a self-made prison of human approval and human acceptance. Didn't even realize it. Most of the prisons we live in we are not conscious of.”

Humans Made Self Realizing Acceptance Conscious Prison Approval Self Made

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I was always in places where I was widely accepted, approved and loved and I was finally in a place where people did not approve of me, did not accept me and did not love me. It was killing me.”

People Accepting Killing Accepted Approved Accept Me

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“If you look at the gospel, it just doesn't break things apart. The gospel brings things together. One of the great demonstration of the gospel's power is reconciliation.”

Ifs Looks Together Break Reconciliation Demonstration

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I was a surfer so I hung out with people who were surfers and made fun of people who weren't surfers and I listened to surf music and made fun of people who didn't listen to surfer music.”

People Made Fun Hung Surf Surfer

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“I actually think one of most profoundly and deep pastoral moments between a pastor and his church is what happens between them before God in the context of preaching.”

Thinking Moments Happens Church Preaching Pastor

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“When you fail to distinguish Law and Gospel, you lose both.”

Law Loses Failing

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Grace is thickly counter-intuitive. It feels risky and unfair. It's dangerous and disorderly. It wrestles control out of our hands. It is wild and unsettling. It turns everything that makes sense to us upside-down and inside-out.”

Feels Hands Turns Grace Dangerous Down And Make Sense Unfair Intuitive Upside Down

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“There is no better news than that the God who makes the demand for perfection also meets the demand for perfection on our behalf.”

Demand News Perfection Behalf

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Grace flows most refreshingly through the faucet of brokenness.”

Grace Flow Brokenness

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“The bad news that we are all guilty is met with the best news that God loves and forgives guilty people.”

People Mets News Forgiving Guilty God Love Bad News

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Nothing makes me want to obey more than knowing that God unconditionally loves me and forgives me even when I disobey.”

Want Knowing Forgiving Forgive Me Love Unconditionally

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“Suffering reveals to us the two things that ultimately matter: that we are weak but He is strong.”

Two Matter Suffering Strong Weak Two Things

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“God's grace meets us in messy places because messy places are all that there are.”

Grace Messy God's Grace

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“When Martin Luther was asked what we contribute to our salvation, he said, "Sin and resistance"”

Said Sin Salvation Resistance Luther

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

“What kind of person should you be to someone who has fallen? The kind of person you will run to when you fall.”

Should Kind Persons Running Fall Fallen

Author:Tullian Tchividjian

About the Author

Born: July 13, 1972
Known for: Pastor
Quotes: 242

Related Topics

Grace Jesus People Christ Needs Christian Ifs Thinking Way Sin

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted WorldRelated source material

Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You FreeRelated source material

It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good NewsRelated source material

Do I Know God?: Finding Certainty in Life's Most Important RelationshipRelated source material

Jesus + Nothing = EverythingRelated source material

Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being DifferentRelated source material

Similar Authors

Timothy KellerBrowse related quotes
Philip YanceyBrowse related quotes
Joseph PrinceBrowse related quotes
Dietrich BonhoefferBrowse related quotes
Charles SpurgeonBrowse related quotes
Max LucadoBrowse related quotes
John PiperBrowse related quotes
R. C. SproulBrowse related quotes
Judah SmithBrowse related quotes
Alistair BeggBrowse related quotes