Adam Hamilton > Quotes

“Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth As fun as the acronym is, the Bible is neither basic nor simply instructions for what to do before you die.”
― Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today

“At the very least they teach us that God does not always answer our prayers, even when we offer those prayers in faith at times of real and pressing need. They also teach us that while God may not answer our prayers as we pray them, God does not abandon us. More than that, these accounts tell us that God works through the situations from which we have not been delivered as we asked.”
― Adam Hamilton, Why? Making Sense of God's Will

“Jesus consistently put people before rules.”
― Adam Hamilton, When Christians Get It Wrong

“The human authors and editors of the Old Testament brought their own experiences and presuppositions to the task of writing. We don’t often think about this when we read the Bible.”
― Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today

“Suffering is not God’s desire for us, but it occurs in the process of life. Suffering is not given to teach us something, but through it we may learn. Suffering is not given to teach others something, but through it they may learn. Suffering is not given to punish us, but sometimes it is the consequence of our sin or poor judgment. Suffering does not occur because our faith is weak, but through it our faith may be strengthened. God does not depend on human suffering to achieve his purposes, but sometimes through suffering his purposes are achieved. Suffering can either destroy us, or it can add meaning to our life.3”
― Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today

“God’s most common way of answering prayers is through people. But for that to work, Christians must pay attention and listen, we must put ourselves in a position to see others’ needs, and we must respond when God calls.”
― Adam Hamilton, The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul

“Charis, as Paul uses it, is an act of kindness, an expression of selfless love that is completely undeserved and is given without any expectation of repayment. We are never more like God than when we are giving selflessly to others. Because God created us to live in this way, we seldom feel more alive and joyful than when we are serving, blessing, and helping someone else. That is charis. It is grace.”
― Adam Hamilton, Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It

“Our desire for certainty, our need to be right, and our tendency to miss the point have conspired to keep Christians from experiencing unity, and instead have led to endless divisions within the Christian faith.”
― Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White 35012: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics

“As Donald Trump was campaigning for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 he was asked, “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?” He replied, “I’m not sure I have. I just go and try and do a better job from there. . . . If I do something wrong, I think I just try to make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”1 He created quite a stir among many religious people, so he tempered the comments a few days later. But I think he was being honest, and his comments reflect the way many people feel: in theory they believe in the forgiveness of sins, but the concept doesn’t really apply to them. Standing in stark contrast to this view is one articulated by twentieth-century existentialist theologian Paul Tillich, who once said, “Forgiveness is an answer, the divine answer, to the question implied in our existence.”2”
― Adam Hamilton, Creed: What Christians Believe and Why

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” —ELEANOR ROOSEVELT”
― Adam Hamilton, Unafraid: Living with Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times

“And when we feel forsaken, hopeless, and in despair, we pray to one who walked this path before us.”
― Adam Hamilton, Final Words From the Cross: From the Cross

“Lord, help me be grateful for what I have, remember that I don't need most of what I want, and that joy is found in simplicity and generosity.”
― Adam Hamilton, Enough, Revised and Updated: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity

“For too long, we’ve called unbelievers to ‘invite Jesus into your life.’ Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life. Your life’s a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life. And his life isn’t boring or purposeless or static. It’s wild and exhilarating and unpredictable.”
― Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life

“You don’t magically become a new person as soon as you slip a ring on your finger.”
― Adam Hamilton, Love to Stay: Six Keys to a Successful Marriage

“We do our best to hear from God, but we are all a bit spiritually hard of hearing. Our own convictions sometimes get intermingled with what we believe God is saying to us. None of us knows everything. We’re all shaped by our environment and limited in our understanding. We do our best to hear from God, but we hear God through our individual filters, our preconceived ideas and convictions. This”
― Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today

“we might”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

“Sometimes God asks us to be with people we don’t want to be with, to go to places we don’t want to go to, and to do things we don’t want to do.”
― Adam Hamilton, The Journey, Expanded Large Print Edition: Walking the Road to Bethlehem

“grace has the power to change our lives.”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

“Grace has power. When you give kindness, compassion, goodness, and love to someone who does not deserve it, that graceful act has the power to change hearts, heal broken”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

“The second thing I have come to understand is that God will not suspend another’s free will to answer my prayers. I can pray for someone to come to faith in Christ or buy my house or love me, but I can’t expect God to make someone do these things.”
― Adam Hamilton, Why?: Making Sense of God's Will

“God’s blessings are not about ease and comfort, but rather about the joy of being a part of God’s work, being used by God for God’s purposes, and being accompanied by God’s presence, particularly in the face of adversity.”
― Adam Hamilton, The Journey, Expanded Large Print Edition: Walking the Road to Bethlehem

“You either humble yourself, or God will do it for you.”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

“Our mission at Christmas is not to get stuff for people to open on Christmas morning. It is to be people of hope who let Jesus’ light shine through them.”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

“The sweeping message of the Bible is not a promise that those who believe and do good will not suffer. Instead the Bible is largely a book about people who refused to let go of their faith in the face of suffering.”
― Adam Hamilton, Why? Making Sense of God's Will

“gifts, and the nice kids do. But an interesting thing happens to Fred as he does this task. Looking at the kids who have been labeled naughty, he begins to see things differently. The kids are not naughty. Sure, they do naughty things, but there’s something special about every one of them. What’s more, often the reason they do naughty things is because they were hurt or wounded or misled or misguided. Fred comes to believe that the kids most in need of a gift are the naughty ones. Maybe that gift—receiving kindness when they don’t deserve it—would change them.”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

“When I think of this story, I can’t help but think of the many immigrants, both legal and illegal, who flee to the United States either in fear for their lives in their home country, or in hopes of a better future. Jesus was a child taken into Egypt as an alien, a refugee.”
― Adam Hamilton, The Journey, Expanded Large Print Edition: Walking the Road to Bethlehem

“After all, it seemed likely that many early Christians did not even know the story of how Jesus was conceived, so why should the doctrine of the virgin birth be seen as a requirement of the faith?”
― Adam Hamilton, The Journey, Expanded Large Print Edition: Walking the Road to Bethlehem

“Forgiveness is not forgetting, but forgiveness is releasing our resentment, our visions of retribution, our bitterness and hate.”
― Adam Hamilton, The Lord's Prayer: The Meaning and Power of the Prayer Jesus Taught

“WHAT WE GAIN FROM MINDFULNESS”
― Adam Hamilton, Unafraid: Living with Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times

“Our mission at Christmas is not to get stuff for people to open on Christmas morning. It is to be people of hope who let Jesus’ light shine through them, who act as his witnesses so that others see him in us, who offer hope and help, who pray and work so that our world looks more like the kingdom Jesus proclaimed.”
― Adam Hamilton, Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem