Mark Driscoll > Quotes

“If you really want to be a rebel get a job, cut your grass, read your bible, and shut up. Because no one is doing that.”
― Mark Driscoll

“Don't cohabitate. Don't fornicate. Don't look at pornography. Don't create a standard of beauty. Have your spouse be your standard of beauty. This is one of the great devastating effects of pornography: you lust after people and compare your spouse to them. It's impossible to be satisfied in your marriage if you don't have a standard that is biblical; that standard is always your spouse.”
― Mark Driscoll

“Are you letting culture, not scripture, determine your sexuality, how you date, how you present yourself, how you engage in certain relationships with members of the opposite sex? We need to be very clear that the way we do life is different than the rest of the world.”
― Mark Driscoll

“Stop looking for the path of least resistance and start running down the path of greatest glory to God and good to others, because that's what Jesus, the Real Man, did.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“Our identity is not in our joy, and our identity is not in our suffering. Our identity is in Christ, whether we have joy or are suffering.”
― Mark Driscoll

“On the Sabbath day, we are remembering that my relationship with God did not begin with what I've done, it is not sustained by what I do, and it is not guaranteed to the end by my effort or work. I'm saved from beginning to end by Jesus' work.”
― Mark driscoll

“Performance is done for the sight and approval of others. Service is done knowing that God is watching and approving whether or not anyone else is. Performance causes us to be enslaved to others’ opinions, unable to say no, and prone to being overworked. Service frees us to do what God wants, thereby saying no as needed. Performance presses us toward perfectionism, where we seek to do everything just right so others will praise us. Service allows us to do our best, knowing that God’s appreciation of us is secure regardless of our performance. Performance causes us to focus on the “big” things and only do what is highly visible or significant. Service allows us to do simple, humble, and menial tasks—the “little things”—knowing that the peasant Jewish carpenter we worship equally appreciates them both.”
― Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ

“If my words don't flow out of a heart that rests in God's control, sovereignty, then they come out of the heart that seeks control so I can get what I want.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“Marriage includes a spouse, and often children. But the goal, center, and purpose of marriage is not self, spouse, or children. The ultimate goal of marriage and family is the glory of God. Only when marriage and family exist for God's glory - and not to serve as replacement idols - are we able to truly love and be loved. Remember, neither your child nor your husband (or wife) should be who you worship, but instead who you worship with.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“Any religious person who says he does not really need human friends because God is his Friend is calling God a liar because He's the One Who says we also need human friends.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“Study the Bible like a soldier on a mission, not a scholar on a sabbatical.”
― Mark Driscoll

“While it only takes one spouse to be friendly, it takes both spouses to be friends. When both spouses are unfriendly, the marriage is marked by conflict and coldness. When one spouse is friendly and the other is unfriendly, the marriage is marked by selfishness and sadness. But when both spouses each make a deep, heartfelt covenant with God to continually seek to become a better friend, increasing love and laughter mark the marriage.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“When you are lying in bed angry with your backs turned towards each other, imagine Satan sleeping in the space between you.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“In marriage we have a duty to God, our spuses, the world, and future generations. But we are sinners. A husband and wife need to acknowledge that when the Bible speaks of fools, it is not just speaking about other people, but about them as well. Even the wisest among us has moments of folly. So God gives us spouses to serve as wise friends by praying with and for us, attending church with us, speaking truth, and providing Scripture along with good books and online classes, lectures, and sermons to nourish fruitfulness in our lives.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“The key to understnading masculinity is Jesus Christ. Jesus was tough with religious blockheads, false teachers, the proud, and bullies. Jesus was tender with women, children, and those who were suffering or humble. Additionally, Jesus took responsability for Himself. He worked a jon for the first thirty years of His life, swinging a hammer as a carpenter. He also took responsability for us on the cross, where He substituted Himself and died in our place for our sins. My sins are my fault, not Jesus'fault, but Jesus has made them His responsability. This is the essence of the gospel, the "good news". If you understand this, it will change how you view masculinity.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“Once we determine in our souls that God’s glory is our goal, we then stop taking the path of least resistance and start taking the path of most glory to God”
― Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are? Participant's Guide: Finding Your True Identity in Christ

“Repentance keeps sin from condemning us because Jesus died and scorned the shame.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“if you can't take a nap, if you can't take a day off, heaven's going to drive you nuts.”
― Mark Driscoll

“The big idea here is not, have you sinned, but are you changing?”
― Mark Driscoll

“All of the modern counseling vernacular is really not dealing with the root issue of idolatry. Someone or something’s preeminent rather than God.”
― Mark Driscoll

“If we truly believe that God appreciates our service, we can stop boasting and start encouraging. When we boast, we use people for appreciation. When our appreciation comes from God, we can start loving people, sharing the ways both God and we appreciate them. Paul demonstrated this by encouraging others, •”
― Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ

“While this may look loving, when we struggle with an idol of dependence, we’re in fact not loving people as much as we’re using them to fulfill our need to belong, be liked, and be desired. This explains why some friends and family members can be so demanding, smothering, and needy. It also explains why we’re so easily inflated by praise and deflated by criticism. It’s as if others have the ability to determine our identity for that day based on a word or even a glance”
― Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ

“You aren’t what’s been done to you but what Jesus has done for you. You aren’t what you do but what Jesus has done. What you do doesn’t determine who you are. Rather, who you are in Christ determines what you do.”
― Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ

“We don't name God; God reveals His name to us. We don't have the right to exercise authority over God. God copyrights, He trademarks, He patents His name.”
― Mark Driscoll

“We need to avoid the ditch on the left, where we don’t call sin a sin, as well as the ditch on the right, where we are angry culture warriors battling unbelievers instead of evangelizing them.”
― Mark Driscoll, A Call to Resurgence: Will Christianity Have a Funeral or a Future?

“Religious people are not fun... So, Jesus shows up and kids run around Him, want to be with Him. You know why? He's fun... God's a Father who likes His kids to have fun, so when Jesus shows up, the religious people get jealous because Jesus gets invited to parties and the religious people don't.”
― Mark Driscoll

“For the husband, the male prostate can only be accessed through the anus. It is called the "male G-spot" as it is reportedly a source of great pleasure when stroked by such things as a wife's finger.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“We will take a few moments and make fun of religious people, and we do this in love. No, we do, because we love to make fun of religious people.”
― Mark Driscoll

“The questions today are different, and if people don't get answers from pastors and parents, they will find them in dark, depraved places.”
― Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together

“The Bible is not a book of principles to live by but rather a Person to live for.”
― Mark Driscoll, A Call to Resurgence: Will Christianity Have a Funeral or a Future?