James Bryan Smith > Quotes

“The most important aspects of our lives cannot be rushed. We cannot love, think, eat, laugh, or pray in a hurry...When we are in a hurry--which comes from overextension--we find ourselves unable to live with awareness and kindness.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“Christianity doesn't answer all my questions or make me comfortable and happy. What it does do is give me a context for living.”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“It seems that I always am and always have been an outsider. I've never really fit in. I was always too religious for my rowdy friends—they thought I was unbelievably hung up—and too rowdy for my religious friends—they were always praying for me.”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“spiritual life is not a life of laws and precepts but a life of participation, affection and love, a life mingled and mixing with God.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“False Narrative: The Kingdom of God is Future No serious biblical scholar would deny that Jesus’ proclaimed the kingdom of God. However, many scholars conclude that Jesus was not talking about our present world but rather an epoch in history that has not yet begun.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

“Wealth, power and possessions can easily numb us to our need for God and make us overlook the needs of others. The wealthy must be concerned for the poor. Eating gourmet meals when others have nothing to eat should cause us to reflect a bit. Pursuing pleasure in a world with so much pain creates uneasiness in those who follow Jesus. God is not against fine food or having fun, but we ought to think deeply about our decisions—what and how much we buy, what is truly important— because we live in a world of great disparity.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

“Christ in me” means Christ bearing me along from within, Christ the motive power that carries me on, Christ giving my whole life a wonderful poise and lift, and turning every burden into wings . . . not as something you have to bear but as something by which you are borne.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“The Beatitudes, far from being a new set of virtues that further divide the religious haves and have nots, are words of hope and healing to those who have been marginalized.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

“God loves us not because we are lovable, but because He is love.”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“The disciples finally begin to get a grasp that maybe God can become flesh and dwell among us, maybe God can be a man, and then they come back and not only is God a man, but He's acting like an idiot! He's hanging out with a bunch of kids. He's blessing them, you know. And you think, How do you bless children? Well, the best way I know is that you pick them up and you just throw them as high as you can, and you catch them right before they splatter. You get down on all fours and you run around the room and you let them ride you and you buck them off. … You put your mouth against their bellies and you make funny noises. Here's Jesus probably doing all this business. His disciples were humiliated! And they said, “You should not be making such a fool of Yourself!” And Jesus says, “Here, look, look, fellas. I'll call the shots here. I may be dumb, but I am God. And I'll tell you what else, if you wanna come into My kingdom, you'll come in like one of these or you won't come in at all.”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“And what is the religion Wesley prescribes? Not a religion of laws or ceremonies or mystical knowledge, but of love and kindness. Our world is badly in need of people who love, and it is hungering for people who demonstrate genuine kindness. We are so deprived of it that we are astonished when we encounter it. And what is the point of this religion? To get us to heaven? No, to get heaven into us. To help us discover a relationship with God wherein we enjoy God and are easy in ourselves. If we can discover such a life, Wesley believed, we can even face our death with calm assurance and the certainty of a joyful eternity.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

“But children do not need to be in control. They have very little authority or power, and live each day in dependence and trust, receiving everything as a gift. And this, I believe, is what Jesus is advocating.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ (Apprentice

“As long as we are worrying, we can’t seek first the kingdom of God. As long as we are seeking first the kingdom of God, we can’t worry.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ (Apprentice

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. — C. S. Lewis”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“And now you know it, don't you, Daddy? The only things worth seeking are treasures in heaven. And those treasures are our acts of love. People loved me, cared for me, and prayed for me not because of what I looked like or how important I was. My weakness brought out the best in people. I asked God why so many people loved me so much, and God said, `The most beautiful stones are the ones that have been tossed by the wind and washed by the water and
polished to brilliance by life's strongest storms.' That is why, Daddy. That is why I was born.”
― James Bryan Smith, Room of Marvels: A Novel

“You must let him love you as you are, not as you intend to be. Let him love you as you are, without a single plea for reform. It is all about grace, Tim. All of life is grace. We deserve nothing; we are given everything. Until now you have only experienced the drippings of grace. You have longed for the real thing, like the longing for the scent of a flower you have never been able to find, or the echo of a tune you have not yet heard, or news from a country you have never visited. Well, now you have found it. Grace is the thing you have been searching for, and it is all around you.”
― James Bryan Smith, Room of Marvels: A Novel

“I would like you to write a letter to God that begins with "Dear God, the life I want most for myself is ..." The rest of the letter will complete this opening statement (or prayer). You may want to acknowledge the mistakes you have made, but try to describe, in the rest of your letter, what a "good and beautiful life" would look like for you. Will it involve a major life change? Will it demand a new set of friends? Will it involve changing old narratives and habits? Feel free to dream big. Let God in on your greatest hopes.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ (Apprentice

“But surely it was not God's will to give us a child with handicaps. God didn't do this, right?"
"It's a mystery, Daddy. You won't be able to understand it all till you get here and see all of the rooms and one-inch pictures. But this you can trust: God is always good.”
― James Bryan Smith, Room of Marvels: A Novel

“he had let go of the need to earn God's love,”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“Wanting to communicate the paradox of how we minister to others through our brokenness, he took a cardboard box and asked his students to “beat it up.” They punctured holes in the box, kicked it around and tore pieces off of it. Then he placed the box on a table in front of them all. Underneath the box was a light. He dimmed the house lights, and then turned on the light inside the box. He didn’t need to say any more. They all understood. The light of Jesus shines clearly through our broken places.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“Even though I have not mastered it, I now have a better sense of what makes us want others to think well of us, and how we can prevent that desire from ruling in our hearts. False Narrative: My Value Is Determined by Your Assessment”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

“I think that part of being human is being alone. And being lonely. I think one of the stresses on a lot of our friendships is that we require the people we love to take away that loneliness. And they really can't. And so, when we still feel lonely, even in the company of people we love, we become angry with them because they don't do what we think they're supposed to. Which is really something that they can't do for us.5”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“That is why one of Rich's most powerful songs, and one he enjoyed singing in concert more than any other, is “Greed.”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“Earth's crammed with heaven; And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries. — Elizabeth Baccett Browning”
― James Bryan Smith, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

“Abba is best translated “Dear Father.” It is a term of intimacy, but it also contains a sense of obedience.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“God gives blessings to all without regard to their behavior. Terrible things happen to wonderful people. Wonderful things happen to awful people. We cannot look around the world we live in and build a case that sinners are punished and righteous people are blessed. Reality simply does not bear this out.”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“What if you discovered that the least of the brethren of Jesus, the one who needs your love the most, the one you can help the most by loving, the one to whom your love will be most meaningful—what if you discovered that this least of the brethren of Jesus … is you? CARL JUNG”
― James Brian Smith, Embracing the Love of God: The Path & Promise of Christian Life

“to accept people as they are. If I wait for others to be what I want them to be, I will never accept them. By looking at what my brother is not, instead of at what he is, I will never be able to sympathize with him, struggle with him, hurt with him, or rejoice with him.”
― James Brian Smith, Embracing the Love of God: The Path & Promise of Christian Life

“the number one enemy in the spiritual life: hurry sickness. Why is eliminating hurry from our lives so crucial? When we eliminate hurry we become present, or more specifically, present to the present moment in all of its glory. We become aware of our surroundings. We see colors and smell smells; we hear hushed sounds and can actually feel the wind in our faces. In short, we “show up” and experience the fullness of life. And that includes, not least of all, being present to God. If I am to live well as a Christian, I need to be constantly connected”
― James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows

“The saints gather to tell stories like yours in hushed tones."
"Our story? Our story? But Rachel and I ... we ... we didn't do anything except just try to hang on."
"And that is the great miracle, isn't it? You hung on. You didn't give up.”
― James Bryan Smith, Room of Marvels: A Novel