Quoting Isaiah 29, the Apostle Paul warned us against the wrong kind of wisdom: For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (1 Corinthians 1:19) But that didn’t mean Paul was anti-wisdom. Instead, the great apostle points us all (especially pastors) toward true spiritual wisdom.
Of course, we know that the Bible is chock full of spiritual wisdom, but the Holy Spirit has also spoken to Christian men and women throughout history. I’ve kept a notebook of the wisest quotes I’ve ever heard from my most trusted teachers. Good pastoring and great preaching comes from collecting — and using — the spiritual wisdom of those who have gone before us. Why would you want to go it alone when there’s a great cloud of witnesses for you to draw upon?
Spiritual Wisdom – 33 Quotes from Great Christians:
1. “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” ~ C.S. Lewis
2. “The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.” ~ C.S. Lewis
3. “God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.” ~ C.S. Lewis
4. “The provision is in the promises.” ~ Derek Prince
5. “I had been my whole life a bell and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.” ~ Annie Dillard
6. “Above all the grace and gifts that Christ gives to His beloved is that of overcoming ourselves.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi
7. “Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the Resurrection.” ~ Watchman Nee
8. “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ~ Corrie ten Boom
9. “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom
10. “There’s nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” ~ J.S. Bach
11. “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.” ~ Dallas Willard
12. “A carefully cultivated heart will, assisted by the grace of God, foresee, forestall, or transform most of the painful situations before which others stand like helpless children saying ‘Why?’ ” ~ Dallas Willard
13. “I’m practicing the discipline of not having to have the last word.” ~ Dallas Willard
14. “Our failure to hear His voice when we want to is due to the fact that we do not in general want to hear it, that we want it only when we think we need it.” ~ Dallas Willard
15. “When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God’s work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight.” ~ Richard Foster
16. “The world upon whom grace is thrust as a bargain will grow tired of it.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
17. “The preaching of grace can only be protected by the preaching of repentance.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
18. “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen
19. “Peace is first of all the art of being.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen
20. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” ~ Frederick Buechner
21. “Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.” ~ Frederick Buechner
22. “Only miracle is plain; it is in the ordinary that groans with the weight of glory.” ~ Robert Farrar Capon
23. “The Christian religion is not about the soul; it is about man, body and all, and about the world of things -with- which he was created, and -in- which he is redeemed. Don’t knock materiality. God invented it.” ~ Robert Farrar Capon
There’s an ocean of spiritual wisdom available. Keep reading for the final 10 on my list.
24. “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” ~ John Mark McMillan
25. “All sins are attempts to fill voids.” ~ Simone Weil
26. “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” ~ Simone Weil
27. “A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.” ~ Dorothy L. Sayers
28. “To complain that man measures God by his own experience is a waste of time; man measures everything by his own experience; he has no other yardstick.” ~ Dorothy L. Sayers
29. “Educated Christians like myself expect God’s grace to prefer people of greater natural ability, higher standards of behaviour, and superior education in the liberal arts. In fact God mocks my expectations.” ~ Augustine of Hippo
30. “Heaven is important, but it’s not the end of the world” ~ N.T. Wright
31. “You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship.” ~ N.T. Wright
32. “If you’re a Christian you’re just a shadow of your future self.” ~ N.T. Wright
33. “I feel about John’s gospel like I feel about my wife; I love her very much, but I wouldn’t claim to understand her.” ~ N.T. Wright
What awesome spiritual wisdom quotes would make it into your notebook?