Tullian Tchividjian - Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free (2012)

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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.

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

Tullian Tchividjian
The world tells us in a thousand different ways that the bigger we become, the freer we will be. The richer, the more beautiful, and the more powerful we grow, the more security, liberty, and happiness we will experience. And yet, the gospel tells us just the opposite, that the smaller we become, the freer we will be.

Tullian Tchividjian
People who haven't experienced major setbacks sometimes feel that their hurts are somehow less legitimate or real.

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

Tullian Tchividjian
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.

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

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.

Tullian Tchividjian
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.

Tullian Tchividjian
Christianity is not about good people getting better. If anything, it is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The heart of the Christian faith is Good News, not good advice, good technique, or good behavior. Too many people have walked away from the church, not because they're walking away from Jesus, but because the church has walked away from Jesus.

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.

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.

Tullian Tchividjian
Grief, of course, is not something that operates according to a specific time frame, and it seems cold to suggest otherwise. Yet when we do not grasp that God is present in pain, we eventually insist on victory or, worse, blame the sufferer for not "getting over it" fast enough. This is more than a failure to extend compassion; it's an exercise in cruelty.

Tullian Tchividjian
The good news of suffering is that it brings us to the end of ourselves - a purpose it has certainly served in my life. It brings us to the place of honesty, which is the place of desperation, which is the place of faith, which is the place of freedom.

Tullian Tchividjian
God is not interested in what you think you should be or feel. He is not interested in the narrative you construct for yourself, or that others construct for you. Rather, He is interested in you, the you who suffers, the you who inflicts suffering on others, the you who hides, the you who has bad days (and good ones). And He meets you where you are.

Tullian Tchividjian
Jesus is not the man at the top of the stairs; He is the man at the bottom, the friend of sinners, the savior of those in need of one. Which is all of us, all of the time.

Tullian Tchividjian
This culture of mandatory happiness actually promotes dishonesty and more suffering.

Tullian Tchividjian
Job's unraveling wasn't wrong or sinful; rather, it was emotionally realistic.

Tullian Tchividjian