The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness Quotes

“He sees all kinds of sins in himself – and all kinds of accomplishments too – but he refuses to connect them with himself or his identity. So, although he knows himself to be the chief of sinners, that fact is not going to stop him from doing the things that he is called to do.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Do you realize that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance? The atheist might say that they get their self-image from being a good person. They are a good person and they hope that eventually they will get a verdict that confirms that they are a good person. Performance leads to the verdict. For the Buddhist too, performance leads to the verdict. If you are a Muslim, performance leads to the verdict. All this means that every day, you are in the courtroom, every day you are on trial. That is the problem. But Paul is saying that in Christianity, the verdict leads to performance. It is not the performance that leads to the verdict. In Christianity, the moment we believe, God says ‘This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“What is intriguing about this passage in 1 Corinthians is that it gives us an approach to self-regard, an approach to the self and a way of seeing ourselves that is absolutely different from both traditional and modern/postmodern contemporary cultures. Utterly different. The”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Up until the twentieth century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the world.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“In other words, we are only proud of being more successful, more intelligent or more good-looking than the next person, and we are in the presence of someone who is more successful, intelligent and good-looking than we are, we lose all pleasure in what we had. That is because we really had no pleasure in it. We were proud of it.”
― Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness

“can tell you is that we have to re-live the gospel every time we pray. We have to re-live it every time we go to church. We have to re-live the gospel on the spot and ask ourselves what we are doing in the courtroom. We should not be there. The court is adjourned.”
― Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they”
― Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“condição natural do ego humano; 2. a visão transformada do eu (a qual Paulo havia descoberto e que se dá por meio do evangelho); 3. como alcançar uma visão transformada do eu. 1 3 Feb. 2002.”
― Timothy J. Keller, Ego transformado

“True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief’ (1 Tim. 1:15 NKJV). Not I was chief, but I am chief. Or ‘I am the worst’. This is off our maps. We are not used to someone who has incredible confidence volunteering the opinion that they are one of the worst people. We are not used to someone who is totally honest and totally aware of all sorts of moral flaws – yet has incredible poise and c”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“He does not see a sin and let it destroy his sense of identity. He will not make a connection. Neither does he see an accomplishment and congratulate himself.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“we have to re-live the gospel every time we pray. We have to re-live it every time we go to church. We have to re-live the gospel on the spot and ask ourselves what we are doing in the courtroom. We should not be there. The court is adjourned.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“I can actually enjoy things for what they are. They are not just for my résumé. They are not just to look good on my college or job application. They are not just a way of filling up the emptiness. Wouldn’t you want that? This is off our map. This is gospel-humility, blessed self-forgetfulness. Not thinking more of myself as in modern cultures, or less of myself as in traditional cultures. Simply thinking of myself less.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Boosting our self-esteem by living up to our own standards or someone else’s sounds like a great solution. But it does not deliver. It cannot deliver. I cannot live up to my parents’ standards – and that makes me feel terrible. I cannot live up to your standards – and that makes me feel terrible. I cannot live up to society’s standards – and that makes me feel terrible. I cannot live up to other societies’ standards – that makes me feel terrible. Perhaps the solution is to set my own standards? But I cannot keep them either – and that makes me feel terrible, unless I set incredibly low standards. Are low standards a solution? Not at all. That makes me feel terrible because I realize I am the type of person who has low standards.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“That is what our egos are doing all the time. Doing jobs we have no pleasure in, doing diets we take no pleasure in. Doing all kinds of things, not for the pleasure of doing them, but because we are trying to put together an impressive curriculum vitae.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“pride is the pleasure of having more than the next person. Pride is the pleasure of being more than the next person.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“People sometimes say their feelings are hurt. But our feelings can’t be hurt! It is the ego that hurts – my sense of self, my identity. Our feelings are fine! It is my ego that hurts.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“it is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Paul had discovered and which can be brought about through the gospel). 3. How to get that transformed sense of self.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Estabelecemos nossos padrões e depois nos condenamos. Dessa forma, o ego nunca fica satisfeito. Nunca!”
― Timothy J. Keller, Ego transformado

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23,24”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’4 Or take Romans 8:1 which says ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. In Christianity, the moment we believe, God imputes Christ’s perfect performance to us as if it were our own, and adopts us into His family.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“Do you realize that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance?”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“He says that it is the Lord who judges him. It is only His opinion that counts.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“True gospel-humility means an ego that is not puffed up but filled up.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“he knows himself to be the chief of sinners, that fact is not going to stop him from doing the things that he is called to do.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“I am chief’ (1 Tim. 1:15 NKJV). Not I was chief, but I am chief. Or ‘I am the worst’. This is off our maps.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“So, the first thing about the human ego is that it is empty. And, secondly, it is also painful. A distended and overinflated ego is painful.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“In his book Sickness Unto Death, Søren Kierkegaard says, it is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God.2 Spiritual pride is the illusion that we are competent to run our own lives, achieve our own sense of self-worth and find a purpose big enough to give us meaning in life without God. Søren Kierkegaard says that the normal human ego is built on something besides God. It searches for something that will give it a sense of worth, a sense of specialness and a sense of purpose and builds itself on that. And, of course, as we are often reminded, if you try to put anything in the middle of the place that was originally made for God, it is going to be too small.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness

“This is gospel-humility, blessed self-forgetfulness. Not thinking more of myself as in modern cultures, or less of myself as in traditional cultures. Simply thinking of myself less.”
― Timothy J. Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness