Awe Quotes

“Only when awe of God rules your heart will you be able to keep the pleasures of the material world in their proper place.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“God created an awesome world. God intentionally loaded the world with amazing things to leave you astounded. The carefully air-conditioned termite mound in Africa, the tart crunchiness of an apple, the explosion of thunder, the beauty of an orchid, the interdependent systems of the human body, the inexhaustible pounding of the ocean waves, and thousands of other created sights, sounds, touches, and tastes—God designed all to be awesome. And he intended you to be daily amazed.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“If awesome things in creation become your god, the God who created those things will not own your awe. Horizontal awe is meant to do one thing: stimulate vertical”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“I came to see that I was wired for awe, that awe of something sits at the bottom of everything I say and do. But I wasn’t just wired for awe. I was wired for awe of God. No other awe satisfies the soul. No other awe can give my heart the peace, rest, and security that it seeks. I came to see that I needed to trace awe of God down to the most mundane of human decisions and activities.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Every awesome thing in creation is designed to point you to the One who alone is worthy of capturing and controlling the awe of your searching and hungry heart.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“For the church to be the church—not just a place where you can find ministry but where the people are a ministering community—every believer must accept his or her role in the life of every other believer.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“How many believers really live a lifestyle that results from believing that God has graced them to be not just recipients of the work of his kingdom but instruments of the work of the kingdom as well? When you believe this, you live with a constant ministry mentality that results in an everyday ministry lifestyle.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“It’s wrong not to be in awe of what God created, but it’s even more deeply wrong when you can look at created glory without remembering God.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“The earthly father is a God-given mnemonic device to remind us of the glory of the heavenly Father. The shepherd is a mnemonic device to remind us of God’s care for his own. The snow is meant to remind us of the Lord’s purity and holiness. The storm is a mnemonic device to remind us of God’s power and wrath. The daily rising sun is a mnemonic device to remind us of God’s faithfulness. We’re literally surrounded by gracious reminders of the presence, power, authority, and character of God because he designed created things to function mnemonically. He knows how quickly and easily we forget and how vital it is for us to remember, so he embedded reminders everywhere we look in his creation.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“I forget that every achievement points to God’s awesome glory. I could not achieve anything without the body that he has given me, the gifts he has bestowed upon me, the control he has over me and my world, and the grace that daily rescues me from me. My successes should depend on my awe of him rather than tempting me to be in awe of me.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“. . .most people who are angry with God are angry with him for being God. They're not angry because he has failed to deliver what he promised, They're angry because he has failed to deliver what they have craved, expected or demanded.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Our obsession with material things brings trouble and heartache into our lives. So we tell ourselves that we’ll do better—we commit ourselves for a time to new budgets, we go on temporary diets, we hold garage sales. But none of it lasts for long because deep inside us, we treasure the creation more than we treasure the Creator.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Forgetting the awesome and glorious One who made it all and holds it all together by the sheer power of his magnificent will, will always insert me into the center. This means that no story will be more important to me than my story. I will ask no bigger question than the question of how I am doing. I will have no bigger concern than my satisfaction and comfort. I will ask life to serve me, to submit to my interests, and to deliver whatever I demand. This viewpoint will guarantee me a life of huge disappointment. And not only that, it is also an insane way to live. I am not the center of all things. The world will not do my sovereign bidding. God will not offer his awesome throne to me. Awe of self, worship of self, underlies every form of self-destructive living.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“If praise is celebrating God’s awesome glory, then complaint is antipraise.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. PSALM 145:5”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Sturdy contentment that can weather the storms of difficulty and want is always rooted in worship.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“The great battle of parenting is not the battle of behavior; it’s the battle for what kind of awe will rule children’s hearts.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Here’s the reality: most people who are angry with God are angry with him for being God. They’re not angry because he has failed to deliver what he promised. They’re angry because he has failed to deliver what they have craved, expected, or demanded. When awe of self replaces awe of God, God ceases to be your Lord and is reduced to being your indentured servant.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“This is what sin does to us all. At a deep and often unnoticed level, sin replaces worship of God with worship of self. It replaces submission with self-rule. It replaces gratitude with demands for more. It replaces faith with self-reliance. It replaces vertical joy with horizontal envy. It replaces a rest in God’s sovereignty with a quest for personal control. We live for our glory. We set up our rules. We ask others to serve our agenda.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“When awe of God has captured your heart, ministry will fill your schedule. You won’t need the church to schedule ministry for you; you will approach work, marriage, parenting, extended family, friendships, and community with a ministry mentality.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Adam and Eve weren’t just after God’s forbidden fruit; they were after God’s position.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“You’re not generally angry because things are in the way of God and his kingdom purposes. You’re angry because something or someone has gotten in the way of something you crave, something you think will inspire contentment, satisfaction, or happiness in you. Your heart is desperate to be inspired, and you get mad when your pursuits are blocked. Where you look for awe will fundamentally control the thoughts and emotions of your heart in ways you normally don’t even realize.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“This is what sin does to us all. At a deep and often unnoticed level, sin replaces worship of God with worship of self. It replaces submission with self-rule. It replaces gratitude with demands for more. It replaces faith with self-reliance. It replaces vertical joy with horizontal envy. It replaces a rest in God’s sovereignty with a quest for personal control. We live for our glory. We set up our rules. We ask others to serve our agenda. We curse whatever gets in our way. We hate having to wait. We get upset when we have to go without. We strike back when we think we have been wronged. We do all we can to satisfy our cravings. We think too much about our own pleasure. We envy those who have what we think we deserve. We pout when we think we have been overlooked. We hate suffering of any kind. We manipulate others for our own good. We attempt to work ourselves into positions of power and control. We are obsessed about what is best for us. We demand more than we serve, and we take more than we give. We long to be first and hate being last. We are all too concerned with being right, being noticed, and being affirmed. We find it easier to judge those who have offended us than to forgive them. We require life to be predictable, satisfying, and easy. We do all these things because we are full of ourselves, in awe more of ourselves than of God. This is what Paul is talking about when he writes that Christ “died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves” (2 Cor. 5:15). Here we see the great replacement again. It is what sin does to us all; no longer living for God, we live for ourselves. The myriad of dysfunctions of the human community can be traced to this one thing: awe. When we replace vertical awe of God with awe of self, bad things happen in the horizontal community.

You see it played out in a thousand ways every day. If you listen, you will discover that the universal language of sinners in this broken world is complaint. When you’re at the center, when you feel entitled, when your desires dominate your heart, and when it really is all about you, you will have much to complain about. It is amazing how much more natural complaint is for us than thanks or how much more we tend to grumble than we tend to praise. We talk much more about what we want than about what we have been given. Notice how much we compare what we have to what others have and how little of the time we are satisfied. Listen to people very long, and you’ll hear the drone of complaint far more frequently than you’ll hear the melody of thankfulness. You see, we don’t first have a grumbling problem. No, we have an awe problem that results in a life of personal dissatisfaction and complaint. When awe of self replaces awe of God, praise will be rare and grumbling plentiful.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“3. We replace vertical awe with horizontal addiction.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“I am designed to appreciate beautiful things, but I must not attach my identity to how many of those things I possess, and I must not let my heart be ruled by”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“You see, God hasn’t promised you a good job or great kids. He hasn’t promised you an easy marriage and a comfortable place to live. He hasn’t promised you physical health and a good church to attend. He hasn’t promised that you would experience affluence and be surrounded by things that entertain you. What he has promised is that he will complete the work that he has begun in you.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“The DNA of joy is gratitude.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“Joyful, perseverant obedience only ever grows in the soil of worship.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. G. K. CHESTERTON”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do

“I was wired for awe of God. No other awe satisfies the soul.”
― Paul David Tripp, Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do