The Very Good Gospel Quotes

“The sabbatical year would greatly hamper Israel’s ability to build an economy that would fuel a dominating empire. If all debts were forgiven every seven years and free labor was set free, the economy would be forced to recalibrate. Here we see God placing boundaries on the world’s capacity to build empire, similar to what God did at the Tower of Babel.”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

“Do I love God? To love God is to trust God, to choose God, and to choose God's way to peace and wholeness.”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

“This is the promise of Genesis 1. The darkness is limited by the light. Suffering is not in perpetuity. The light may take generations to come, but it will come. There is always hope.”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

“given the deteriorating state of life on earth, natural death places boundaries on the pain of a fallen world. Natural death places boundaries on the despair and futility of life in the context of the Fall. In the same way that the land placed boundaries on the chaos and despair of the deep (see Genesis 1), natural death places boundaries on the despair and futility of life in the context of the Fall. Could it be that in Genesis 3:22–24, God ushered natural death into the world as grace to humanity in a fallen world?”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

“General family systems theory says that anytime any one individual in the family is affected by something, it sends a ripple through the whole family.”1 This understanding of the family is seen at the heart of the biblical concept of shalom. Injustice to any part of creation affects the whole. Likewise, there is no peace for the whole unless there is peace for each part. So the wellness of each family member benefits the whole. The same is true across generations.”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

“At the heart of the very good news of the gospel is the reversal of the Fall. With that reversal, Jesus’s death and resurrection paved the way for patriarchy to be crushed. This made way for the full acknowledgment of the image of God in women and men.”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right

“Finally, for this exercise, fill a cup with water and consider the biblical image of well water. Imagine that the water in your cup is well water. What does the well water in your cup represent? In what areas of your life are you drinking water that leaves you thirstier than you were before you drank it? Now consider the image of living water. What might it look like to replace your well water with God’s living water? If you’re ready, dump out your well water. Let it go. Close your eyes and hold your empty cup in front of you. Say this simple prayer: “Fill me.”
― Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right