Low Quotes

“One thing that can be so easy to forget when we are struggling with our faith is that God is not struggling with us. God sees the cavernous depths of our hearts, the meandering curves of our road, and has a mercy for us that transcends what we are capable of understanding. Because of this we can be encouraged even when we waver, knowing we are fully loved even still.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“These days I don’t care much for having an ironclad theology or an airtight apologetic. I know many people who have such things. Now I simply want my presence on the planet to result in less pain, less inequality, less poverty, less suffering, and less damage for those sharing it with me. I want the sum total of my minutes and my efforts to yield more compassion, more decency, more laughter, more justice, and more goodness than before I showed up. In other words: I just want to do Love right.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“We all feel the pressure to live without sadness or doubt, but that doesn’t come from God. The scriptures remind us that the journey with Jesus is just as often spent in the shadow places, the rough and darkened stretches where light and hope seem in short supply. We tend to see these moments as defeats, to imagine that they are places we need to emerge from in order to be properly spiritual—when in reality the low places are where we meet our Maker.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“Jesus has a way of stretching us. Over and over again in the gospels, the message he has for those who would emulate him in the world, is, in essence, “I want to show you something new. Whatever standard you once used for how to live and treat people and find meaning, I’m asking you for more—(or rather, for less).” Regarding anger or motive or religion or revenge or comfort, he continually invites us to the low places: to a greater humility, to a deeper forgiveness, to a shrinking ego, to a bigger generosity. We almost always resist such things because initially they feel like loss, like we’re giving up too much, like we’re letting someone else get away with something. But we always find a better version of ourselves in the low places and that is why we need to keep going there.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“Today, think about the character traits of Jesus that resonate most deeply with you (especially those that seem lacking in the world), and realize that these are what you are invited to birth into the world: compassion, forgiveness, courage, honesty. Let goodness form within you today, and find a way to release it into the world.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“There is a great deal of gray (or color) in this low-to-the-ground spiritual journey. The birth (and the life) of Jesus remind us that our daily existence is not a precise theological test, and the goal is not to avoid failing. It is an ever-unfolding trip through a day we’ve never been to, where we notice beauty, move with compassion, have grace revealed, and within a wide and expansive space—we get to choose.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“Over and over, when someone meets Jesus, transformation and restoration are waiting; there is something wondrous to be witnessed. The very birth narrative of Jesus is the image of the most profound of intersections: God and earth meeting, and the latter being completely altered.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“I always like to think about the fact that several hundred years went by between the Old and New Testaments. What is simply the turn of a page to us represents several generations of painful waiting, of awkward silence, of unresolved questions—which is why the birth story of Jesus is the perfect one to bridge those two parts of the story. It is a wonderful end to a time of anxious waiting.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“Jesus always sought proximity to people who were hurting or alone or in need, and he was always there grieving alongside them, tending to their wounds, making them feel seen. In this way, his was a low life, and his willingness to carry and embrace the heartache of others speaks to a glaring gap in the world, one that can only be filled with compassion.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“Life comes with the collateral damage of living, with failed plans and relational collapse, with internal struggle and existential crises, and we carry these things with us into this season. The good news is we don’t need to discard our messiness to step into this season, and we couldn’t even if we wanted to. Bring every bit of your flawed self and all your chaotic circumstances to this day. Welcome the mess.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

“We tend to sanitize the birth story of Jesus, fashioning it into a pristine, shimmering nativity scene adorned with gold accents and residing comfortably on a hallway table or atop a fireplace mantle. It all becomes so benign and serene that we forget the visceral reality of the moment, that it was as loud and chaotic and messy as childbirth is.”
― John Pavlovitz, Low: An Honest Advent Devotional