Limping with God Quotes

“The Hebrew phrase, “drew up his feet” is unusual. The impression is that Jacob, on his bed, assumes a kind of fetal position. He whom we met at the beginning of this book, while still in utero, at the start of his life, now finishes his life in much the same way. Then, he was already wrestling with his twin brother; now, his fights are over, his race is run, and he is “gathered to his people”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“The Greek verb for “made perfect,” teleo, is the same verb spoken by Jesus on the cross when he cried out, “Tetelestai,” that is, “It is finished” or “It has been made perfect.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“With some regularity, people caricature God in the OT. The picture him as a mean, bloodthirsty, sadistic tyrant who gets off on steamrolling sinners with plagues and other nastiness. Even if they don’t go to those extremes, they still depict him as a God of wrath, who is then juxtaposed with the God of love in the NT. This is theological hogwash, of course, a false dichotomy utterly untrue to the witness of both the OT and NT. But that doesn’t stop people from thinking this way.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“As you follow Jesus, do not expect your personal weaknesses and unwelcome character traits to disappear. They will not. Do not expect to get everything right all the time. You will not. Do not expect, as a disciple, that life will be a little easier for you than for unbelievers. Most likely, it will be more difficult, for the world is an unwelcome place for citizens of the kingdom of God.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“Read a hundred libraries worth of self-help books. Train for triathlons and learn breathing techniques. Listen to the right life coaches and eat kale every day. Whatever you wish. All it takes is a lump in the breast, a drunk teen behind the wheel, or a short in the wires of your attic, to bring your little ideal world crashing”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“Rather than whitewashing the flaws of their characters, the biblical authors paint them in lurid and glowing colors. In fact, some of the narratives are so embarrassingly honest that I cringe to think that these poor souls have had their dirty underwear swinging in the breeze of Scripture for millennia.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“I thank God that he didn’t choose a rule-following, t-crossing and i-dotting, cream of the moral crop, most-likely-never-to-do-anything-shameful man to be the patriarch of the OT people of God. He chose Jacob. He chose a disciple with a shady past, a troubling future, a dysfunction family, and a heart drunk on ego to be his #1 guy. Christ wanted it to be patently clear that being his follower is not about climbing a ladder of spiritual success but being greeted by mercy at the bottom of the ladder by the Lord who climbs down to us.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“Following Jesus, we gimp our way down the dark and slippery paths of life. As we do, we discover, ironically, that the longer we follow him, the weaker we become, and the more we lean on our Lord. Finally, at our most mature, our eyes are opened to realize that we’ve never run or walked or even limped a single day of our lives. We’ve been on Christ’s shoulders the entire time.”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship

“I think it’s safe to assume that we all have Labans in our past. Perhaps our present, too. Maybe it was a boss with a demeaning and dictatorial attitude. A spouse who came into our lives like a warm April breeze and left like a frigid”
― Chad Bird, Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship