Quotes by John Ortberg

“Even you cant tell yourself how to change, because you didnt create you. To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the univer...”

“The ministry of bearing with one another is more than simply tolerating difficult people. It is also learning to hear God speak through them.”

“Low self-esteem causes me to believe that I have so little worth that my response does not matter. With repentance, however, I understand that being worth so much to God is why my response is so im...”

“We tend to be preoccupied by our problems when we have a heightened sense of vulnerability and a diminished sense of power. Today, see each problem as an invitation to prayer.”

“The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God.Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God's constant pr...”

“To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God.”

“God is so immense that if he were 'too visible,' people would give forced compliance without expressing their heart. So God made it possible, in enormous love, for us to live as if he were not there.”

“If you want to do the work of God, pay attention to people. Notice them. Especially the people nobody else notices.”

“When we live in the love of God, we begin to pay attention to people the way God pays attention to us.”

“Every day you and I walk through God's shop. Every day we brush up against objects of incalculable worth to Him. People. Every one of them carries a price tag, if only we could see it.”

“If we are serious about loving God, we must begin with people, all people. And especially we must learn to love those that the world generally discards.”

“We may be unlovely yet we are not unloved.”

“So it goes for those of us who live in a cul-de-sac, where babies are brought home from the hospital and watched over, where hearts stop and feet slip, where we wonder if there is a hidden road tha...”

“David is called a man after God's heart. This can be a little confusing when you get into his story, because he's guilty of adultery and murder and cover-up. He's a train wreck as a husband, and he...”

“God says, 'I will measure my people by the one standard that counts. Its very simple. Are people hungry? Feed them. Are people sick? Help them. Are people oppressed? Stick up for them. Are the wido...”

“What makes a man's 80 year-old Irish uncle skip like a little boy? "Me Father is very fond of me!”

“True joy, as it turns out, comes only to those who have devoted their lives to something greater than personal happiness.”

“As long as we have unsolved problems, unfulfilled desires, and a mustard seed of faith, we have all we need for a vibrant prayer life.”

“Skeptics would rather, even at their own expense, appear to be right than take the risk of trusting.”

“If I think Gods aim is to produce rule-followers, spiritual growth will always be an obligation rather than a desire of my heart.”