Quotes by Phil Callaway

Back when I was a devout Pharisee, I scowled at those who talked about grace, assuming they wanted both salvation and permission to do whatever they pleased. And when I came to discover grace as a biblical concept, it frightened me at first. The old idea of being saved by works has its benefits. Its a system where God owes you. Youve been helping him out with all your good deeds. He cant very well put you through difficulty, since youre a taxpayer. Youve paid your dues, you have your rights. But the beyond-belief teaching of grace is that we get what we can never pay for and more, including joy and hope and the desire to please him. I like living by Gods grace a lot better than relying on my own efforts.

I am a Christian because of Gods grace. I find it in no other faith system. The Christian gospel is rather simple. I love the way Tim Keller puts it: I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. The result is that I neither swagger nor snivel; I live with thanksgiving, overwhelmed and overjoyed by grace. This path seems to lead us to a place of needing to be noticed less often, and being less concerned with how were thought of.

In the darkest of times, laughter helps revolutionize our perspective.