25 Tim Keller Quotes That Will Make You Want to Be a Stronger Christian

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published June 28, 2023

These Tim Keller quotes are perfect if you want to learn more about Christianity or how to strengthen your faith.

Tim Keller was a pastor, author, and co-founder of Redeemer City to City, which trains pastors worldwide.

Keller was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1950 and died in New York City, New York, in 2023 at 72.

After graduating from college, he served as a staff member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which is the organization that led him to Christ.

Keller then became a pastor at West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Virginia before starting Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City for almost thirty years before he shifted his focus to training pastors through Redeemer City to City.

Read these Tim Keller quotes to learn more about this faithful man.

The Best Tim Keller Quotes

Check out some of the best Tim Keller quotes.

1. “God’s reckless grace is our greatest hope.” — Tim Keller

2. “If God is not at the center of your life, something else is.” — Tim Keller

3. “The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity.” — Tim Keller

4. “You don’t realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” — Tim Keller

5. “Religious people find God useful. Gospel people find him beautiful.” — Tim Keller

6. “Everyone worships something. The only choice you get is what to worship.” — Tim Keller

7. “God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows.” — Tim Keller

8. “The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God’s will to mine, but to mold my will into His.” — Tim Keller

9. “Jesus didn’t come to tell us the answers to the questions of life; he came to be the answer.” — Tim Keller

10. “Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.” — Tim Keller

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Inspirational Tim Keller Quotes

Enjoy these inspirational Tim Keller quotes.

11. “A lack of generosity refuses to acknowledge that your assets are not really yours, but God’s.” — Tim Keller

12. “The sin that is most destructive in your life right now is the one you are most defensive about.” — Tim Keller

13. “We can only grasp the gospel’s sweetness if we first grapple with its offense- you can’t save yourself.” — Tim Keller

14. “The problem with self-esteem – whether it is high or low – is that every single day, we are in the courtroom.” — Tim Keller

15. “The irony of the gospel is that the only way to be worthy of it is to admit that you’re completely unworthy of it.” — Tim Keller

16. “If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.” — Tim Keller

17. “God sees us as we are, loves us as we are, and accepts us as we are. But by His grace, He does not leave us as we are.” — Tim Keller

18. “Jesus Christ did not suffer so that you would not suffer. He suffered so that when you suffer, you’ll become more like him.” — Tim Keller

Convicting Tim Keller Quotes

These Tim Keller quotes are sure to convict you.

19. “The Gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died.” — Tim Keller

20. “How Religion Works: If I obey, then God will love and accept me. The Gospel: I’m loved and accepted; therefore, I wish to obey.” — Tim Keller

21. “Putting our faith in Christ is not about trying harder; it means transferring our trust away from ourselves and resting in him.” — Tim Keller

22. “Freedom is not the absence of limitations and constraints, but it is finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us.” — Tim Keller

23. “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” — Tim Keller

24. “To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible’s teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God, he wouldn’t have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?” — Tim Keller

25. “The basic premise of religion—that if you live a good life, things will go well for you—is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet he had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.” — Tim Keller