396 Quotes by Rob Bell

The danger is that in reaction to abuses and distortions of an idea, we’ll reject it completely. And in the process miss out on the good of it, the worth of it, the truth of it.

Being a Christian then is more about celebrating mystery than conquering it.

Before anything else, you have received breath – the gift of life itself. The first word about you is GIFT.

I like to say that I practice militant mysticism. I’m really absolutely sure of some things that I don’t quite know.

Love is giving up control. It’s surrendering the desire to control the other person. The two – love and controlling power over the other person – are mutually exclusive. If we are serious about loving someone, we have to surrender all the desires within us to manipulate the relationship.

God doesn’t wait for us to get ourselves polished, shined, proper, and without blemish – God comes to us and meets us and blesses us while we are still in the middle of the mess we created.

For a lot of people in our world today, God has become about believing the right stuff so you don’t get in trouble.

The Psalms show us what healthy spiritual life looks like. You name everything that’s happening inside of you. You give it language and expression, You articulate exactly what the desolation feels like. If you don’t drag it up and give it words, then it’s buried down in your being somewhere. And it will come out in other ways. Unhealthy, destructive ways. You’ll keep it bottled up. And you’ll be miserable.

How we respond to what happens to us – especially the painful, excruciating things that we never wanted and we have no control over – is a creative act.