Lecrae Quotes

If you live for people's acceptance, you'll die from their rejection.

Stop comparing yourself to others. You have your own race to run. Finish well.<3

you might go down in history ,but every thing gose down eventually.

Scars are the evidence that wounds can heal. That wounds don't last forever. That healing is possible.

Success is not what I've done compared with what others have done. Success is what I've done compared with what God has called me to do.

But when people try to avoid suffering by sinning, they end up sinning their way into suffering. And

A person can be removed from slavery in an instant, but it takes a lifetime for slavery to be removed from a person.

But before God could change me, He needed to mature me. And before God could mature me, He needed to move me.

Some work hard to acquire money only to find in the end that money acquired them.

My desire for acceptance is one of the crosses that I carry. Each morning I have to attend a funeral. My own. I have to wake up and once again die to my desires for people's approval.

Rather than thinking about the world in the categories of simply good and evil, a biblical worldview helps us think in categories of good and redeemable.

I make a point to show off my scars because I want others to know that they aren't alone. Talking about wounds is important, but talking about our healed wounds is just as important.

Was I the rebel kid? The lost college student who just wanted to be accepted? The legalistic man who battled self-righteousness? Was I a husband or a father or a hip-hop artist? Like a tree trunk, all those people were a part of me. They are a part of me. But more than anything, Lecrae is a child who is unconditionally loved by God. I’m a sinner who has been rescued by God from my brokenness and called to glorify the One who has never left my side. That’s who Lecrae is, and that’s who I’ll always be.

I had made the same mistake a lot of Christians make: I saw my connection with God as a contractual relationship, rather than a covenantal relationship. All contracts have terms, but covenants don’t. They last forever. In a contractual relationship, you’re always worried about breaking the rules. In a covenantal relationship, you’re only concerned with loving the other party as much as you can.

Life on earth has sharp teeth.

Your true character is revealed not by how you act when life goes your way, but how you act when the bottom falls out. Though

...if you live for people's acceptance, you'll die from their rejection.

When I decided to follow Jesus that night in Atlanta, I assumed that becoming a Christian would make life easier. I thought the rest of my life would be smiling and smooth sailing. I assumed I wouldn’t be tempted by women and partying and acceptance and all the things that I’d been a slave to for so many years. I thought I would walk around with a continual inner peace and serenity like Gandhi or something. This turns out to be a lie that too many people believe. You’ll actually experience more temptation, not less, after you become a Christian. Following Jesus doesn’t mean you’ll start living perfectly overnight. It certainly doesn’t mean that your problems will disappear. Rather than ridding you of problems or temptations, following Jesus just means that you have a place—no, a person—to run to when they come. And the power to overcome them.

Old habits die hard, and if you’re not careful, the person you used to be can overtake the person you’re trying to become.

repentance is a continual act—a lifestyle—rather than a single event.

Life on earth has sharp teeth. It has a way of wounding us. The only way to begin nursing your wounds is to name your wounds. There are few guarantees in life, but you can count on this: if you ignore your wounds, they will not go away. They will get worse and grow infected.

...because we don't know any stories of the many others who are falling, we assume that we are the only ones who do... Falling wasn't the end of the world as long as I got back up and kept walking.

It's like God knew that one day I'd need a little extra something to keep showing up when it felt awkward, to keep walking when no one noticed, to keep making music even though many dismiss it before even listening to it.

I believe that we are all one family in Christ despite our ethnicity, but each of us as unique distinctions and gifts. That's how God desires us to live. To say we don't see color is to say we don't see the beauty of that diverse kingdom.

Money itself isn’t evil, but the love of it is the root of all kinds of evil. So these things helped me to stay grounded. I began realizing that people on yachts weren’t happier than people in rowboats. Bentleys break down just like Nissans. You can get a great night’s sleep at a Hampton Inn just like at a Ritz-Carlton. And flying in first class won’t get you to your destination any faster than riding in coach.

None of us realized that each act of violence was training us to perpetuate the cycle when we were grown up and could graduate from abused to abuser... I've had to learn that my natural responses aren't normal, that the only way to live a future that's better than my past is to cling to God in the present.

The decisions I’ve made in my personal life have helped me resist the temptations I face in my professional life. I was lucky early in my career and was given wise counsel to cap my salary and live below my means. Money itself isn’t evil, but the love of it is the root of all kinds of evil. So these things helped me to stay grounded. I

I came to this painful realization: I wasn’t devoted to God. I was devoted to my devotion to God.

I’ve had to learn that my natural responses aren’t normal, that the only way to live a future that’s better than my past is to cling to God in the present.

I’m a lifelong wanderer trying to love God and be who I was created to be.

Everything a believer touches and uses in a way that honors God is, in a sense, no longer “secular.

Sometimes we don't want God to be real because we want permission to sin without consequence. We want an intimate God on Sundays and an impersonal God who looks the other way for the rest of the week.

I am no longer willing to accept Christian expression that refuses to hear voices from the margins. Christ’s body is global and diverse. The perspectives that come from the people who make up Christ’s body reveal the brilliance of our Creator, like the different facets of a diamond. Erasing the edges is equal to denying the beauty of God. Others have different contexts and areas of emphasis, but they should be heard and valued as legitimate.

I remember when my oldest son took his first step. My wife and I were so excited, but we expected him to fall right after he took it. And he did. But we didn't condemn him for stumbling. We were patient and encouraging. We clapped when he got back up and cheered him on for continuing to try. Each time he attempted to walk, he would take more steps than the last time. But he would still fall, and sometimes he hurt himself. By letting him fail and loving him through it, he eventually succeeded.

can’t tell you where we got the idea that following Jesus is some kind of quick fix for all of our struggles, but it wasn’t from the Bible. No, the Scripture is like one big, unbroken story about people who decided to follow God and ended up failing almost as much as they succeeded.

... the Scripture is like one big, unbroken story about people who decided to follow God and ended up failing almost as much as they succeeded. After God told Abraham that he was going to have millions of kids, the old man literally laughed in God's face. Jacob was a lying cheat before he met God at Bethel. And he was a lying cheat afterward too. These are two of Israel's greatest patriarchs. Moses was a murderer, a doubter, an excuse-maker. he was chosen to lead God's people out of slavery. David was "a man after God's own heart." But he was also an adulterer. His son, Solomon, was the wisest man who ever lived. But he had hundreds of wives. And Jesus' disciples were all flawed in their own way - from Thomas, the doubter, to Peter, the hothead. With such a long list of people who both followed God and stumbled constantly, why would we assume our experiences would be any different?

There is no such thing as Christian rap and secular rap. Only people can become Christians. Music can't accept Jesus into its heart. So I am not trying to make Christian music or secular music. I'm just making music. Hip-hop, like all music, is a good thing. I could use it for evil by filling it with violence and misogyny and profanity. Or I can use it to glorify God.

You'll actually experience more temptations, not less, after you become a Christian. Following Jesus doesn't mean you'll start living perfectly overnight. It certainly doesn't mean that your problems will disappear. Rather than ridding you of problems or temptations, following Jesus just means that you have a place - no, a person - to run to when they come. And the power to overcome them.

Lecrae’s message is that we do not need to be afraid of cultural differences because Christianity has the resources to speak to every culture.

Lou Vuitton ain’t gon’ pay you for that braggin’, and Donatella prolly never heard your album.” — Lecrae

To speak about anything that relates to race and current events is being partisan and biased. I don’t think speaking about the value of Black life is partisan. I’m just tired of Black bodies lying dead in the streets. I don’t think speaking in lament of gun violence is a taking a partisan stance. I’m tired of turning on the news and seeing school shootings. I don’t think speaking about the criminal justice system is partisan. I’m just expressing frustration for the millions of Black families that are affected by this unjust system. My hope is that my white fans will consider the depth of their own privilege. They have in front of them an opportunity to use their influence to create more just, equitable systems and to prioritize voices of color. I hope they enter into our shared experiences with solidarity and humility. I also hope that they begin to do the hard work of discipling and learning to discuss issues in nuanced, thoughtful ways. I deeply feel the pain of my Black fans and people of color. They are under siege every day in a culture and a church that have proven hostile to their very existence. P93

The American church was late to the party in condemning racism. We were all scarred by the silence and social scorn from our family Christ. P69

Everyone has experienced a measure of pain from attending church because that's the nature of interacting with others.

In most cases, the root of our problem as Christians is addiction to religion.

I wasn't devoted to God. I was devoted to my devotion to God.

It was as if everything slowed down, and I really took a hard look at where my life was. I thought this was everything I wanted. I thought this would keep my empty tank filled up with joy. But in that moment, the only thought in my head was Is this it? Is this all I have to look forward to for my life?

People don't understand how much spiritual darkness makes depression worse. The mental illness is bad enough by itself, but when you're spiritually malnourished, the only thing you have left to rely on are your physical senses. If I can't feel anything spiritually, I'll try anything to feel with my five senses. I want to taste something that will blow my mind, touch whatever is going to make me feel good, see whatever causes my mind to fantasize the most - and the cycle continues. I just wanted to feel alive. That's the real reason so many people spend money on things they don't need, ride the roller coaster of casual sex, or party every weekend until they can't think straight. They just want to feel alive. I learned the hard way that you can't sin your way out of suffering. In the end you just create more suffering from your sin. You can't wake yourself up from a depressive funk with obsessive addiction. It won't work. Trust me, I've tried it. Winning at work won't be enough. The applause of others won't fulfill you. It will haunt you in your private moments.

Many of us are in a place where we know the bottom is falling out, but we can't put a name on it. We don't know how much we can take before the bottom falls out, so we just find coping mechanisms. Instead of speaking clearly about my emotions, what I found was a collection of coping mechanisms to numb myself from the need to express what I was feeling. This is where I found myself in the middle of this cycle of depression. Most of us don't know that we're coping. We can't recognize that our obsessive behaviors are actually addictions that empower us to avoid our deeper issues. Then we ignore how serious they are to justify ourselves. We make it through our hardships by any means necessary.

If you are a politician, you don’t have a “secular” job. If you are a computer programmer, you don’t have a “secular” job. The term secular is defined as an attitude, activity, or thing that has no religious or spiritual basis. But there is nothing on the planet that God isn’t ruling over. Everything a believer touches and uses in a way that honors God is, in a sense, no longer “secular.

I hid my struggles. Why? Because I didn't think it was supposed to go down like that. And because too many Christians I know lived by the same lie and condemned, shamed, and rejected other Christians who messed up.