Smith Judah Quotes

Don't allow the opinions of other people to shape your concept of him. Get to know him yourself, and let the goodness of God change you from the inside out.

Nowhere in the Bible, however, do we find God distinguishing between levels of sin. God doesn't share our rating system. To him, all sin is equally evil, and all sinners are equally lovable.

It seemed too good to be true. That's grace.

Grace is a person. And his name is Jesus.

But freedom starts with honesty. We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by defining our- selves as good and others as bad. Let’s just agree that we all need help, that we are all in this together.

Notorious sinners didn’t kill Jesus. Religious people did.

Sometimes we are outright rude when we interact with people. We meet a gay guy or a couple living together, and we think we have the obligation and right to warn them what God thinks about their sexuality on our first meeting. As if their sex life is the first thing on God’s agenda. It’s not. Love is. Grace is. Mercy is. Jesus is.

The Bible is meant to be down-to-earth. It was written for real people facing real issues.

The common denominator is that we all need help.

But difficult situations and wrong choices conspire to trap us in hopelessness.

We are often harsher judges than God himself.

It takes courage and humility to recognize we are as messed up as the drug addict next door, and many of us never get that honest.

Make rules and follow rules as needed, but don't focus on riles. Focus on faith. Focus on grace. Focus on Jesus.

When we meet grace, it becomes the fuel of our faith. We pray, we read our Bibles, we worship and we live the purest lifestyle we can because we love a person.

Indifference was our greatest enemy.

Grace is God-given power to live differently.

Jesus is not your accuser. He’s not your prosecutor. He’s not your judge. He’s your friend and your rescuer. Like Zacchaeus, just spend time with Jesus. Don’t hide from him in shame or reject him in self-righteousness. Don’t allow the opinions of other people to shape your concept of him. Get to know him for yourself, and let the goodness of God change you from the inside out.

We need a bigger estimation of God and a smaller estimation of sin.

You don’t have to be good to be Jesus’s friend. You just have to be honest.

No sooner do I conquer a bad habit than I become the biggest critic of anyone who still does what I just stopped doing.

A moment with Jesus changed everything.

Jesus didn’t care about the scandal. He cared about the scandalous.

When it comes to sin, the only one who has a right to condemn others is Jesus. And he refused.

God transforms us one area at a time.

When you look in the eyes of grace, when you meet grace, when you embrace grace, when you see the nail prints in grace’s hands and the fire in his eyes, when you feel his relentless love for you - it will not motivate you to sin. It will motivate you to righteousness.

That’s how we often react when grace comes at us. It’s awkward. God offers us something that’s too good to be true—unearned, unmerited, total forgiveness—and we stand there, stiff and uncomfortable, waiting for the embrace to stop so we can get back to the business of earning our way into heaven. We need to embrace grace. We need to learn how to hug back.

Sometimes our brains are our own worst enemy because grace isn't logical.

Sometimes God takes your life for some crazy twists and turns.

We need to abandon our scale and adopt God's because our misguided labels keep us from the right kind of interaction with people.

Sometimes we get way too fixated on how powerful sin is and how weak we are. We worry that if we relax for a second, we'll mess up royally and ruin everything. Ironically, our paranoia only serves to make us more conscious of our sinfulness.

Worry is useless. Worry saps our strength and steals our focus. It causes us to be more awestruck and dumbfounded by storms than by the one who silences storms with a word.

God is with us, loves us, and wants us to be fulfilled and satisfied. God wants our lives to be awesome in every way.

I can imagine myself in her place: trapped by a sordid past, terribly alone, defenseless before a crowd of jeering judges who hold my life in their hands. And then, when hope is lost, the one who truly has the right to condemn me looks at me. In his eyes I read something completely unexpected. Compassion.

No sinner is irreparable or irredeemable. No sin is so great that the blood of Jesus cannot cover it. His love is so deep and wide that he can, in one moment of our faith, forgive our past, present, and future sins. Sin is simply not a problem for God.

In the journey of life, emotions make great companions but terrible leaders. But

The more we live from heaven to earth—that is, the more we orient and adjust our lives to take eternity into account—the healthier and happier our souls will be.

We aren't Christians because we live like Christians; we are Christians because we have accepted the gift of salvation. We have come to know God on an experiential, authentic level.

It’s interesting how people try to redefine God to their liking. They bring him down to their level so they can understand him, then they reject him because he is too much like them.

Healthy people don’t need a doctor,” Jesus said. “Sick people do.” That’s why he spent his time with the needy, the helpless, and the depraved. He came down to their level because they could never rise to his. He wasn’t out to prove how good he was or how bad they were. He just wanted to offer them hope.

Jesus is not your accuser. He’s not your prosecutor. He’s not your judge. He’s your friend and your rescuer. Like Zacchaeus, just spend time with Jesus. Don’t hide from him in shame or reject him in self-righteousness.

Many of us live with incredible tension and anxiety because we think that our dreams will come true if we just get the right degree, if we just meet the right people, if we just get the right job. We assume our happiness is tied to our success, and our success depends on our performance. So we sweat and struggle and scheme and strategize, and we wonder why we aren’t enjoying life.

If God started a work in you, you can be sure he intends to complete it. Your hang-ups and mess-ups don’t take him by surprise. At no point in the process does he say, “This is more than I expected. You are in worse shape than I thought. I’d better cut my losses and give up on you.

Storms happen. I can’t promise that you won’t get wet. I can’t promise that you won’t go through tough times. But I can promise that Jesus is bigger than your storm and that he is with you. The storm will end. The wind will cease. The waves will be still. Jesus will see you safely through to the other side.

Do you want to live an effective life? It’s not as complicated as some might say it is. First, yield to God, your Creator and your Father. Turn over control of your ways and your days to him. And second, receive from the community that God puts around you. It’s that simple. Stay surrendered and stay surrounded.

The things that people would call success have not given me more joy, peace, or security on the inside. (…) the joy is not in the role, the joy is in the responsibility.

Everything that tastes awesome makes you look huge. And everything that tastes horrible makes you look awesome. Why, God, why?

rules are easier to deal with than grace. That’s a big part of their attraction. That’s why we keep making up rules even when we can’t keep the ones we already have.

We spend most of our lives working furiously toward goals that, when achieved, turn out to hold less substance than a Twinkie.

God loves us with never-ending love and unconditional passion.

Religion says that obedience brings acceptance. The gospel teaches the opposite: acceptance brings obedience.

We need the joy of our salvation most when we feel like we deserve it the least.

Life does not consist of what should have happened, what might have happened, or what hopefully will happen. Life is what is happening—right now.

Sometimes I crack myself up; but laughter is biblical, so I feel almost holy laughing at my own jokes.

1. Life is to be loved and to love. 2. Life is to trust God in every moment. 3. Life is to be at peace with God and yourself. 4. Life is to enjoy God.

An effective life is first and foremost a surrendered life.

Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!

As he spoke of their childhood days Judah sat up to press the back of his hand to his mouth and say she was as real to me as hunger or fear and I think I was born with her in my mind.

Remember, God is what makes the four statements at the heart of this book work: 1. Life is to be loved and to love. 2. Life is to trust God in every moment. 3. Life is to be at peace with God and yourself. 4. Life is to enjoy God.

The problem isn’t lack of love. It’s impossible expectations. It’s the belief that our souls can find ultimate satisfaction and strength by anchoring themselves to another human soul. But person after person lets us down because their souls are hurting too. We tie ourselves to each other, then we both end up nearly drowned by the storms of life. We squabble and complain, “Why haven’t you saved me yet?” And the other yells back, “I don’t know! I thought you were going to help me!

God’s love is so extravagant and so inexplicable that he loved us before we were us. He loved us before we existed. He knew many of us would reject him, hate him, curse him, rebel against him. Yet he chose to love us. God loves us because he is love.

Jesus is giving us an invitation to life. The invitation is to truly live: not just to exist, not just to breathe, but to live life as it was meant to be lived. But his invitation to this existence is paradoxical. God’s invitation to life comes through death.

Jesus loves us right now, just as we are. He isn’t standing aloof, yelling at us to climb out of our pits and clean ourselves up so we can be worthy of him. He is wading waist-deep into the muck of life, weeping with the broken, rescuing the lost, and healing the sick.

But what is remarkable and even overwhelming is that because these people are so fixated on the law, they can’t celebrate the fact that this man is now standing and walking. All they can see is that someone healed him on the Sabbath, and now he is carrying his bed on the Sabbath.

God shows us what authentic love is in John 3:16, probably the most famous verse in the Bible. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (NKJV). God so loved the world. He loved the whole world; not just the good part of the world, the part that loved him already, or the part that he knew would love him back. We need to expand our hearts, our comfort zones, and our friend zones. He gave his only Son. He was willing to make real sacrifices to build real relationships. Sometimes we need to put aside projects and schedules for the sake of people. Like Jesus, we need to be interruptible. Whoever. He showed unconditional love and acceptance. Love is risky. We might be rejected. We might be crucified by the people we are trying to help. But ultimately, love will prevail.

I’m a big fan of Disney’s animated movies, or at least of most of them. I don’t know what it is, but the songs get stuck in my head. There is a Disney song for every situation you encounter in life. Some people quote The Godfather. Some quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I quote Walt Disney. Those are the true classics.

Sometimes we treat God like an antique chair, when, in fact, God is a lot more like an IKEA couch. I don’t mean in his worth or his beauty or his grandeur, of course—in every category he is beyond compare. But in terms of relationship, we often treat God more like an expensive antique, when he invites us to treat him like an IKEA couch.

But it doesn’t work that way. No matter how hard we study or work, no matter how early we wake up or how late we go to bed, ultimately time and chance happen to us all. We can’t guarantee anything. But God can. And only God can. When we remember that, a peace that passes understanding floods our souls. Quietness and rest are found not in control but in surrender.

When we make up rules because we are afraid people will sin, we end up doing an end run around faith. It’s not fear that saves us—it’s faith. Fear of failure has a sneaky way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. We focus so much on what we don’t want to do that we are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Or like a mosquito to a bug zapper, since we’re in the twenty-first century now.

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (verses 38–42)

It’s far too easy to make life all about the outside me, the external me, the physical me. We fall into the trap that if we can be healthy, wealthy, popular, productive, and influential, then life will be good. So we throw ourselves into the chase, thinking that internal happiness will come from external success. If we just try hard enough, if we just wait long enough, if we just reach the next level, we will feel at peace.

Jesus was different. He didn’t wink at sin, but he didn’t write sinners off either. He offered faith, hope, and love. That’s why time after time in the Bible we find hardcore sinners seated around a table with Jesus, just chilling. They would spend hours listening, asking questions, laughing, crying. They were captivated by his compassion and riveted by his practical explanations of how to do life. Jesus let them belong long before they believed or behaved.

So here are my questions and my appeal to you as we talk about a healthy soul. Are you intentional about your friends? Are they helping you? Do you fit together? Yes, I think we should live big. We should draw big circles, be inclusive, be forgiving, and be kind—but we can’t be intimate friends with all seven billion people on this planet. We can’t be close friends with a few thousand people. Probably not even a few hundred people. Realistically, we might be close, intimate friends with only a dozen people. Maybe a few more or a few less, depending on our individual capacities and personalities. So we had better choose those people intentionally, carefully, and prayerfully.

Working in God’s field, by the way, is not meant to be a metaphor for how hard it is to follow God. Jesus is actually saying the opposite: that following God is about his generosity and grace, not about what we do or don’t do. It is a joy to follow God. It is rewarding to obey him. His goodness toward us is far beyond anything we could earn or deserve. We relate to God according to his rich measures of grace and generosity. We don’t have to worry about whether we measure up or whether we are working hard enough to please him. We don’t have to stress out about the future. We don’t have to waste our energy envying other people. We can simply enjoy God and trust God and love God. By the way, this will completely change the way we relate to others. It will make for great friendships. When we trust God to give us what is right, we can celebrate the good things God does for other people. That’s where we really begin to enjoy life. Instead of complaining that you got a cat and Bill got an Escalade, take your cat over for a ride in Bill’s Escalade.

The intimate link existing between Yahweh and the Kenites is strengthened by the following observations: 1. The first mention of Yahweh (neither Elohim nor Yahweh-Elohim) in the book of Genesis is related to the birth of Cain: 'Now the man knew his wife Even, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD"' (Gen. 4.1). This may be a symbolic way to claim that the 'discovery' of Yahweh is concomitant to the discovery of metallurgy. 2. Enosh is mentioned in Genesis as the first man who worshipped Yahweh: 'To Seth also a son was born, and he names him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the LORD' (Gen. 4.26). Interestingly, Enosh is the father of Keynan (= Cain). Again, the worship of Yahweh appears to have been linked to the discovery of metallurgy. 3. The Kenites had a sign (taw) on their forehead. From Gen. 4.15, it appears that this sign signalled that Yahweh protects Cain and his sons. From Ezek. 9.4-6, it seems that, at the end of the First Temple period, a similar sign remained the symbol of devotion to Yahweh. 4. The book of Jeremiah confirms the existence of a Kenite worship of Yahweh as follows:'Jonadab son of Rechab shall not lack a descendant to stand before me [Yahweh] for all time' (Jer. 35.19). This fidelity of smelters and smiths to the initial Yahwistic tradition may explain why the liberators of Judah, Israel and Jerusalem are depicted as smiths in the book of Zechariah (Zech. 2.3-4). When considered together, these data suggest that Yahweh was intimately related with the metallurgists from the very discovery of copper smelting. (pp. 393-394) from 'Yahweh, the Canaanite God of Metallurgy?', JSOT 33.4 (2009): 387-404

Some scholars have stressed early Israelite religion as the quintessential period of pure Yahwism. Following in the footsteps of Albright, G. Mendenhall and J. Bright posit an early pure Yahwism that was polluted secondarily in the land by the cult of Baal and other idolatry. In their schemes, the monarchy was largely a negative influence. There are three major problems with this characterization of Israelite religion. First, some of the features that Mendenhall and Bright view as secondary idolatry belonged to Israel’s Canaanite heritage. The cult of Baal, the symbol of the asherah, the high places, and the cultic practices involving the dead all belonged to Israel’s ancient past, its Canaanite past. Second, the “purest form of Yahwism” belonged not to an early stage of Israel’s history but to the late monarchy. Differentiation of the cult of Yahweh did not begin until the ninth century and appeared in full flower only in the eighth century and afterward. Even this stage of reform was marked by other religious developments considered idolatrous by later generations; the cults of the “Queen of Heaven” and “the Tammuz” undermine any idealization of the late monarchy. The temple idolatry denounced in Ezekiel 8-11 probably constituted the norm rather than the exception for the final decades of the monarchy. The religious programs of Hezekiah and Josiah have been claimed as moments of religious purity in Judah, although even these policies had their political reasons.743 The pure form of Yahwism that Mendenhall and Bright envision was perhaps an ideal achieved rarely, if ever, before the Exile — if even then. Third, the monarchy was not the villain of Israelite religion that Mendenhall and Bright make it out to be. Indeed, the monarchy made several religious contributions crucial to the development of monolatry. In short, Mendenhall and Bright stand much of Israel’s religious development on its head.

If we follow Jesus, our status before God is righteous. The gavel has come down and our righteousness is secure in the work of Jesus Christ. God’s verdict is not subject to change based on our performance. We didn’t become righteous because of our performance, and we can’t lose our righteousness because of our performance. We don’t have to worry about getting escorted off God’s premises. We have access, we have resources, and we have blessings because of Jesus. It is easy to hear this sort of message and get excited about it. We hear a preacher talking about God’s forgiveness and grace on Sunday, and we’re like, “Woohoo! I’m in! This is great!” But then Monday comes around, and it’s really hard to apply this reality when we’re having one of those moments when we lose our minds, or make dumb decisions, or go off on somebody, or do that stupid, ridiculous thing we swore we’d never do again. Suddenly, here comes the negative emotion. Here come the bad feelings. Here comes that sense that our status cannot possibly be the same as it was in church yesterday. That’s what the Bible calls condemnation. It’s a very real phenomenon. If you are a follower of Jesus, a Christian, and have never experienced condemnation, you might be God. For the rest of us mortals, we’ve all experienced it. Guilt. Shame. A sense that our status has changed. I’m going to take this a step further. This might sound weird at first, but I think we actually, in a very sadistic way, enjoy condemnation. Why? Because condemnation is logical; and in a weird, twisted, dark sense, it gratifies our flesh. It actually feels right to feel horrible, to feel depressed, to feel dejected, to feel despair. “I messed up. I did something so stupid. This serves me right.” But in fact, condemnation doesn’t serve us at all. In the verses above, the Bible says that condemnation should have no part in our existence on this planet if we belong to Jesus. As humans, we are experts at confusing our feelings with reality. We take our negative emotions and thoughts at face value, and we think, I feel bad, so I must be bad. I feel guilty, so I must be guilty. And if I’m disappointed and mad at myself, God must be way more disappointed and mad at me. Since we feel condemned, we think we are condemned. And since we think we are condemned, we work harder to regain our lost status. Instead of going confidently to God and asking for his grace to get back up and move forward in life, we try to patch ourselves up and put ourselves back together so we can attain the status of righteous before God again. Ironically, since we will never measure up to perfection, the more we try to earn our righteousness, the worse we feel. It’s the cycle of condemnation. I find it’s far easier to believe we are sinners than to believe we are righteous. But we are already righteous through Jesus. It’s a gift, and it’s called grace. How much time do we waste as Jesus followers trying to recover what we have had all along?

Rules are not proof of our spirituality. If anything, they are proof of our sinfulness, a reminder that we have a tendency toward wrongdoing and that we need help.

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”4 True courage—the ability to push beyond our fears—is found only in God. The degree to which we find ourselves trusting and relying on God is the same degree to which we will possess courage. As long as we continue to depend on ourselves, fear remains a factor. Yet when we find our courage in God, we will move beyond superficial, momentary action to a lifestyle in which fear does not determine our choices.

We may therefore propose a working hypothesis for Judah: a culture with a diminished lineage system, one less embedded in traditional family patrimonies due to societal changes in the eighth through sixth centuries, might be more predisposed both to hold to individual human accountability for behavior and to see an individual deity accountable for the cosmos. (This individual accountability at the human and divine levels may be viewed as concomitant developments.) Accordingly, later Israelite monotheism was denuded of the divine family, a development perhaps intelligible in light of Israel’s weakening family lineages and patrimonies. This is only one dimension of Israelite monotheism, a complex matter that the last chapter of this book addresses in detail.

I’m not trying to be redundant—just clear. Jesus is the source of grace, the epitome of grace, the manifestation of grace. Jesus is grace, and grace is Jesus.

New reflections developed out of Israel’s new social circumstances as well as its new political situation on the international stage from the seventh century on. The loss of family patrimonies due to economic stress and foreign incursions contribute to the demise of the model of the family for understanding divinity. With the rise of the individual along with the family as significant units of social identity (Deut. 24:16; Jer. 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18; cf. 33:12-20) came the corresponding notion on the divine level, namely of a single god responsible for the cosmos. Judah’s reduced status on the world scene also required new thinking about divinity. Like Marduk, Yahweh became an “empire-god,” the god of all the nations but in a way that no longer closely tied the political fortunes of Judah to the status of this god. With the old order of divine king and his human, royal representation on earth reversed, Yahweh stands alone in the divine realm, with all the other gods as nothing. In short, the old head-god of monarchic Israel became the Godhead of the universe.

In these past twelve years of ecstasy, I have never had this train of thought: You know, Judah, Chelsea loves you so much, she takes such good care of you, she’s so loyal and faithful—you could cheat on her and be just fine. She’ll take you back. She’ll still love you. I’ve never had that thought, and I never will. It’s ridiculous. It’s repulsive. Why? I’m not faithful to some impersonal ideal called marriage. I’m faithful to a person. And every good thing she does only reinforces my commitment and my faithfulness to her. It doesn’t tempt me to abuse her trust. When some people hear about grace, the first thing they think is: So, I can go out and do whatever I want, and God has to forgive me? They haven’t met grace—they’ve met a concept. They’ve met an idea. They’ve heard a nice sermon. When you look in the eyes of grace, when you meet grace, when you embrace grace, when you see the nail prints in grace’s hands and the fire in his eyes, when you feel his relentless love for you—it will not motivate you to sin. It will motivate you to righteousness. When we meet grace, it becomes the fuel of our faith. We pray, we read our Bibles, we worship, and we live the purest lifestyle we can because we love a person. Allegiance to a doctrine can only last so long, but relationship trumps everything. We’ll do anything for someone we love.

And if I had not met Jesus I would have died carrying to strip it away, layer by layer. He reminded me again and again that I could not hoard His love. And I could not be selective about who I would share it with. The love He had shed abroad in my heart was meant to be shared with others regardless of their color. My good friend Judah Smith says, "You cannot exaggerate God's love. Just try it!" I agree with him. God intends for us to be extravagant and free in our love for one another.

In thr journey of life, emotions make great companions but terrible leaders.

No tienes que ser bueno, para ser amigo de Jesús. Solo has de ser sincero.

resulta

Grace is a difficult concept for us humanoids to embrace because we have to live with ourselves. We are painfully aware of our weaknesses and shortcomings. So we are usually hardest on ourselves. It’s amazing how many people can accept others but are still trying to find a way to accept themselves.

He was willing to make real sacrifices to build real relationships. Sometimes we need to put aside projects and schedules for the sake of people. Like Jesus, we need to be interruptible.

The opposite of love is not hate; it is selfishness. Adam and Eve chose self over love. They chose self over God.

We just have to remember that rules are not proof of our spirituality.

just because Jesus is in the boat doesn’t mean we won’t go through storms.

have friends who are almost insulted if I do not respond to their text message within the proper five-minute window. That’s the expectancy now. They’re like, “You took seven minutes to respond to my text. Are we still friends?

I think that what Jesus is saying is that what we are expected to be doing is not necessarily what God wants us to be doing. Jesus seems to be implying to Martha, “I know you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, but sometimes you need to stop doing anything and just be with me.

He is a today God. He is a now God. And he is here for you.

The formal living room was uniquely and exclusively something to look at. Perfect vacuum lines were to always be engraved in the carpet, unmarred by human footsteps. Pillows were to be delicately fluffed. Furnishings were always to be color coordinated. It was the formal living room. No one dared to actually live life in the formal living room—that was unthinkable.

freedom starts with honesty.

This shallow understanding leads some people to abuse grace. They sin on purpose. They plan ahead to sin. They know better—they know the truth—but they turn their backs on it. Then they plead grace like the Fifth Amendment when they get caught. For them, grace is a way to weasel out of owning their actions. It’s the ultimate Christian trump card.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isa. 40:9–11 NIV)

Jesus befriends the worst of sinners, so Jesus befriends me.

Church is a place where a bunch of people who realize they need help get together to love Jesus and encourage each other.