Quotes from Rob Bell

The Bible is a library of books reflecting how human beings have understood the divine.

I read more of the prophets, these poets and sages who spoke all kinds of truth to power. Another of the ways they explained why they'd been taken into exile was because there was a widening gap between rich and poor in their society, and whenever that happens, the entire system is in danger of imploding. Again and again prophets like Amos announce that if more and more wealth ends up in fewer and fewer hands everybody will suffer. How had I missed this?

Worry is lethal to thriving because it's a failure to be fully present. Worrying about something means you're there, not here

And so, beginning with the early church, there is a long tradition of Christians who believe that God will ultimately restore everything and everybody, because Jesus says in Matthew 19 that there will be a "renewal of all things," Peter says in Acts 3 that Jesus will "restore everything," and Paul says in Colossians 1 that through Christ "God was pleased to . . . reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

If the only answer ever to anything is You really need to do more and try harder your heart will eventually wear out. Along with your body. And your soul.

They aren't interesting. What you haven't done, where you didn't go to school, what you haven't accomplished, who you don't know and what you are scared of simply aren't interesting.

Central to their trust that all would be reconciled was the belief that untold masses of people suffering forever doesn't bring God glory. Restoration brings God glory; eternal torment doesn't. Reconciliation brings God glory; endless anguish doesn't. Renewal and return cause God's greatness to shine through the universe; never-ending punishment doesn't.

Which is stronger and more powerful, the hardness of the human heart or God's unrelenting, infinite, expansive love?

Whoever you are and whatever work you do, no one has ever lived your life with your particular challenges and possibilities.

It can be intimidating, or it can be liberating, because if everybody starts with a blank page, then everybody starts from the same place.

When you say "yes" to your life and your path and your work in the world, you are entering into this mystery of creation, a mystery in which everybody starts with a blank page, and "everybody" includes you. Now, let's pause and take a breath. You've been given this gift of life. You were not given his gift or her gift. You were given your gift.

The poet wants us to know that God is looking for partners, people to help co-create the world.

The Japanese have a word for what gets you out of bed in the morning: they call it your ikigai. Your ikigai is that sense you have when you wake up that this day matters, that there are new experiences to be had, that you have work to do, a contribution to make. Sometimes this is referred to as your calling, other times your vocation, your destiny, your path. Your ikigai is your reason for being.

it is absolutely vital that we acknowledge that love, grace, and humanity can be rejected. From the most subtle rolling of the eyes to the most violent degradation of another human, we are terrifyingly free to do as we please. God gives us what we want, and if that's hell, we can have it. We have that kind of freedom, that kind of choice. We are that free.

We are always in the endless process of figuring out our ikigai. Your ikigai is a web of work and family and play and how you spend your time, what you give your energies to, what you say "yes" to, what you say "no" to, what new challenges you take on, things that come your way that you never wanted or planned for or know what to do with— your ikigai is a work in progress because you are a work in progress.

Life is too short to help make a world you don't want to live in.)

When we take ourselves too seriously it gets in the way of the thing that we are so seriously trying to do.

We create these identities around our roles and titles and job descriptions and achievements. They give our lives shape and form and meaning and definition. Ever so gradually over time our understanding of ourselves gets shaped by what we do and what we've done. We cling, we grasp, we hold tightly to these identities.

So when people say they don't believe in hell and they don't like the word "sin," my first response is to ask, "Have you sat and talked with a family who just found out their child has been molested?

Neither son understands that the father's love was never about any of that. The father's love cannot be earned, and it cannot be taken away. It just is.

The one thing that unites the people I know who are on satisfying and meaningful paths is that they kept trying things, kept exploring, kept pursuing new opportunities, kept searching until they discovered their ikigai. And then from there they never stop figuring it out because they understand how absolutely crucial this is in creating a life worth living.

When you pursue your path, exploring the possibilities as you search for your ikigai, pay careful attention to things that make you angry and get you all riled up and provoke you to say, Someone should do something about that!!! The someone may be you.

Some things you do for you. You do them because it gives you great satisfaction and it puts a smile on your face and that's it. And that's fine. It's not just fine, it's necessary. It makes you a better person, it fills your soul, it opens you up to life in its fullness. So don't apologize for it, enjoy it.

Soul doesn't care what it is or what it should be called. Soul just wants to enter into it. And feel it. And absorb it. And experience it. Soul wants to participate.