We’ve all heard them—those all-too-cliché Christian inspirational quotes that people resort to when they need to give someone a little pick-me-up. You know like when Bobby Miller dumped you in the 10th grade and your mom responded with, “everything happens for a reason.” Or maybe you’ve heard my personal favorite: “God will never give you more than you can handle.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking these clichés for being Christian inspirational quotes. In the right circumstances, they might be just what someone needs to turn their day—or even their life around. All I’m saying is, you most definitely won’t find them quoted in the Bible.
Here are 5 Christian inspirational quotes that aren’t actually found in Scripture.
1. “This too shall pass.”
Yes, the fact that the earth turns, and day will become night, then night will become day means that whatever circumstance you’re facing, it will indeed pass in one way or another. However, this incredibly common “Bible verse” is actually not what you’ll find in the Gospel.
Throughout the Bible, there are several verses which talk about things that will “come to pass.” In fact, the term, “come to pass” is listed over 400 times in the King James Version of the Bible. However, “come to pass” and “this too shall pass” are two very different things.
In scriptural context, “come to pass” is often a futuristic promise of God of something that is to come. Similarly, it is the passing over (or forgiveness) of our sins, as peoples who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.” —Joel 2:32
Where the Bible uses “come to pass” as a promise of things to come, society has a way of using “this too shall pass” as an encouragement through some of the darkest times. While they both offer inspiration and a bright outlook on the future, they are, in their own right, two very different things.
2. “Follow your heart.”
Or as my generation of millennials might say it, “Just do what feels right, man.” Disney movies and RomComs have led us to this notion that if you’re faced with a decision, you, in your humanness, can simply do what your heart thinks is right, and you’ll be happy as a clam.
But Y’all, this is so skewed, it HURTS!
Doing what “feels” right means that you’re relying on your FEELINGS to be your guide. I don’t know about you, but if I let my feelings dictate my life, I’m going to be stuck on an emotional roller coaster ride that never ends. Feelings change like the wind. But God, in all of his goodness, grace, mercy, and faithfulness is never changing.
As Christians, we were never created to just blindly “follow our hearts,” because our hearts were made to break. Not in a Taylor Swift kind of way, but TRULY break—for the things that break God’s heart.
You were created on purpose, for a purpose. So to suggest that anyone should “follow their heart” would suggest that God’s purpose for their life—their passions, their desires—all of it is less than the plans they have for themselves. Don’t follow your heart, follow God and He WILL lead you to greater purpose than you could have ever imagined.
