Edward T. Welch Quotes

Jesus always interpreted hardship in light of the end of the story, and at the end of the story we will be without shame.

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both...

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair.

Now listen more carefully to depression. Like all feelings, it is a kind of language. Guilt says, I am wrong. Anger says, You are wrong. Fear says, I am in danger. Depression, too, has a message, but...

On earth, however, God doesn’t prescribe a happy life. Look at some of the Psalms. They are written by people of great faith, yet they run the emotional gamut. One even ends with darkness is my closes...

Part of the depressive syndrome is that you are immensely loyal to your interpretation of yourself and your world. If God says you are forgiven in Christ, you create new rules that mandate contrition,...

People who have experienced war have learned to accept the trials and sufferings of life. Among many wise, older citizens in American society, there is no desperate flight from suffering. Instead, the...

Scripture is about suffering. It has given comfort to millions. It has spawned hundreds of wonderful books that highlight God’s gentle care and Scripture’s probing insights. You can be assured of this...

Shame can be removed, and you can still be you. Despite your feeling that your destiny and shame’s destiny are identical—that if shame no longer exists, you won’t either—the reality is that you will b...

Shame is life-dominating and stubborn. Once entrenched in your heart and mind, it is a squatter that refuses to leave.

Shame is very much on display in Jesus’ crucifixion. When he predicted his own death to his disciples, he made sure to explain that it would be infused with mocking, a public flogging, and spitting (M...

Shame’s hold over you leads you to believe you don’t deserve to be rid of shame. As a result, you treat hope as if it were a contaminated substance.

Side by side is most suitable for helping. We

The Holy One is not human. The triune God is not human. Don’t limit God’s character by your expectations of what a decent human king might do. You expect God to reject; he accepts. You expect him to t...

The cure for shame will always be found in how we become connected to God.

The first steps out of shame will be the hardest. These are the anti-denial steps in which we will put shame into words. You can’t do battle with something nameless, and too often shame eludes accurat...

Then, when shame strikes, it is so nasty you have to numb yourself, and what better anesthetic than your addiction? It is the perfect vicious circle.

There are more subtle ways we can contribute to depression too. For example, our misguided beliefs might lead us to think that we are beyond God’s love or forgiveness. We could be carrying fears of de...

To look to Christ to meet our perceived psychological needs is to Christianize our lusts. We are asking God to give us what we want, so we can feel better about ourselves, or so we can have more happi...

We must hate the evil and ungodly assumptions of the world, we must hate our own sinful nature, and we must hate Satan. To accomplish these tasks demands the most powerful resources we have: the Word,...