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Top 25 David G. Benner Quotes (2025 Update)

David G. Benner Quote: “God does not want obedience as the fruit of our willful determination. God wants surrender as the choice of the heart. For what we long for in our heart we will pursue with the totality of our being not simply with the resolve of our will.”

1. “God does not want obedience as the fruit of our willful determination. God wants surrender as the choice of the heart. For what we long for in our heart we will pursue with the totality of our being not simply with the resolve of our will.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known. Both, therefore, have an important place in Christian spirituality. There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God. John Calvin wrote, “Nearly the whole of sacred doctrine consists in these two parts: knowledge of God and of ourselves.”3.”

2. “Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known. Both, therefore, have an important place in Christian spirituality. There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God. John Calvin wrote, “Nearly the whole of sacred doctrine consists in these two parts: knowledge of God and of ourselves.”3.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

3. “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Spiritual disciplines should always be means to spiritual ends, never ends in themselves. They are places of meeting God that do not have value in and of themselves. To treat them as if they did is to develop a spirituality that is external, self-energized and legalistic. Genuine Christian spirituality places the priority on inner transformation, not outward routines.”

4. “Spiritual disciplines should always be means to spiritual ends, never ends in themselves. They are places of meeting God that do not have value in and of themselves. To treat them as if they did is to develop a spirituality that is external, self-energized and legalistic. Genuine Christian spirituality places the priority on inner transformation, not outward routines.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.”

5. “Genuine self-knowledge begins by looking at God and noticing how God is looking at us.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a discovery. True identity is always a gift of God.”

6. “Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a discovery. True identity is always a gift of God.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Any hope that you can know yourself without accepting the things about you that you wish were not true is an illusion. Reality must be embraced before it can be changed. Our knowing of ourselves will remain superficial until we are willing to accept ourselves as God accepts us – fully and unconditionally, just as we are.”

7. “Any hope that you can know yourself without accepting the things about you that you wish were not true is an illusion. Reality must be embraced before it can be changed. Our knowing of ourselves will remain superficial until we are willing to accept ourselves as God accepts us – fully and unconditionally, just as we are.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Only suffering and struggle, and all the dark experiences that come with them, will grow a soul big enough to hold our life. This happens when we ground ourselves in the blood, sweat, and tears of ordinary life.”

8. “Only suffering and struggle, and all the dark experiences that come with them, will grow a soul big enough to hold our life. This happens when we ground ourselves in the blood, sweat, and tears of ordinary life.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Created from love, of love and for love, our existence makes no sense apart from Divine love.”

9. “Created from love, of love and for love, our existence makes no sense apart from Divine love.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “The life Jesus came to bring is a life that does not depend on willpower. It flows out of the Spirit of God, energizing and transforming our spirit. It’s a life based on transfusion- God’s Spirit transfusing my spirit, God’s deepest desires, longings and dreams becoming mine. This is the way and the only way to the freedom and fulfillment of preferring God’s will to mine.”

10. “The life Jesus came to bring is a life that does not depend on willpower. It flows out of the Spirit of God, energizing and transforming our spirit. It’s a life based on transfusion- God’s Spirit transfusing my spirit, God’s deepest desires, longings and dreams becoming mine. This is the way and the only way to the freedom and fulfillment of preferring God’s will to mine.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Looking back, I find it remarkable how easily I accepted ideas about God as substitutes for direct experience of him. It took me a long time to begin to know God through my heart and not simply my head.”

11. “Looking back, I find it remarkable how easily I accepted ideas about God as substitutes for direct experience of him. It took me a long time to begin to know God through my heart and not simply my head.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Richard Rohr reminds us that “we cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.”

12. “Richard Rohr reminds us that “we cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “None of us is perfectly aligned with the truth of our being. All of us live with falsity, but the magnitude of the gap between inner reality and outer appearance will always be an indication of the magnitude of the clouding of presence.”

13. “None of us is perfectly aligned with the truth of our being. All of us live with falsity, but the magnitude of the gap between inner reality and outer appearance will always be an indication of the magnitude of the clouding of presence.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Some Christians base their identity on being a sinner. I think they have it wrong – or only half right. You are not simply a sinner; you are a deeply loved sinner. And there is all the difference in the world between the two.”

14. “Some Christians base their identity on being a sinner. I think they have it wrong – or only half right. You are not simply a sinner; you are a deeply loved sinner. And there is all the difference in the world between the two.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “In its most basic terms Christian spirituality is a relationship with God. Perhaps the most remarkable thing to notice about this Christian God is that is it he who has sought us out, not we him. In fact, anything that we experience as desire for him is simply the result of his Spirit’s calling us to himself. Spirituality is the response of spirit to Spirit.”

15. “In its most basic terms Christian spirituality is a relationship with God. Perhaps the most remarkable thing to notice about this Christian God is that is it he who has sought us out, not we him. In fact, anything that we experience as desire for him is simply the result of his Spirit’s calling us to himself. Spirituality is the response of spirit to Spirit.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Paradoxically, we come to know God best not by looking at God exclusively, but by looking at God and then looking at ourselves – then looking at God, and then again looking at ourselves. This is also the way we best come to know our selves. Both God and self are mostly fully known in relationship to each other.”

16. “Paradoxically, we come to know God best not by looking at God exclusively, but by looking at God and then looking at ourselves – then looking at God, and then again looking at ourselves. This is also the way we best come to know our selves. Both God and self are mostly fully known in relationship to each other.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “The self that begins the spiritual journey is the self of our own creation, the self we thought ourselves to be. This is the self that dies on the journey. The self that arrives is the self that was loved into existence by Divine Love. This is the person we were destined from eternity to become – the I that is hidden in the “I AM.”

17. “The self that begins the spiritual journey is the self of our own creation, the self we thought ourselves to be. This is the self that dies on the journey. The self that arrives is the self that was loved into existence by Divine Love. This is the person we were destined from eternity to become – the I that is hidden in the “I AM.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Growth in love is not an accomplishment but the receipt of a gift.”

18. “Growth in love is not an accomplishment but the receipt of a gift.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Leaving the self out of Christian spirituality results in a spirituality that is not well grounded in experience. It is, therefore, not well grounded in reality. Focusing on God while failing to know ourselves deeply may produce an external form of piety, but it will always leave a gap between appearance and reality. This is dangerous to the soul of anyone – and in spiritual leaders it can also be disastrous for those they lead.”

19. “Leaving the self out of Christian spirituality results in a spirituality that is not well grounded in experience. It is, therefore, not well grounded in reality. Focusing on God while failing to know ourselves deeply may produce an external form of piety, but it will always leave a gap between appearance and reality. This is dangerous to the soul of anyone – and in spiritual leaders it can also be disastrous for those they lead.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Prayerful paying attention is not scrunching up our willpower and tightening our focus, but simply opening our self to what we encounter. This makes it much more an act of release than effort. We release any attempt to control attention and instead allow it to be absorbed by our present experience.”

20. “Prayerful paying attention is not scrunching up our willpower and tightening our focus, but simply opening our self to what we encounter. This makes it much more an act of release than effort. We release any attempt to control attention and instead allow it to be absorbed by our present experience.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Paradoxically, as we become more and more like Christ we become more uniquely our own true self.”

21. “Paradoxically, as we become more and more like Christ we become more uniquely our own true self.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves, for no one can give up what he or she does not first possess.”

22. “Before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves, for no one can give up what he or she does not first possess.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Thomas Merton puts it this way: “Life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.”2.”

23. “Thomas Merton puts it this way: “Life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.”2.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Similarly, people who are afraid to look deeply at themselves will of course be equally afraid to look deeply at God. For such persons, ideas about God provide a substitute for direct experience of God.”

24. “Similarly, people who are afraid to look deeply at themselves will of course be equally afraid to look deeply at God. For such persons, ideas about God provide a substitute for direct experience of God.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “The act of willing surrender is a choice of openness, a choice of abandonment of self-determination, a choice of cooperation with God.”

25. “The act of willing surrender is a choice of openness, a choice of abandonment of self-determination, a choice of cooperation with God.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “The single most important thing I have learned in over thirty years of study of how love produces healing is that love is transformational only when it is received in vulnerability.”

26. “The single most important thing I have learned in over thirty years of study of how love produces healing is that love is transformational only when it is received in vulnerability.”

— David G. Benner

David G. Benner Quote: “Listen to the invitation of Jesus to join him in the reign of love that is life in the kingdom of God.”

27. “Listen to the invitation of Jesus to join him in the reign of love that is life in the kingdom of God.”

— David G. Benner

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