Top 40 Joshua Harris Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “When God knows you’re ready for the responsibility of commitment, He’ll reveal the right person under the right circumstances.”

— Joshua Harris

2. “The joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment.”

— Joshua Harris

3. “God gave people 2 ears and 1 mouth because He wants us to listen twice as much as we talk.”

— Joshua Harris

4. “Intimacy without commitment, like icing without cake, can be sweet, but it ends up making us sick.”

— Joshua Harris

5. “Every relationship for a Christian is an opportunity to love another person like God has loved us.”

— Joshua Harris

6. “During courtship, guarding each other’s purity and refraining from intimacy are the acts of lovemaking.”

— Joshua Harris

7. “The right thing at the wrong tme is the wrong thing.”

— Joshua Harris

8. “Just because something is good doesn’t mean we should pursue it right now. We have to remember that the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.”

— Joshua Harris

9. “A defining reality for me is what Scripture teaches in Hebrews 12, that God is our father, and that a sign that he loves us is that he disciplines us, he takes us through hardship to build character in us that could not be shaped apart from difficulty.”

— Joshua Harris

10. “Purity doesn’t happen by accident; it requires obedience to God.”

— Joshua Harris

11. “The most romantic things a man can do for a woman are the little things that let her know that she’s on his mind and in his heart.”

— Joshua Harris

12. “Just because lips have met doesn’t mean hearts have joined. And just because two bodies are drawn to each other doesn’t mean two people are right for each other. A physical relationship does not equal love.”

— Joshua Harris

Featured in: Romance Quotes

13. “True purity, however, is a direction, a persistent, determined pursuit of righteousness. This direction starts in the heart, and we express it in a lifestyle that flees opportunities for compromise.”

— Joshua Harris

14. “We want to stay on the straight and narrow path and serve God, yet we continue a practice that often pulls us in the wrong direction.”

— Joshua Harris

15. “The doctrine of Scripture teaches us about the authority of God’s Word. Scripture must be the final rule of faith and practice for our lives. Not our feelings or emotions. Not signs or prophetic words or hunches.”

— Joshua Harris

16. “Wisdom in relationships involves a selfless desire to do what’s best for the other person.”

— Joshua Harris

17. “What we say we believe makes very little difference until we act on our belief.”

— Joshua Harris

18. “I’m looking for someone who will light candles, not just curse the darkness.”

— Joshua Harris

19. “If you want to grow, find men who provoke you.”

— Joshua Harris

20. “If you’re not ready to consider marriage or you’re not truly interested in marrying a specific person, it’s selfish and potentially harmful to encourage that person to need you or ask him or her to gratify you emotionally or physically.”

— Joshua Harris

21. “We can each rest in the knowledge that God is sovereign over our life’s situation. No matter where we are today or what mistakes we’ve made in the past, He has given us everything we need to glorify Him right now.”

— Joshua Harris

22. “I’ve come to learn that theology matters. It matters not because we want to impress people, but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. Theology matters because if we get it wrong then our whole life will be wrong.”

— Joshua Harris

23. “I’m not saying dating is sinful, and I’m not saying a guy and a girl should never spend time alone together. I’m saying let’s wait until we can be purposeful, so there’s a reason behind our relationship, and we’re not just stirring up passion for the sake of a good time.”

— Joshua Harris

24. “But remember, continuing a wrong relationship only increases the pain when it finally does end.”

— Joshua Harris

25. “We express true love in obedience to God and service to others- not reckless or selfish behavior- and we choose these behaviors.”

— Joshua Harris

26. “When you let God be God you can let humans be humans. When we place God in His rightful place in our lives, we don’t struggle so much when human relationships let us down.”

— Joshua Harris

27. “God will make right all that is wrong, He will take away the lingering effect of sin and what’s not right in our lives. He knows how painful life in this world can be.”

— Joshua Harris

28. “Women need to remember that if nature has made them plain, grace can make them beautiful, and if nature has made them beautiful, good deeds can add to their beauty. Grace will make you beautiful and will attract truly godly men to you. Make godliness and inward beauty your priority.”

— Joshua Harris

29. “When you dress and behave in a way that is designed primarily to arouse sexual desire in men, you are committing pornography with your life.”

— Joshua Harris

30. “When we define our happiness by some point in the future, it will never arrive. We’ll keep waiting until tomorrow. If we allow impatience to govern us, we will miss the gift of the moment. We’ll arrive at that point in time we expected to provide fulfillment and find it lacking.”

— Joshua Harris

31. “I won’t stick around to see how much temptation I can take. God is not impressed with my ability to stand up to sin. He is more impressed by the obedience I show when I run from it.”

— Joshua Harris

32. “I am a sucker for romance and I love girls and that is a terrible combination, because romance has the ability to overwhelm your perspective.”

— Joshua Harris

Featured in: Romance Quotes

33. “John Calvin wrote, “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but in that we want it too much.”

— Joshua Harris

34. “Having a girlfriend was no longer my greatest need. Knowing and obeying Him was. I wanted to please Him in my relationships even if it meant looking radical and foolish to other people – even if it meant kissing dating goodbye.”

— Joshua Harris

35. “You get up and you preach a sermon and people walk away thinking what a great guy – and that’s a failure as a pastor. Our job is to proclaim Christ.”

— Joshua Harris

36. “1. List your own top three lust triggers. How can you avoid them? 2. What time of day or week are you most tempted by lust? What can you do to prepare for those times? 3. Which locations are the most tempting for you? How can you limit your time in those places? 4. What five little battles do you need to be fighting more faithfully? Describe in detail what it looks like for you to fight – and win – these battles.”

— Joshua Harris

37. “Dating now is a lot like going shopping when you don’t have any money. Even if you find the right thing, you can’t do anything about it.”

— Joshua Harris

38. “Instead of rushing foolishly into a marriage because of impatience or one day looking back at our season of singleness with regret, let’s commit to using our singleness to its fullest potential. Singleness is a gift. Let’s rejoice in it and enjoy its opportunities today. Let’s practice trusting God by pursuing His kingdom and His righteousness with all our hearts and by leaving the planning to Him.”

— Joshua Harris

39. “You are so amazed by grace, you’re not picking a fight with anyone, you’re just crying tears of amazement that should lead to a heart for lost people, that God does indeed save, when he doesn’t have to save anybody.”

— Joshua Harris

40. “She began to notice his servant’s heart, his humility, and his leadership. This attraction felt different from her prior experiences of liking guys. “Before it had always been, ‘Here’s the guy I want!’ But this time I thought, ‘Here’s a man I could follow.”

— Joshua Harris

41. “Our hearts lie. Something can ‘feel’ right and be completely wrong.”

— Joshua Harris

42. “There is nothing more unloving than to be silent in the face of lies that will ruin another person.”

— Joshua Harris

43. “Terms don’t define our lives; our lives define our terms.”

— Joshua Harris

44. “If Jesus loves the church, you and I should, too. We can’t use the excuse that the church has messed up too many times or that we’re disillusioned. Jesus is the only person who has the right to disown and give up on the church. But He never has. And He never will.”

— Joshua Harris

45. “No matter where we are today or what mistakes we’ve made in the past, He has given us everything we need to glorify Him right now.”

— Joshua Harris

46. “The technology for a clothing printer exists but is not packaged in a form that would be suitable for consumer use. With the future potential of printing technology, an at-home clothing printer is a definite possibility. Our challenge was to define the experience.”

— Joshua Harris

47. “He chose to love us. He chose to lay down His life for us. The danger of believing that you “fall in love” is that it also means you can “fall out of love” just as unexpectedly. Aren’t you glad that God’s love for us isn’t as unpredictable?”

— Joshua Harris

48. “We should never use spiritual activities as a way to grab for more intimacy than is appropriate for our relationship.”

— Joshua Harris

Featured in: Romance Quotes

49. “The thing about relationships is, when you are in the middle of one, they consume your focus.”

— Joshua Harris