Sermon quotes on Adversity
Tod Bolsinger
Relational congruence is the ability to be fundamentally the same person with the same values in every relationship, in every circumstance and especially amidst crisis. It is the internal capacity to keep promises to God, to self and to one’s relationships that consistently express one’s identity and values in spiritually and emotionally healthy ways. Relational congruence is about both constancy and care at the same time. It is about both character and affection, and self-knowledge and authentic self-expression. Relational congruence is the leader’s ability to cultivate strong, healthy, caring relationships; maintaining healthy boundaries; and communicating clear expectations, all while staying focused on the mission.
Jerry Bridges
Adversity is hard to endure, and can even be harder to understand. If God were really in control, why would He allow the tragic auto accident or crucial job loss? How could He permit cancer in a loved one or the death of a child? Grappling with His concern for us we ask, “Why is God allowing this?” or “What have I done wrong?
John Calvin
Men (and woman) are undoubtedly more in danger from prosperity than from adversity. for when matters go smoothly, they flatter themselves, and are intoxicated by their success.
G.K. Chesterton
One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.
“The Innocence of Father Brown”
Harry Emerson Fosdick
Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled.
Source Unknown
Jack Hyles
A friend cannot be known in prosperity. An enemy cannot be hidden in adversity.
Source Unknown
Ronald A. Heifetz
You know the adage “People resist change.” It is not really true. People are not stupid. People love change when they know it is a good thing. No one gives back a winning lottery ticket. What people resist is not change per se, but loss. When change involves real or potential loss, people hold on to what they have and resist the change.
Paul David Tripp
God never calls you to a task without giving you what you need to do it. He never sends you without going with you.
Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family (Crossway, 2016).
Campbell Morgan
If you have no opposition in the place you serve, you’re serving in the wrong place.
Charles Spurgeon
Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity.
Before any great achievement, some measure of depression is very usual.
Charles Stanley
Adversity is not simply a tool. It is God’s most effective tool for the advancement of our spiritual lives. The circumstances and events that we see as setbacks are oftentimes the very things that launch us into periods of intense spiritual growth. Once we begin to understand this, and accept it as a spiritual fact of life, adversity becomes easier to bear.
Charles Stanley
Adversity is always unexpected and unwelcome. It is an intruder and a thief, and yet in the hands of God, adversity becomes the means through which His supernatural power is demonstrated.
Henri Nouwen
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
Can You Drink the Cup?
Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks)
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
A League of Their Own
John of Kronstadt
Our faith, trust, and love are proved and revealed in adversities.
A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, p. 391
Mildred Witte Struven
A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain.
Bits and Pieces, September 19, 1991, p. 6.
Robert Ingersoll
Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test.
Article: “Motley and Monarch,” The North American Review, Volume 141,
William Shakespeare
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
As You Like It (Act 2, Scene 1, 12-17)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Of all the virtues we can learn, no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.
Flow: The Classic Work On How To Achieve Happiness: The Psychology of Happiness
Haruki Murakami
“When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person that walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.”
Kafka on the Shore
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
These periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times of their lives. A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in consciously chosen goals cannot help but grow into a more complex being. By stretching skills, by reaching toward higher challenges, such a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary individual.
Flow: The Classic Work On How To Achieve Happiness: The Psychology of Happiness
See also Challenges
Still Looking for inspiration?
Consider checking out our illustrations page on Adversity.