One of my heroes of the faith is Presbyterian pastor Tim Keller. Keller was the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. As a Baptist, I may not agree with everything he said, but I have been richly blessed through his writing and speaking ministry. Sadly, in his later years, a few Christian Conservatives called him liberal and woke because of his views on social justice, tolerance, and politics (He never aligned himself with a political party and made both the right and left angry). Some saw his views as too compromising; I saw them as godly and Christ-like. I, for one, found him refreshing and anything but liberal and woke. Keller died of pancreatic cancer on May 19, 2023. He has been missed.

A week or so ago, I found quotes attributed to Keller. As I close this week, let me offer you a few.[1]

• If the suffering Jesus endured did not make Him give up on us, nothing will.
• Tolerance is not about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.
• Mercy isn’t just the job of the Christian. Mercy is the mark of the Christian.
• If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for God’s mercy.
• The road to the best things is not through the good things but usually through the hard things.
• If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that He said. If He didn’t, then why worry about what He said? Then, the issue on which everything hangs is not whether you like His teaching, but whether He rose from the dead.
• If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself.

[1] I found these quotes on “Relevantmagazine” on Instagram around May 19^, 2026.