God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'
Billy GrahamRead
I am not going to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times. I'm going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: 'Lord, remember me.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
Salvation is based on faith and repentance, not on deeds.
Billy Graham's quote emphasizes that entry into Heaven is not determined by one's achievements or religious practices but rather by genuine faith and a heartfelt request for mercy, as exemplified by the thief on the cross. It highlights the accessibility of grace to everyone, regardless of their past.
Themes
SalvationFaithGraceMercyRepentance
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about the power of grace, one might reference this quote to illustrate the simplicity of faith.
More from Billy Graham
All quotes →The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and He responds to repentance.
Billy GrahamRead
Don't ever hesitate to take to [God] whatever is on your heart. He already knows it anyway, but He doesn't want you to bear its pain or celebrate its joy alone.
Billy GrahamRead
God will not force himself upon us against our will. If we want his love, we need to believe in him. We need to make a definite, positive act of commitment and surrender to the love of God. No one can do it for us.
Billy GrahamRead
Success in God's eyes is faithfulness to His calling.
Billy GrahamRead
Heaven doesn't make this life less important; it makes it more important.
Billy GrahamRead
Similar quotes
Agency, or the power to choose, was ours as spirit children of our Creator before the world was. It is a gift from God, nearly as precious as life itself. Often, however, agency is misunderstood. While we are free to choose, once we have made those choices, we are tied to the consequence of those choices. We are free to take drugs or not. But once we choose to use a habit-forming drug, we are bound to the consequences of that choice. Addiction surrenders later freedom to choose.
Russell M. NelsonRead
Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort it brings.
Walter LippmannRead
We have a tendency to condemn people who are different from us, to define their sins as paramount and our own sinfulness as being insignificant.
Jimmy CarterRead
The people always have some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. ... This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.
PlatoRead
The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.
Cesare PaveseRead
It is my firm belief that the infinite and uncontrollable fury of nuclear weapons should never be held in the hands of any mere mortal ever again, for any reason.
Mikhail GorbachevRead