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Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.

John Owen, 1656

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We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because he holds tightly to us.

R.C. Sproul

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Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.

John Calvin

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God never meant the Christian life to be complicated, and he never deceives or confuses us. His demands are actually rather straightforward, as the Preacher says at the end of Ecclesiastes: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Eccles. 12.13-14). We are the ones who make the Christian life problematic and complex, not God. The “secret” of the true spiritual life is always simple: will you trust and obey God?

Mark Jones

Faith, Hope, Love: 
The Christ-Centered Way to Grow in Grace

A Quote

Therefore, in the midst of the bitterness of tribulations, we should recognize the kindness and mercy of our Father toward us. For even in such tribulations, He doesn't cease to promote our salvation. Indeed, He afflicts us not to ruin or destroy us, but instead to deliver us from the condemnation of the world. This awareness leads us to what Scripture teaches in another place: "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights" (Prov. 3.11-12).

When we discern our Father's rod of discipline in our lives, shouldn't we present ourselves to Him as obedient and teachable sons rather than as obstinate and hopeless men who've become hardened in wrongdoing?

John Calvin

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Adversity is either the rod with which He corrects our sins, or the test of our faith and patience.

John Calvin

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No one, then, has properly denied himself except the one who has entirely abandoned himself to the Lord so that every aspect of his life will be governed by His will. The person thus composed in soul will neither judge himself to be miserable, nor will he spitefully complain against God for his lot in life, come what may.

John Calvin

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It's remarkable, however, that many who brag about being a Christian are possessed by dread rather than longing for death. And so they tremble at the very mention of death, as if it were an ominous and disastrous thing. It is, of course, ordinary that our natural senses should react to the news of our own undoing. But it's entirely inappropriate that Christians should lack within themselves the light of piety that conquers and suppresses fear by a stronger feeling of consolation. If we remember that this unstable, vicious, corruptible, perishable, decaying, and rotten tabernacle of our flesh will be undone in order to be subsequently renewed in constant, perfect, incorruptible, and - in sum - heavenly glory, then faith will compel us to fervently desire that very death which nature dreads. If we remember that through death we are recalled from exile to dwell at home - indeed, our heavenly home - what can this thought produce but comfort? 

John Calvin

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In whatever trouble comes to us, we should always set our eyes on God's purpose to train us to think little of this present life and inspire us to think more about the future life. For God knows well that we are greatly inclined to love this world by natural instinct. Thus, He uses the best means to draw us back and shake us from our slumber, so that we don't become entirely stuck in the mire of our love for this world.

John Calvin

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Paul fittingly describes the war that believers wage against natural feelings of anguish in their pursuit of endurance and perseverance: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4:8-9). We see that bearing the cross with endurance doesn't mean that a person is absolutely stupefied or robbed of every feeling of sorrow. The Stoics of old foolishly idealized such a person — one who, having stripped himself of all humanity, feels the same whether he encounters adversity or prosperity, sorrow or success; or rather one who feels nothing — like a stone. And what did the Stoics achieve by such sublime wisdom? They painted a portrait of endurance that has never been found, nor can exist, among men. Indeed, while they wished to represent endurance accurately and precisely, they deprived humankind of the power of genuine endurance.

John Calvin

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Such nominal Christians demonstrate their knowledge of Christ to be false and offensive no matter how eloquently and loudly they talk about the Gospel. For true doctrine is not a matter of the tongue, but of life; neither is Christian doctrine grasped only by the intellect and memory, as truth is grasped in other fields of study. Rather, doctrine is rightfully received when it takes possession of the entire soul and finds a dwelling place and shelter in the most intimate affections of the heart. So let such people stop lying, or let them prove themselves worthy disciples of Christ, their teacher.

John Calvin

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For those whom the Lord has chosen and condescended to welcome into fellowship with Him should prepare themselves for a life that is hard, laborious, troubled, and full of many and various kinds of evil. For it's the will of their heavenly Father to test them in this way so that He might prove them by trials. Having begun this way with Christ, His only-begotten Son, He continues similarly with all His children.

John Calvin

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Fathers, your job is to keep everyone else’s tank full, so you’d better be a refinery.

Michael Bull

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Do not believe in miracles - rely on them.

Anonymous

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The point of preaching is not that people would learn about the Bible. The point of preaching is that people would be confronted with the Gospel.

Carl Trueman

Keller on Prayer

I just read this in Tim Keller’s Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.

As we have already noted several times, the “inner life with God” here does not mean only our private, individual prayer life. Life with God is cultivated by both public and private worship and prayer. John Calvin and the other Reformers were clear that public prayer and devotion in the gathered Christian assembly was to be the formative foundation that taught us how to pray and behave toward God privately. Michael Horton, describing Calvin’s understanding of the Christian life, writes: “The public ministry shapes private devotion, not vice versa.” 

A Prayer

Gracious and holy Father,

Give me 

    wisdom to perceive you,

    intelligence to fathom you,

    patience to wait for you,

    eyes to behold you,

    a heart to meditate upon you, and

    a life to proclaim you,

through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

St. Benedict 

Sloppy, Meandering Prayers

The gospel, God’s free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don’t have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to—our helplessness—is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless. We can’t do life on our own.

Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks as the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers.

Paul Miller

A Praying Life:
Connecting With God In A Distracting World

Longing with Hope

Every time you acknowledge your sin, you long for Jesus.  But you’re not longing for the final sacrifice, because it’s already been made. No, you and I long for final deliverance. We long for that moment when we’ll be taken to the place where sin will be no more. We long to see Jesus, to be with him, and to be like him. Isn’t it comforting to know that that final deliverance has been written into the story as well? It is our guaranteed future. And so we long with hope.

Paul David Tripp

A Door to God

I was scrubbing the kitchen floor depressed about the lack of progress in the lives of people I was discipling. As I continued to scrub, I realized I had the same problems, which made me even more depressed.

Then it dawned on me that my inability, my mini-depression, was my door to God.

In fact, God wanted me depressed about myself and encouraged about his Son.

Paul Miller