Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves; it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself, and all his own interest, not thinking of them, nor caring for them anymore, and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves
– Henry Scougal –
When you come to your deathbed, you will want something more than an example and a sacrament. Take heed that you are found resting all your weight on Christ’s substitution for you on the cross, and His atoning blood, or it will be better if you had never been born.
– JC Ryle –
This may be counted as our richest gain, to have learned afresh one’s utter impotency so completely that the past axiom of service, ‘I can no more convert a soul than create a star,’ comes to be an awful revelation, so that God alone may be exalted in that day
– Walter Searle –
Spiritual desires belong to a soul made alive to God. As the renewed soul hungers and thirst after righteousness, these holy, inward desires break out into earnest, petition prayer
– EM Bounds –
Nothing will do then but real heart-union with Christ. Christ interceding for us at God’s right hand; Christ known and believed as our Priest, our Physician, our Friend. Christ alone can rob death of its sting and enable us to face sickness without fear. He alone can deliver those who through fear of death are in bondage. I say to everyone who wants advice; be acquainted with Christ. If ever you would have hope and comfort on the bed of sickness, be acquainted with Christ. Seek Christ. Apply to Christ.
– JC Ryle –
from Sickness
Christianity is not a mere correction of some activities in our lives. It is completely beyond a token attendance to a different organization. There is a ‘signing up’ taking place. It is a change in location from one group to another group. ‘Jesus’ is our new location. We change our focus to Him. What motivates us is now Him. Jesus is the all-encompassing driving force of our lives.
– Stephen Manley –
The law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ, by showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveler to the shadow of the great rock in a weary land.
– Charles Spurgeon –
From Christ’s Glorious Achievements
The glory that overflows to Christ from our daily dependence is seen in His becoming to us our daily bread. His flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed (John 6:55), and we must feed upon these continually or die. Eating is not an operation to be performed only once, but it is to be done, throughout life. Likewise, we have to go to Jesus again and again and find sustenance in him as long as life lasts.
– Charles Spurgeon –
from God Loves You, 26
is the very highest energy of which the human mind is capable; praying, that is, with the total concentration of the faculties. The great mass of worldly men and of learned men are absolutely incapable of prayer
– Samuel Taylor Coleridge –