Maturity

Growing in Grace – JC Ryle

Growing in Grace – JC Ryle

When I speak of a person growing in grace, I mean simply this —that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, and his spiritual mindedness more marked.

– JC Ryle –

Maturity Takes Time – DL Moody

Maturity Takes Time – DL Moody

Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18

Although you may be born again, it will require time to become a full-grown Christian. Justification is instantaneous, but sanctification is a lifework. We are to grow in wisdom. We are to add grace to grace. A tree may be perfect in its first year of growth, but it has not attained its maturity. So with the Christian: he may be a true child of God, but not a matured Christian.

– DL Moody –
from Day by Day with DL Moody

The Purity of Gold – Amy Carmichael

The goldsmith never leaves his crucible once it has entered the fire. He periodically lifts out the gold, lets it cool, rubs it between his fingers, and if not satisfied puts it back … This time he blows the fire hotter than it was before, and each time he puts the gold back into the crucible, the heat of the fire is increased, “It could not bear it so hot at first, but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it then helps it now.” “How do you know when the gold is purified?” we asked, and he answered, “When I can see my face in it, then it is pure.”

– Amy Carmichael –
from Gold Cord

How Long Do You Pray? – Wesley L. Duewel

Many Christians are so spiritually frail, sickly, and lacking in spiritual vitality that they cannot stick to prayer for more than a few minutes at a time.

– Wesley L. Duewel –

Pressed Into Living a Christ-life Outpoured – Lettie Cowman

Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength;
Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul,
Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.
Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.

– Lettie Cowman –