Thomas Brooks

"a soul truly gracious can say : In having nothing I have all things, because I have Christ; having therefore all things in him, I seek no other reward, for he is the universal reward.  Such a soul can say : Nothing is sweet to me without the enjoyment of Christ in it; honours, nor riches, nor the smiles of creatures, are not sweet to me no farther than I see Christ, and taste Christ in them."

Mo Udall

"If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong."

Samuel Chadwick

"If successful, don't crow; if defeated don't croak."

E.M. Bounds

"They [Great leaders of the Bible] were not leaders because of brilliancy of thought, because they were exhaustless in resources, because of their magnificent culture or native endowment, but because, by the power of prayer, they could command the power of God."

J. Oswald Sanders

"It is not the prayer that moves people, but the God to whom we pray."

Hudson Taylor

"It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone."

J. Oswald Sanders

Both our Lord and His bondslave Paul made it clear that true prayer is not a dreamy reverie. "All vital praying makes a drain on a man's vitality.  True intercession is a sacrifice, a bleeding sacrifice," wrote J. H. Jowett.  Jesus performed miracles without a sign of outward strain, but "he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears" (Hebrews 5:7)

J. Oswald Sanders

"Try to explain exactly how prayer works and you will find quickly run against some very difficult puzzles.  But people who are skeptical of prayer's validity and power are usually those who do not practice it seriously or fail to obey when God reveals His will.  We cannot learn about prayer except by praying.  No philosophy has ever taught a soul to pray.  The intellectual problems associated with prayer are met in the joy of answered prayer and closer fellowship with God."

C.J. Vaughan

"If I wished to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers.  I know nothing to compare with this topic for its sorrowful self-confessions."

Richard Baxter

“Consider well of the office, the bloodshed, and the holy life of Christ — His office is to expiate sin, and to destroy it. His blood was shed for it: his life condemned it. Love Christ, and thou wilt hate that which caused his death. Love him, and thou will be made more like him.”

Tim Keller

“In fear-based repentance, we don’t learn to hate the sin for itself, and it doesn’t lose its attractive power. We learn only to refrain from it for our own sake. But when we rejoice over God’s sacrificial, suffering love for us – seeing what it cost him to save us from sin – we learn to hate the sin for what it is. We see what the sin cost God. What most assures us of God’s unconditional love (Jesus’s costly death) is what most convicts us of the evil of sin. Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.”

William Blake

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."

Albert Camus

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."

Oscar Wilde

"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."

Robert Orben

"Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch."

Cornelius Plantinga

“To speak of sin by itself, to speak of it apart from the realities of creation and grace, is to forget the resolve of God. God wants shalom and will pay any price to get it back. Human sin is stubborn, but not as stubborn as the grace of God and not half so persistent, not half so ready to suffer to win its way. Moreover, to speak of sin by itself is to misunderstand its nature: sin is only a parasite, a vandal, a spoiler. Sinful life is a partly depressing, partly ludicrous caricature of genuine human life. To concentrate on our rebellion, defection and folly — to say to the world, ‘I have some bad news and I have some bad news’ — is to forget that the center of the Christian religion is not our sin but our Savior.  To speak of sin without grace is to minimize the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, and the hope of shalom.”

Carl Sagan

"Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves."

Charles Spurgeon

“One thing is past all question; we shall bring our Lord most glory if we get from Him much grace.”

Samuel Brengle

"If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him, and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me. But I am so concerned that He uses me and that it is not of me the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside; it becomes only old iron. O that I may never lose sight of this."

Unknown Author

Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,
Have ofttimes no connection.  Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men:
Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own.
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much,
Wisdom is humble, that he knows no more.

C.S. Lewis

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less."

Charles Spurgeon

“When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle’s wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus’ bosom.”

Tim Keller

"In many ways, adversity is not as spiritually dangerous as prosperity.  In adversity we are shown our true weakness and need for God.  In adversity, we come to see the things our hearts trust rather than God.  In prosperity, we are not forced to see any of this."

Tim Keller

"Anger, fear, discouragement come because of 'idols' - good things have become things we feel (at an emotional level) will really save us and give us worth.  It is only when these things are threatened or removed that we turn and find our safety and significance in the Lord.  That makes us stable and deep."

Thomas Brooks

"This will be a sweet help against them [wandering thoughts the soul is troubled with]: for the soul to be resolute in waiting on God, whether it be troubled with vain thoughts or not; to say, Well I will pray still, and hear still, and meditate still, and keep fellowship with the saints still.  Many precious souls can say from experience, that when their souls have been peremptory in their waiting on God, that Satan hath left them, and hath not been so busy in vexing their souls with vain thoughts.  When Satan perceives that all those trifling vain thoughts that he casts into the soul do but vex the soul into greater diligence, carefulness, watchfulness, and peremptoriness in holy and heavenly services, and that the soul loses nothing of his zeal, piety, and devotion, but doubles his care, diligence, and earnestness, he often ceases to interpose his trifles and vain thoughts, as he ceased to tempt Christ, when Christ was peremptory in resisting his temptations."

Thomas Brooks

"Thy soul is a jewel more worth than heaven and earth.  The loss of thy soul is incomparable, irreparable, and irrecoverable; if that be lost, and thou art undone for ever.  Is it madness and folly in a man to kill himself for company, and is it not greater madness or folly to break the neck of thy soul, and to damn it for company?  Suspect that way wherein thou seest multitudes to walk; the multitude being a stream that thou must row hard against, or thou wilt be carried into that gulf out of which angels cannot deliver thee.  Is it not better to walk in a straight way alone, than to wander into crooked ways with company?  Sure it is better to go to heaven alone than to hell with company."

Thomas Brooks

"They that walk with the most shall perish with the most.  They that do as the most shall ere long suffer with the most.  They that live as the most, must die with the most, and to hell with the most."

David Powlison

“What one thing about God in Christ speaks directly into today’s trouble? … Just as we don’t change all at once, so we don’t swallow all of truth in one gulp. We are simple people. You can’t remember ten things at once. Invariably, if you could remember just ONE true thing in the moment of trial, you’d be different. Bible “verses” aren’t magic. But God’s words are revelations of God from God for our redemption. When you actually remember God, you do not sin. The only way we ever sin is by suppressing God, by forgetting, by tuning out his voice, switching channels, and listening to other voices. When you actually remember, you actually change. In fact, remembering is the first change.”

Annie Johnson Flint

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,
Where in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?
Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene
Till the night of your fear is gone;
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,
When He says to your soul, "Go on."...

In the morning watch, 'neath the lifted cloud,
You shall see but the Lord alone,
When He leads you on from the place of the sea
To a land that you have not known;
And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,
You shall no more be afraid;
You shall sing His praise in a better place,
A place that His hand has made.

Amy Carmichael

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star:
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent.
Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned:
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yes, as the master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound? No scar?

A.W. Tozer

"A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of [circumstances]....There was hardly a great leader from Paul to the present day but was drafted by the Holy Spirit for the task, and commissioned by the Lord to fill a position he had little heart for....The man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader.  The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God's heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing and altogether ready to follow when the Spirit chooses another to lead."

Li Hung Chang

"There are only three kinds of people - those who are immovable, those who are movable, and those who move them!"

Katharina von Schlegel

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

John Newton

Though troubles assail us and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail us and foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
The promise assures us, “The Lord will provide.”

The birds, without garner or storehouse, are fed;
From them let us learn to trust God for our bread.
His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied
So long as ’tis written, “The Lord will provide.”

When Satan assails us to stop up our path,
And courage all fails us, we triumph by faith.
He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried,
This heart cheering promise, “The Lord will provide.”

He tells us we’re weak, our hope is in vain,
The good that we seek we never shall obtain,
But when such suggestions, our graces have tried,
This answers all questions, “The Lord will provide.”

No strength of our own and no goodness we claim;
Yet, since we have known of the Savior’s great Name,
In this our strong tower for safety we hide:
The Lord is our power, “The Lord will provide.”

When life sinks apace, and death is in view,
The word of His grace shall comfort us through,
Not fearing or doubting, with Christ on our side,
We hope to die shouting, “The Lord will provide.”

Thomas Brooks

"I will only instance in some, as that, 'That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life' (1 Peter 2:9, Luke 1: 74,75).  Christ hath freed you from all your enemies, from the curse of the law, the predominant damnatory power of sin, the wrath of God, the sting of death, and the torments of hell; but what is the end and design of Christ in doing these great and marvellous things for his people?  It is not that we should throw off duties of righteousness and holiness, but that their hearts may be more free and sweet in all holy duties and heavenly services."

Thomas Brooks

"It is a sad and dangerous thing to have two eyes to behold our dignity and privileges, and not one to see our duties and services.  I should look with one eye upon the choice and excellent things that Christ hath done for me, to raise up my heart to love Christ with the purest love, and to joy in Christ with the strongest joy, and to lift up Christ above all, who hat made himself to be my all; and I should look with the other eye upon the services and duties that the Scriptures require of those for whom Christ hath done such blessed things"

Samuel Brengle

"It is not won by promotion, but by many prayers and tears.  It is attained by confession of sin, and much heart searching and humbling before God; by self-surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every idol, a bold uncomplaining embrace of the cross, and by an eternal, unfaltering looking unto Jesus crucified.  It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves, but like Paul, by counting those things that are gain to us as loss for Christ. This is a great price, but it must be paid by the leader who would not be merely a nominal but a real spiritual leader of men, a leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven, on earth, and in hell."

Samuel Brengle

"One of the outstanding ironies of history is the utter disregard of ranks and titles in the final judgments men pass on each other.  The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart."

Bishop Stephen Neill

"I am inclined to think that ambition in any ordinary sense of the term is nearly always sinful in ordinary men.  I am certain that in the Christian it is always sinful, and that it is most inexcusable of all in the ordained minister."

A.W. Pink

"The apprehension of God's infinite knowledge should fill the Christian with adoration.  The whole of my life stood open to His view from the beginning.  He foresaw my every fall, my every sin, my every backsliding; yet nevertheless, fixed His heart upon me.  Oh, how the realization of this should bow me in wonder and worship before Him!"

Unknown Author

"No man is ever fully accepted until he has, first of all, been utterly rejected."

J. Oswald Sanders

"Because the leader must always be ahead of his followers, he lives with loneliness.  Though he may be friendly, there are areas of life where he must walk alone."

A.W. Tozer

"Most of the world's greatest souls have been lonely.  Loneliness seems to be the price a saint must pay for his saintliness."

Jerry Bridges

"The same grace that brings salvation teaches us to renounce ungodly living.  We cannot receive half of God's grace.  If we have experienced it at all, we will experience not only forgiveness of our sins but also freedom from sin's dominion."

Unknown Author

"even our tears of repentance must be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ."

Stephen Charnock

"It is less injury to Him to deny His being than to deny the purity of it; the one makes Him no God, the other a deformed, unlovely, and detestable God...he that saith God is not holy speaks much worse than he that saith there is no God at all."

Tim Keller

"the reason we have idols, is because down deep we don't trust God.  The serpent suggested that we couldn't trust God, and that is what we have believed ever since.  The real reason we don't worship him fully is because we are afraid that, if we give ourselves to him utterly and make him the supreme desire of our hearts, he will let us down."

George Mueller

"I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.  Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here.  Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be.  When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is."

Tim Keller

"This is always the main way we get renewal in our lives.  God will not help you out of your obvious, visible problems (money problems, relationship problems, etc.) until you see the idols that we are worshiping right beside the Lord.  They have to be removed first....We are not to add anything to Jesus Christ as a requirement for being happy.  We are not to use God to get what we really want, but we are to see and make God that which we really want."

Unknown Author

The Will of God will never take you
Where the Grace of God cannot keep you
Where the Arms of God cannot support you
Where the Riches of God cannot support your needs
Where the Power of God cannot endow you.


The Will of God will never take you
Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you
Where the Wisdom of God cannot teach you
Where the Army of God cannot protect you
Where the Hands of God cannot mold you.

The Will of God will never take you
Where the Love of God cannot enfold you
Where the Mercies of God cannot sustain you
Where the Peace of God cannot calm your fears
Where the Authority of God cannot overrule you.

The Will of God will never take you
Where the Comfort of God cannot dry your tears
Where the Word of God cannot feed you
Where the Miracles of God cannot be done for you
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Augustine

"GREAT art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no end. And man, being a part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee, man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin, even the witness that Thou 'resistest the proud,' -- yet man, this part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee. Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee? Lord, teach me to know and understand which of these should be first, to call on Thee, or to praise Thee; and likewise to know Thee, or to call upon Thee. But who is there that calls upon Thee without knowing Thee? For he that knows Thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art. Or perhaps we call on Thee that we may know Thee. 'But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed ? or how shall they believe without a preacher?' And those who seek the Lord shall praise Him. For those who seek shall find Him, and those who find Him shall praise Him. Let me seek Thee, Lord, in calling on Thee, and call on Thee in believing in Thee; for Thou hast been preached unto us. O Lord, my faith calls on Thee,--that faith which Thou hast imparted to me, which Thou hast breathed into me through the incarnation of Thy Son, through the ministry of Thy preacher."

Jerry Bridges

"our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered.  We are more concerned about our own 'victory' over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God.  We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God...God wants us to walk in obedience - not victory.  Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there is a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin.  Until we face this attitude and deal with it, we will not consistently walk in holiness."

Thomas Brooks

"It is not the hearing of truth, nor the knowing of truth, nor the commending of truth, nor the talking of truth, but the indwelling of truth in your souls, that will keep your judgments chaste and sound, in the midst of all those glittering errors that betray many souls into his hands, that can easily 'transform himself into an angel of light' (2 Cor 11:14), that he may draw others to lie in chains of darkness with him for ever."

Thomas Brooks

"There are no men on earth so fenced against error as those are that receive the truth in the love of it.  Such souls are not 'easily tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, wherein they lie in wait to deceive' (Eph. 4:14).  It is not he that receives most of the truth unto his head, but he that receives most of the truth affectionately into his heart, that shall enjoy the happiness of having his judgement sound and clear, when others shall be deluded and deceived by them, who make it their business to infect the judgments and to undo the souls of men."

Edmund Burke

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing"

Edward Welch

"The psalmist invite you into perilous situations with them.  They have real questions about whether or not they will be alive tomorrow.  Their situations are probably more extreme than our own, but the psalmists rarely mention the specifics because they don't want the details of their personal stories to bar us from entering in with our own.  Instead, they invite us to participate whenever possible.  They are choirmasters who want us to join them in their chorus to the Lord."

W.S. Plumer

"We never see sin aright until we see it as against God....All sin is against God in the sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught....Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, 'I have sinned'; but the returning prodigal said, ' I have sinned against heaven and before thee'; and David said, 'Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned.'"

Paul Miller

“Power in prayer comes from being in touch with your weakness.  To teach us how to pray, Jesus told stories of weak people who knew they couldn’t do life on their own. The persistent widow and the friend at midnight get access, not because they are strong, but because they are desperate.  Learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life.”

Thomas Brooks

"There is not a wicked man in the world that is set up with Lucifer, as high as heaven, but shall with Lucifer be brought down low as hell.  Canst thou think seriously of this, O soul, and not say, O Lord, I humbly crave that thou wilt let me be little in this world, that I may be great in another world; and low here, that I may be high for ever hereafter.  Let me be low, and feed low, and live low, so I may live with thee for ever; let me now be clothed with rags, so thou wilt clothe me at last with thy robes; let me now be set upon a dunghill, so I may at last be advanced to sit with thee upon thy throne.  Lord make me rather gracious than great, inwardly holy than outwardly happy, and rather turn me into my first nothing, yea, make me worse than nothing, rather than set me up for a time, that thou mayest bring me low for ever."

Thomas Brooks

"It is not what men enjoy, but the principle from whence it comes, that makes men happy."

Augustine

"Many are miserable by loving hurtful things, but they are more miserable by having them."

Thomas Brooks

"there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction; and this appears as clear as the sun, by the severe dealing of God the Father with his beloved Son, who let all the vials of his fiercest wrath upon him, and that for the least sin as well as for the greatest."

Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Henry Scougal

"the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love."

Blaise Pascal

“All men seek happiness, This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

Abraham Lincoln

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."

C.S. Lewis

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

John Piper

“The astonishing thing is that people can become religious without being converted. That is, they join churches and start reading the Bible and doing religious things with no change in the foundation of their happiness: It is still themselves. They are the ground of their joy.”

Will Rogers

“So live that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip”

Thomas Watson

"It is a vain thing for me, says the sinner, to set upon repentance; my sins are of that magnitude that there is no hope for me"..."Our sins are mountains, and how shall these ever be cast into the sea? Where unbelief represents sin in its bloody colours and God in his judge's robes, the soul would sooner fly from him than to him. This is dangerous. Other sins need mercy, but despair rejects mercy"..."Why should we entertain such hard thoughts of God? He has bowels of love to repenting sinners (Joel 2:13)"..."God's anger is not so hot but mercy can cool it, nor so sharp but mercy can sweeten it. God counts his mercy his glory (Exod. 33:18-19)

Thomas Watson

"Hypocrites grieve only for the bitter consequence of sin"..."Godly sorrow, however, is chiefly for the trespass against God, so that even if there were no conscience to smite, no devil to accuse, no hell to punish, yet the soul would still be grieved because of the prejudice done to God. 'My sin is ever before me' (Psalm 51: 3); David does not say, The sword threatened is ever before me, but 'my sin'. O that I should offend so good a God, that I should grieve my Comforter! This breaks my heart!"

Thomas Watson

"Sorrow for sin must surpass worldly sorrow. We must grieve more for offending God than for the loss of dear relations"..."We are to find as much bitterness in weeping for sin as ever we found sweetness in committing it"..."The Christian has arrived at a sufficient measure of sorrow when the love of sin is purged out."

Thomas Brooks

"it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian."

Thomas Brooks

"Know that it is not knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man, but the doing man, that at last will be found the happiest man. 'if you know these things, blessed and happy are you if you do them.' (John 13:17)"

Thomas Brooks

"That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy-seat, and that keeps Christ and the soul asunder, or that shall render the soul unfit for the communion of saints, is a sinful sorrow."

John Piper

"Humility agrees and is glad that everything we have is a free gift of God, and that this severs the root of boasting in our distinctives. Whatever talents, whatever intelligence, whatever skills, whatever gifts, whatever looks, whatever pedigree, whatever possessions, whatever wit, whatever influence you have, put away all pride because it is a gift, and put away all despair because it is a gift from God."