Theologians

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"True contemplation (of the cross) is that in which the heart is crushed and the conscience smitten.  You must be overwhelmed by the frightful wrath of God who so hated sin that he spared not his only begotten Son.  What can the siner expect if the beloved Son was so afflicted?  It must be an inexpressible and unendurable yearning that causes God's Son himself so to suffer.  Ponder this and you will tremble, and the more you ponder, the deeper you will tremble.

"Take this to heart and doubt not that you are the one who killed Christ.  Your sins certainly did, and when you see the nanils driven through his hands, be sure that you are pounding, and when the thorns pierce his brow, know that they are your evil thoughts.  Consider that if one thorn pierced Christ you deserve on hundred thousand." (Martin Luther's Easter Book)

...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? (Hebrews 12:2-3)

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What enchants thee into such folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayest sit on a throne?  LIve not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is conferred upon thee.  Rest no longer satistfied with thy dwarfish attainments but press forward to things more sublime and heavenly.  Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life - Upward to heaven!

In the midst of a trial, a maelstrom of emotions, it is so difficult to see the next possibility.  There have been many points in my life that I just didn't know what to do next.  Sometimes - the object is just to get...

through...

this...

day.

But time passes and life goes on.  Sometimes things are set right (or at least better), sometimes not.  A grief, an illness, a disappointment.  but somehow all these things work to the glory of God.

And all things work together for the good of those who love Christ.  Keep the eye on that ball.

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From "A Defense of Calvinism" by Charles Spurgeon

Sometimes, when I see some of the worst characters in the street, I feel as if my heart must burst forth in tears of gratitude that God has never let me act as they have done! I have thought, if God had left me alone, and had not touched me by His grace, what a great sinner I should have been! I should have run to the utmost lengths of sin, dived into the very depths of evil, nor should I have stopped at any vice or folly, if God had not restrained me. I feel that I should have been a very king of sinners, if God had let me alone. I cannot understand the reason why I am saved, except upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a partaker of Divine grace. If I am not at this moment without Christ, it is only because Christ Jesus would have His will with me, and that will was that I should be with Him where He is, and should share His glory. I can put the crown nowhere but upon the head of Him whose mighty grace has saved me from going down into the pit. Looking back on my past life, I can see that the dawning of it all was of God; of God effectively. I took no torch with which to light the sun, but the sun enlightened me. I did not commence my spiritual life—no, I rather kicked, and struggled against the things of the Spirit: when He drew me, for a time I did not run after Him: there was a natural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good.

The "T" of Tulip...

Total depravity of man.

It is not that each person is as utterly evil as they could be, it is that each person is born with a sin nature that touches every part of their being. With totality, it is impossible for them to reach out to God, unless the Spirit touches them first. Unless they are called, nobody seeks God.

  • Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
  • Romans 3:10-11 - as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
  • Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
  • Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
  • (from) Genesis 8:21 - for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth...

Westminster Confession of Faith:

Q. 25. Wherein consisteth the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consisteth in the guilt of Adam's first sin,[93] the want of that righteousness wherein he was created, and the corruption of his nature, whereby he is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite unto all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and that continually;[94] which is commonly called original sin, and from which do proceed all actual transgressions.[95]

I (Ellen) can say that I know that without God speaking to me, I would not run after Him.