“It is our duty to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1); to be “growing in grace” every day (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18); to be “renewing our inward man day by day: (2 Cor. 4:16). Now, this cannot be done without the daily mortifying of sin. Sin sets its strength against every act of holiness and against every degree we grow to. Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who does not kill sin in his way takes no steps toward his journey’s end. He who finds not opposition from it, and who sets not himself in every particular to its mortification, is at peace with it, not dying to it.”

John Owen

Overcoming Sin and Temptation page 55

“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on, anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?”

Jonathan Edwards

“People value religion on the basis of cost, and they don’t value the cheapest ones the most. Religions that ask nothing get nothing. You’ve got a choice: you can be a church or a country club. If you’re going to be a church, you’d better offer religion… If you’re not, you’d better build a golf course, because you’re not going to get away with being a country club with no golf course.”

Rodney Stark

A double take on early Christianity: an interview

Do not be mistaken. God never gave us faith to play with. It is a sword, but it was not made for presentation on a gala day, nor to be worn on state occasions only, nor to be exhibited upon a parade ground. It is a sword that was meant to cut and wound and slay; and he that has it girt about him may expect, between here and heaven, that he shall know what battle means. Faith is a sound sea-going vessel, and was not meant to lie in dock and perish of dry rot. To whom God has given faith, it is as though one gave a lantern to his friend because he expected it to be dark on his way home. The very gift of faith is a hint to you that you will want it; that at certain points and places you will especially require it, and that, at all points, and in every place, you will really need it. You cannot live without faith: for, again and again we are told-”the just shall live by faith.” Believing is our living, and we, therefore, need it always. If God gives you great faith, you must expect great trials; for, in proportion as your faith shall grow, you will have to do more, and endure more. Little boats may keep close to shore, as becomes little boats; but if God makes you a great vessel, and loads you with a rich freight, he means that you should know what great billows are, and should feel their fury till you see “his wonders in the deep.” That God, who has made nothing in vain, especially makes nothing in the spiritual kingdom in vain; and if he makes faith, it is with the design that it should be used to the utmost and exercised to the full.

Expect trial, also, because trial is the very element of faith. Faith is a salamander that lives in the fire, a star which moves in a lofty sphere, a diamond which bores its way through the rock. Faith without trial is like a diamond uncut, the brilliance of which has never been seen. Untried faith is such little faith that some have thought it no faith at all. What a fish would be without water, or a bird without air, would be faith without trial. If you have faith, you may surely expect that your faith will be tested: the great Keeper of the treasures admits no coin to his coffers without testing. It is so in the nature of faith, and so in the order of its living: it thrives not, save in such weather as might seem to threaten its death.

Taken from the sermon

“The Trial of Your Faith”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Man must not, and cannot start from his reason as an independent
criterion or rule of judgment and then reason to God. True
knowledge has its foundation in the voluntary self-revelation of
God, and this self-revelation is found only in the Scriptures: ‘speculation
about God, independently of Scripture is excluded. Natural
theology therefore is also excluded. . . Faith in the self-attesting
Christ is the beginning, not the conclusion of wisdom.”
Cornelius Van Til

“Many are so far from being better for their knowledge, that they are worse: ‘thy knowledge hath perverted thee’ (Isa. 47:10). The knowledge of most people makes them more cunning in sin; these have little cause to glory in their knowledge. Absalom might boast of the hair of his head, but that hanged him; so these may boast of the knowledge of their head, but it will destroy them.”

Thomas Watson

The Godly Man’s Picture

“God is not looking for people to work for Him, so much as he is looking for people who will let him work for them. The gospel is not a help-wanted ad. Neither is it a call to Christian service. On the contrary, the gospel commands us to give up and hang a help wanted sign (this is the basic meaning of prayer). Then the gospel promises that God will work for us if we do. He will not surrender the glory of being the Giver.”

John Piper

Proud men are much insensible of the want of frequent and fervent prayer unto God. Begging is the poor man’s trade: the humble soul perceives the need of it; he finds as constant need of God, as of air, or bread, or life itself. And he knows that the exercise of our desires and faith, and the expression by prayer of our dependence upon God, is the way appointed for our supply. But the proud are full-stomached, and think this earnest, frequent praying is but hypocritical, needless work, and they cannot make a trade of begging, and therefore they are sent away empty handed.

Richard Baxter

A Christian Director