Practice doing with less than usual, not buying even when you can afford it, buying nothing but necessities for a time, and spending time in the shadow of Calvary. How much less you’ll find you need when you see how much Christ gave! Draw up your budget at the cross.
– David Murray in Reset
Until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him – they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.
– John Calvin
I believe that every Christian ought to be joined to some visible Church—that is his plain duty according to the Scriptures. God’s people are not dogs, otherwise they might go about one by one. They are sheep and, therefore, they should be in flocks.
– Charles Spurgeon
– Joel Beeke in Revelation
God has given us instructions about how to live as his creatures, as the finite body-and-soul beings he has made us to be. But some of us are trying to live as if we are infinite. It’s hardly surprising that we are breaking down. – David Murray in Reset
We are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal.
– John Calvin
In worship, we are able to weep before God as the cry of the needy toward the One who can provide.– Philip Nation in Habits for Our Holiness
We must come to the point where what matters most to us is faithfulness to God. Faithfulness to the Word of God and the gospel must be more important to us than pleasure, more important to us than leisure, and more important than life itself. We must value faithfulness to God and his word more than we value the ability to go on living our peaceful, happy lives.
– James M. Hamilton, Jr. on Revelation 6 in Revelation (PTW)
By sleeping, we are relinquishing control and reminding ourselves – at least for a few hours – that God actually doesn’t need us.
Most of us think we are less limited than we actually are. Such underestimating of our limitations and overestimating of our abilities results inevitably in strain, fraying, and eventually breaking.
Brian J. Mikul 