^{He who ceases to be better
ceases to be good
~ Oliver Cromwell}

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

^{Which ‘R’ is most important and why?}

Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue.
~ Philip Yancey, from his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?

~~~~~~~~ Luke 13:1-9 ~~~~~~~~

“I’m not a good person” is a shockingly countercultural thing to say. We all want to think we’re “clean” and that we’ve avoided whatever “big sins” are on our own personal lists. But we trust ourselves too much. We are inconsistent. We don’t even live up to our own stated beliefs. (Just think about all the things you’ve faulted others for.)
~ Brant P. Hansen, radio host, author, The Truth about Us

If you are renewed by grace, and were to meet your old self, I am sure you would be very anxious to get out of his company.
~ Charles H. Spurgeon, late 19^th-century English preacher

Men have never been good, they are not good and they never will be good.
~ Karl Barth, 1886-1968, Swiss Reformed theologian

When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less.
~ C.S. Lewis, professor, author, lay theologian

Correctly understood, repentance is not negative but positive. It means, not self-pity or remorse, but conversion, the re-centering of our whole life upon the Trinity. It is to look, not backward with regret, but forward with hope – not downwards at our own shortcomings, but upwards at God’s love. It is to see, not what we have failed to be, but what by divine grace we can now become; and it is to act upon what we see. To repent is to open our eyes to the light. In this sense, repentance is not just a single act, an initial step, but a continuing state, an attitude of heart and will that needs to be ceaselessly renewed up to the end of life.
~ Kallistos Ware, 1934-2022, bishop & theologian, Eastern Orthodox

^{He who ceases to be better
ceases to be good
~ Oliver Cromwell}

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

^{Which ‘R’ is most important and why?}

Christian character is not an act but a process, not a sudden creation but a development. It grows and bears fruit like a tree; it requires patient care and unwearied cultivation.
~ Henry Ward Beecher (attributed), 1813-1887, clergy, reformer, abolitionist

All growth that is not toward God is growing to decay.
~ George MacDonald, 1824-1905, Scottish author, poet, minister

~~~~~~~~ Luke 13:18-21 ~~~~~~~

The process of spiritual formation in Christ is one of progressively replacing . . . destructive images and ideas with the images and ideas that filled the mind of Jesus himself.
~ Dallas Willard, 1935-2013, philosopher, spiritual formationist

In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth, or to step back into safety. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.
~ Abraham Maslow, 1908-1970, American psychologist

To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance into a higher life. It is a death for the sake of life, which leaves behind all that we can know or treasure as life, as thought, as experience, as joy, as being.
~ Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation (New Directions, 2007).

Awe encourages us to think of God as a transcendent presence: someone outside and beyond our own small concerns and our own vulnerable lives. Awe opens us up to the possibility of living always on the brink of mystery. Awe helps us to be truly alive, fully open to new possibilities we had not envisaged before.
~ James Houston, 1922- , from The Transforming Friendship, academic and author

If you’re bored, one thing is for sure: You’re not following in the footsteps of Christ.
~ Mark Batterson, 1969- , pastor and author