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 19th-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