Quotes about Redemption

Assurance never comes from looking at ourselves. It only comes as a consequence of looking to Christ.

It is said that resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die. There is no room for such a waste of energy in the service of God.

All are making haste towards hell, until by conviction, Christ brings them to a halt, and then, by conversion, turns their hearts and lives sincerely to himself.

Thou has heard the words of Christ. . . . Dost thou weep, when I have thee, Poor soul, what aileth thee? Dost thou weep, when I have wept so much? Be of good cheer ; thy wounds are saving, and not deadly. It is I that have made them, who mean thee no hurt : though I let out thy blood, I will not let out thy life (628).

How will it fill our souls with perpetual joy, to think that in the streams of this blood we have swum through the violence of the world, the snares of Satan, the seductions of flesh, the curse of the law, the wrath of an offended God, the accusations of a guilty conscience, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and are arrived safely at the presence of God!

O]ur applications are quicker about our sufferings, than our sins(77)[.]

O blessed be the grace that makes advantages of my corruptions, even to contradict and kill themselves (648).

It has been acceptable for some time in America to remain wound identified (that is, using one's victimhood as one's identity, one's ticket to sympathy, and one's excuse for not serving), instead of using the wound to redeem the world, as we see in Jesus and many people who turn their wounds into sacred wounds that liberate both themselves and others.

God does not love us if we change, God loves us so that we can change.

God seems to be about turning our loves around and using them toward the great love that is their true object.

The Risen Christ is the standing icon of humanity in its final and full destiny. He is the pledge and guarantee of what God will do with all of our crucifixions. At last, we can meaningfully live with hope. It is no longer an absurd or tragic universe. Our hurts now become the home for our greatest hopes.

The great and merciful surprise is that we come to God not by doing it right but by doing it wrong!