“The proverb has it that Hunger the best cook. The Law makes afflicted consciences hungry for Christ. Christ tastes good to them. Hungry hearts appreciated Christ. Thirsty souls are what Christ wants. He invites them; Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Christ’s benefits are so precious that He will disperse them only to those who need them and really desire them.”
Martin Luther
For more Martin Luther quotes see these posts:
“Persons that are well affected to religion, that receive instructions of piety with pleasure and satisfaction, often wonder how it comes to pass that they make no greater progress in that religion which they so admire.
Now, the reason is this. It is because religion lives only in their head, but something else has possession of their hearts; and therefore, they continue year to year mere admirers of piety without ever coming up to the reality and perfection of its precepts.”
William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
I posted earlier this month about having an open heart. This quote reminds me that I also need to open my heart to Jesus, to allow Him to change the way I think and the way I behave. True piety isn’t an intellectual exercise, it is directing our entire life to God, allowing Him to truly be our Lord.
For more posts about piety see:
“Whenever remission of sins is freely proclaimed, people misinterpret it according to Romans 3:8, “Let us do evil, that good may come.” As soon as people hear that we are not justified by the Law, they reason maliciously: “Why, then let us reject the Law. If grace abounds, where sin abounds, let us abound in sin, that grace may all the more abound.” People who reason thus are reckless. They make sport of the Scriptures and slander the sayings of the Holy Ghost.
However, there are others who are not malicious, only weak, who may take offense when told that Law and good works are unnecessary for salvation. These must be instructed as to why good works do not justify, and from what motives good works must be done. Good works are not the cause, but the fruit of righteousness. When we have become righteous, then first are we able and willing to do good. The tree makes the apple; the apple does not make the tree.”
Source: Galatians commentary
“Paul explains what constitutes true Christian righteousness. True Christian righteousness is the righteousness of Christ who lives in us. We must look away from our own person. Christ and my conscience must become one, so that I can see nothing else but Christ crucified and raised from the dead for me. If I keep on looking at myself, I am gone.
If we lose sight of Christ and begin to consider our past, we simply go to pieces. We must turn our eyes to the brazen serpent, Christ crucified, and believe with all our heart that He is our righteousness and our life. For Christ, on whom our eyes are fixed, in whom we live, who lives in us, is Lord over Law, sin, death, and all evil.”
Source: Galatians commentary
“Divinity is in its omniscience and omnipotence like a wheel, a circle, a whole, that can neither be understood, nor divided, nor begun nor ended.”
Hildegard of Bingen
For more about the omnipotence of God see:
St. John Chrysostom on the Attributes of God
“Don’t take the holiness of God lightly, for it is the very essence of His character.”
Billy Graham
For more about the holiness of God see:
The Holiness of God–R.C. Sproul–Book Review
“The attributes of God, though intelligible to us on their surface yet, for the very reason that they are infinite, transcend our comprehension, when they are dwelt upon, when they are followed out, and can only be received by faith.”
John Henry Newman
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“I say that man without the grace of God nonetheless remains the general omnipotence of God who effects, and moves and impels all things in a necessary infallible course; but the effect of man’s being carried along is nothing –that is, avails nothing in God’s signt nor is reckoned to be anything but sin.”
Martin Luther
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Martin Luther Quote #2 on Facing Challenges
” The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.”
Martin Luther
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Martin Luther on the Kingdom of God
“For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, and the truth has been brought back.”
John Chrysostom
For more Christmas quotes see:
Lutheran Ladies Connection 