Get Ready for Grace

"The Diatribe constantly imagines a man who either can do what he is commanded, or at any rate knows that he cannot. But such a man is nowhere to be found. If there were such, then, in truth, either the commanding of impossibilities would be absurd, or the Spirit of Christ would be in vain. But the Scripture sets before us a man who is not only bound, wretched, captive, sick and dead, but who, through the operation of Satan his lord, adds to his other miseries that of blindness, so that he believes himself to be free, happy, possessed of liberty and ability, whole and alive. Satan knows that if men knew their own misery he could keep no man in his kingdom; God could not fail at once to pity and succour wretchedness that knew itself and cried to Him, for God is proclaimed with mighty praise throughout the Scripture as being near the broken-hearted. Thus Isaiah 61 bears witness that Christ was sent 'to preach the gospel to the poor, and to heal the broken-hearted'. Hence, the work of Satan is to hold men so that they do not recognize their wretchedness, but presume that they can do everything that is stated. But the work of Moses the lawgiver is the opposite of this--namely, through the law to lay open to man his own wretchedness so that, by thus breaking him down, and confounding him in his self-knowledge, he may make him ready for grace, and send him to Christ to be saved. Therefore, the function performed by the law is nothing to laugh at, but is most emphatically serious and necessary." - Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, the Revell editon, pages 161-162

The Blindness of Reason & Impotence of the Law

"So the words of the law are spoken, not to assert the power of the will, but to illuminate the blindness of reason, so that it may see that its own light is nothing, and the power of the will is nothing. 'By the law is knowledge of sin,' says Paul (Rom 3:20). He does not say: abolition, or avoidance, of sin. The entire design and power of the law is just to give knowledge, and that of nothing but sin; not to display or confer any power. This knowledge is not power, nor does it bring power; but it teaches and displays that there is here no power, and great weakness. What can 'knowledge of sin' be, but knowledge of our weakness and badness? He does not say: 'by the law comes knowledge of power or goodness'! All that the law does, on Paul's testimony, is to make sin known. It is from this passage that I derive my answer to you: that by the words of the law man is admonished and taught, not what he can do, but what he ought to do; that is, that he may know his sin, not that he may believe that he has any strength." - Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, the Revell editon, pages 158-159

On Fighting the Fight of Faith

"Let us not run away when it is most time to fight. Remember, none shall be crowned but such as fight manfully; and he that endures to the end shall be saved. You must now turn all your cogitations from the peril you see, and mark by faith what follows the peril, either victory in this world of your enemies, or else a surrender of this life to inherit the everlasting kingdom." - John Hooper, in a letter from prison to his friends, three weeks before being burned to death in Gloucester.

To the Christian Rich - Your Wealth is Gift

"Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them." - Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

The Issue of the Potsherds of the Earth

"Pride of heart thinks nothing too high for the man, and so arraigns before its tribunal the divine proceedings, pretends to see through them, censures freely and condemns. But humiliation of spirit disposes a man to think awfully and honorably of those mysteries of Providence he is not able to see through. . .What else can possibly be the issue of the potsherds of the earth dashing against the Rock of ages, but that they are broken to pieces? All men must certainly bow or break under the mighty hand of God (Rom 11:33; Job 41:8)." - Thomas Boston, from The Crook in the Lot, Christian Heritage edition pages 136 & 139

Do Not Seek Happiness. Seek God.

"If you seek righteousness more than happiness you'll get both. If you seek happiness more than righteousness you'll get neither . . . 

The person who is happy is always the one who has stopped trying to be happy . . .

The less you're concerned about happiness, and the more you're concerned about God, the happier you get . . . 

Aim at heaven you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth you get neither . . .

Happiness is brought about not by controlling your environment but by controlling your allegiances."  - Tim Keller commenting on Psalm 1 concerning the search for happiness.

Keller makes the biblical point that happiness is always a byproduct of a pursuit of something else, something fundamental to the character of our Creator. This is why the Bible repeatedly promises blessing to those who strive for purity, holiness, contentment, etc; to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, not happiness. "Happiness is always and only a byproduct of seeking something else more than happiness." The Bible nowhere says that blessed is the one who seeks blessedness.

More Mind, More Joy

"Christianity is always NOT the absence of thinking, 

but the presence of more thinking."

Tim Keller, commenting on Romans 8, and the need for the mind in the pursuit of happiness