George Hodges

He is a Christian who follows Christ, who measures all things by the standard of His approbation [official approval], who would not willingly say a word which he would not like to have Christ hear, nor do an act which he would not like to have Christ see. He is a Christian who tries to be the kind of neighbour Christ would be, and the kind of citizen Christ would be, and who asks himself in all the alternatives of his business life, and his social life, and his personal life, what would the Master do in this case? The best Christian is he who most reminds the people with whom he lives of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who never reminds anybody of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a Christian at all.

David Joel Hamilton

In many ways it [the 12 disciples] was an unlikely team. Among them was Judas Iscariot. Not only was Judas known to be a thief (Joh 12:6), but we are told that he indignantly chastised his team leader – Jesus! – in public (Joh 12:4-5). That must have created some interesting team dynamics! But that was not all. Jesus had picked both Matthew (who, as a tax-collector, was a pro-Roman collaborator) and Simon (who, as a zealot, was an anti-Roman revolutionary) to be on his team. They must have had some heated arguments coming from opposite sides of the political spectrum! Even so, Jesus opted to minister with a team, rather than go it alone. He saw diversity not as a liability but as an asset, providing a unique opportunity for “sandpaper discipleship,” as one rubbed against another, smoothing off the rough edges. The unlikely love between natural enemies would be a powerful witness to the transforming power of the gospel. He taught his team, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (Joh 13:35).

Author Unknown

Sin a little thing? It put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe. If you could weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would run from it as from a serpent and abhor the slightest appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be ‘sinful beyond measure.’

William Law

[Christ] is the breathing forth of the heart, life and spirit of God into all the dead race of Adam. He is the seeker, the finder, the restorer of all that, from Cain to the end of time, was lost and dead to the life of God. He is the love that prays for all its murderers; the love that willingly suffers and dies among thieves, that thieves may have a life with him in Paradise; the love that visits publicans, harlots and sinners, and wants and seeks to forgive where most is to be forgiven.