Does God really love us? I say look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross. By every thorn that punctured His brow. By every mark of the back lacerating scourge. By every hair of his beard plucked from his cheeks by cruel fingers. By every bruise which heavy fists made upon His head. God said, “I love you!” By all the spit that landed on his face. By every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground. By every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross. By every beat of His loving heart. God said, I love you.
Jesus
Dr Yu. (Chinese Martyr – 1956)
The Father wants us to be filled only with His Christ. Will you let Him deal so thoroughly in His love, until you are consumed with Him, having to continually depend upon Him, instead of anything of yourself? For God to take you deeper into Himself, He must expose all in you that is not of Himself. I hope that, as He shines in you, you will take Him as Grace, to deal completely, so He may possess you wholly, and bring you into His fullness in your lifetime.
James Stalker
Christ was not half a God and half a man; he was perfectly God and perfectly man.
Max Lucado
The greatest pain of the cross was the pain of sin. Jesus didn’t deserve to feel the shame, but he felt it. He didn’t deserve the humiliation, but he experienced it. He had never sinned, yet was treated like a sinner. He became sin. All the guilt, remorse, and embarrassment– Jesus understands it.
John R.W. Stott
Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy;—but the Father, for love!
Eugene H. Peterson
No text can be understood out of its entire context. The most “entire” context is Jesus. Every biblical text must be read in the living presence of Jesus. Every word of the scriptural text is a window or door leading us out of the tarpaper shacks of self into this great outdoors of God’s revelation.
Martin Luther
As the baby Jesus is to the manger in Bethlehem, so Christ is to scripture. Without Christ, scriptures are just so much straw.
Katherine Walden
Doctor Who: “You betrayed me. You betrayed my trust, you betrayed our friendship, you betrayed everything I ever stood for. You let me down!”
Clara: “Then why are you helping me?”
Doctor Who: “Why?” He pauses. “Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?” (Doctor Who – Dark Water)
And this is the love God has always had for us. We betrayed Him, we took advantage of His friendship, and we turned our backs. We acted out in ways that went against everything He stood for and yet, He said he would help us. Instead of turning His back on us in response to our betrayal, He answered our “Why are you helping us?” with the same words as the Doctor. “Do you think I cared for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?” And then He took it one step further, sacrificing everything, laying on a cross that became the bridge that we could cross, closing the gap our betrayal caused.
John R. W. Stott
A pattern cannot secure our pardon…an example can stir our imagination, kindle our idealism and strengthen our resolve, but it cannot cleanse the defilement of our past sins, bring peace to our troubled conscience or reconcile us to God.
John R. W. Stott
C. S. Lewis
It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit, and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Him