God is loving, but a major part of what He loves is His own perfect character, with a major aspect being the importance of maintaining justice and righteousness. Though God pardons sinners and makes provision for expressing His mercy, He will never negotiate His justice. If we fail to understand that, the Cross of Christ will be utterly meaningless.
R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross, p. 19
Unless the conception of God is something higher than a magnification of our own good qualities, our service and worship will be no more and no less than the service and worship of ourselves. Such a God may be a prop to our self-esteem but is, naturally, incapable of assisting us to win a moral victory and will be found in time of serious need to fade disconcertingly away.
J. B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small, p. 54
If you want power in the pulpit you have to earn it on your knees in prayer.
The more immediate and personal one’s knowledge of Christ, the more natural it is to share Him with others.
R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man, p. 195
When I see the cross, I see the premium that God places on the works that He has prepared for me.
Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer, p. 38
Probably most of the difficulties of trying to live the Christian life arise from attempting to half-live it.
Henry Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, p. 396
Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose — all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.
The Devil will let a preacher prepare sermons if it will keep him from preparing himself.
He thought it worth while to die for the sake of redeeming the souls of men; what sacrifices are we prepared to make in contributing to the same end? He gave His life; will we give up our ease, our effort, our money? It was because He believed every single soul was more precious than a world that He died to save the souls of men. Are they precious in our eyes? Does their fate haunt us? Does their sin grieve us? Would their salvation fill us with aught of the joy that thrills the angels in heaven when one sinner is converted?
James Stalker, Imago Christi, p. 52
He suffered not from his Father for his faults, but ours; and he suffered from men not for his faults but for those things on account of which he was infinitely worthy of their love and honor.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in The Excellency of Christ
Life Is Worship 