Good Quotes * February 2026

02-01-26 thru 02-08-26

The human heart is nothing if not deceptive and nothing if not creative when it comes to excusing sin.

For a long time, I thought clarity was about being right. Now I think it’s about being kind. Most confusion isn’t a failure of intelligence, it’s a failure of care. We rush, assume, skip the slow work of understanding. Clarity, in that light, isn’t just a communication skill; it’s an act of love.  -Stephen Boudreau

For it is not so much of our time and so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time and all our attention; it is our-selves. For each of us the Baptist’s words are true: “He must increase and I decrease.” He will be infinitely merciful to our repeated failures; I know no promise that He will accept a deliberate compromise. For He has, in the last resort, nothing to give us but Himself; and He can give that only insofar as our self-affirming will retires and makes room for Him in our souls. Let us make up our minds to it; there will be nothing “of our own” left over to live on, no “ordinary” life.  . . . What cannot be admitted—what must exist only as an undefeated but daily resisted enemy—is the idea of something that is “our own,” some area in which we are to be “out of school,” on which God has no claim. For He claims all, because He is love and must bless. He cannot bless us unless He has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, He claims all. There’s no bargaining with Him.  CS Lewis, Weight of Glory

·       Wisdom refreshes our understanding of what a human being ought to be like. Here is the true definition of human flourishing: “love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5.

A “pure heart” means that you are re-orienting to the living God. You are resisting the madness in your hearts, instinctual desires, and fears.

A “good conscience” means you are learning to evaluate all things as they truly are. You are re-orienting to God‘s own evaluation of himself and you, other people and circumstances, right and wrong, true, and false, worthy and worthless.

A “sincere faith” means you are placing your fundamental confidence in the mercies of Jesus Christ. You are re-orienting away from confidence in yourself, others, money, achievements, and the 10,000 other false gods.

·       How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose and was now glad to reject! You drove them from me, You who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, You who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, You who outshine all light yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, You who surpass all honor though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. At last my mind was free from the gnawing anxieties of ambition and gain, from wallowing in filth and scratching the itching sore of lust. I began to talk to you freely, O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.  Augustine

·       Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because He shows us both God and our own wretchedness. Blaise Pascal

·       You must keep all earthy treasures out of your heart, and let Christ be your treasure, and let Him have your heart. C.H. Spurgeon

·       When Christ gives you soul-rest, there is rest for your conscience because He removes its sin-caused guilt. His soul-rest also includes rest for your mind because He reveals Himself as the truth of God. He ministers rest for your heart since it no longer has to frantically search for a haven of rest. There is rest in Him for your fears since your soul is in His loving, omnipotent hands for all eternity. Christ also provides rest for your sense of purpose now that you have Him to worship, love, and serve.  Don Whitney

·       If you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. CS Lewis