Oh, ye infidel philosophers, teach me how to find joy in sorrow, strength in weakness, and light in darkest days; how to bear buffeting and scorn; how to welcome death, and to pass through it into the sphere of life, and this not for me only, but for the whole world that groans and travails in pain; and till you can do this, speak not to me of a better revelation than the Bible. ---- H. W. Beecher
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God (Hebrews 3:12).
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12, 16-19).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched.
If you would learn self-mastery, begin by yielding yourself to the One Great Master. ---- Johann F. Lobstein
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive (Colossians 3:12-13).
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD (Lamentations 3:26).
For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God (I Peter 2:19-20).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.
For contemplation, he, and valor formed; for softness she, and sweet attractive grace; he for God only, she for God in him. ---- John Milton
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." But there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of the ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:18, 20b-24).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: O Happy Home, Where Thou Art Loved.
True repentance consists in the heart being broken for sin and broken from sin. Some often repent, yet never reform; they resemble a man travelling in a dangerous path, who frequently starts and stops, but never turns back. ---- Bonnell Thornton
To do so no more is truest repentance. --- Martin Luther
By it [repentance], a sinner...so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments. ---- Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter XV
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the LORD God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions... (Ezekiel 18:30-31).
"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD , your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster (Joel 2:12-13).
For what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! (II Corinthians 7:11).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: God Be Merciful Unto Me
The religion of some people is constrained, like the cold bath when used, not for pleasure, but from necessity for health, into which one goes with reluctance, and is glad when able to get out. But religion to the true believer is like water to a fish; it is his element; he lives in it and could not live out of it. ---- John Newton
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 2:21).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: CHRIST, OF ALL MY HOPES THE GROUND.
It is not the eye that sees the beauty of the heaven, nor the ear that hears the sweetness of music or the glad tidings of a prosperous occurrence, but the soul, that perceives all the relishes of sensual and intellectual perfections; and the more noble and excellent the soul is, the greater and more savory are its perceptions. ---- Jeremy Taylor
But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25-28).
("...for the fruit of life is found in all that is good and true) (Ephesians 5:9).
Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things...practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:5-9).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: MAY THE MIND OF CHRIST MY SAVIOR.
