We live and die; Christ died and lived!

~ John Stott

The center of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened – but the crash is on the heart of God.

~ Oswald Chambers 

To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.

~ Elisabeth Elliot

I slew him–this right hand struck the dagger to his heart. My deeds slew Christ. Alas! I slew my best beloved; I killed him who loved me with an everlasting love. Oh eyes, why do you refuse to weep when you see Jesus’ body mangled and torn? Give vent to your sorrow, Christians, for you have good reason to do so.

~ Charles Spurgeon

Dost thou understand me, sinful soul? He wrestled with justice, that thou mightest have rest; He wept and mourned, that thou mightest laugh and rejoice; He was betrayed, that thou mightest go free; was apprehended, that thou mightest escape; He was condemned, that thou mightest be justified; and was killed, that thou mightest live; He wore a crown of thorns, that thou mightest wear a crown of glory; and was nailed to the cross, with His arms wide open, to show with what freeness all His merits shall be bestowed on the coming soul; and how heartily He will receive it into His bosom.”

~ John Bunyan

God takes our sins — the past, present, and future — and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says, “No Fishing Allowed.”

~ Corrie ten Boom

All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.

~ Oswald Chambers

Blessed Lord Jesus,

Before thy cross I kneel and see

the heinousness of my sin,

my iniquity that caused thee to be “made a curse,”

the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath….

 

Yet thy compassions yearn over me,

thy heart hastens to my rescue,

thy love endured my curse,

thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.

~ The Valley of Vision (A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions)