The fundamental explanation of our conversion was not that we were wiser or morally superior to others in choosing God, but that God chose to have mercy on us and intervened in our lives, revealing our need for His provision of the gospel. Our salvation is owned completely to the sovereign grace of God.
To truly be serious and deliberate in mortifying pride and cultivating greatness, you must each day survey the wonderous cross on which the Prince of Glory died.
When you're deeply aware of your sin, and of what an affront it is to God's holiness, and of how impossible it is for Him to respond to this sin with anything other than furious wrath--you can only be overwhelmed with how amazing grace is. Only those who are truly aware of their sin can truly cherish grace. Living the Cross-Centered Life, pages 87-88