It is tragic that we are so negligent about the eternal and are so concerned about that which must inevitably come to an end. It is better to be a cripple in this life, says our Lord, than to lose everything in the next. Put your soul and its eternal destiny before everything else.Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (217)
Fight for us, O God, that we not drift numb and blind and foolish into vain and empty excitements. Life is too short, too precious, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is too horrible, eternity is too long that we should putter around on the porch of eternity.
Let us be firmly persuaded of the reality of this wrath to come- Let us adore and fear the greatness of God, and be moved to turn to Him- Let us consider what it is to die, and what the state of the other world is- Let believers learn highly to value that salvation which Christ obtains for them.
How averse are our souls to anything that is spiritual! How many excuses, pretences, delays will they make! To sin man needs no tutor; he can ride post to hell without a spur
Look to it, my dear friends, that none of you be found Christless at your appearance before him. Those that continue Christless now, will be left speechless then. God forbid that you that have heard so much of Christ, and you that have professed so much of Christ, should at last fall into a worse condition than those that never heard the name of Christ.
Time is short, and is passing quickly away: yet a few years, and we shall be all dead and gone. The trees perhaps are cut down out of which our coffins will be made: the winding-sheets perhaps are woven which will surround our bodies; the spades perhaps are made that will dig our graves. Eternity draws near. There ought to be no trifling. "What, what is your hope about your soul?"Old Paths, Chapter 4
For a close, remember this, that your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all!Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Years ago I heard the story of an old preacher who told a group of younger preachers to remember that they would die. "They are going to put you in a box," he said, "and put the box in the ground, and throw dirt on your face, and then go back to the church and eat potato salad." That says it perfectly. Life goes on. If we transfer the convictions successfully, all will be well. If not, our stewardship is in danger . . . or in vain.The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (p. 200)
You're going to die. I'm going to do your funeral or you're coming to mine. This is an inescapable reality. You can be as responsible as you want, you can flood your body with anti-oxidants, you can get your yoga on. You can do all that, you're going to die, it's coming.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqyPMUop1QU
All that appears great and interesting in the present life, abstracted from its influence upon our internal character, and our everlasting allotment, will soon be as unreal as the visions of the night.Letters to a Nobleman
It is with good reason the Lord challenges, as his own prerogative, the full knowledge of the deceitfulness, desperate wickedness, and latent depths of the human heart, which is capable of making even his own people so shamefully in-consistent with themselves, and with their acknowledged principles. Letters to a Nobleman
What an anomaly! Drowsing on the verge of eternity! A Christian is
one who, in contrast to the unregenerate, has been awakened from
the sleep of death in trespasses and sins, made to realize the unspeakable awfulness of endless misery in hell and the ineffable joy of everlasting bliss in heaven, and thereby brought to recognize the
seriousness and solemnity of life.
Those that are rich in goods and wealth, must be rich in good works. To do a little good will not be sufficient for them who have received much good. As men increase in their estates, so they advance in their attire and behaviour. The rents which men pay are answerable to the land which they enjoy. Hezekiah returned somewhat to God, but he returned not to the Lord according to his benefits; therefore there was wrath upon him from the Lord , 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. The greater thy receivings are in this world, the greater will thy reckonings be in the other world
Hereafter thy servants may be above thee in glory. It is taken notice of, that a contemptible grasshopper, the silliest almost of all creatures, is advanced into the chief city of England, ( London, ) and a principal part of that city, the Royal Exchange, when far more noble creatures are less regarded. He that took upon him the form of a servant, and was vilified and scorned as a worm on earth, is certainly the highest in heaven. A poor servant, like Lazarus, may be comforted and highly exalted, when a rich master, as Dives, may be disgraced and tormented. He that hath not a foot of land, may have a title to the inheritance of the saints in light.
The eyes of thousands are so dazzled with the lustre of their own morality, that they see no need of Christ, nor feel any want of his righteousness, and this is the ruin of their souls.
If you look at some of the most historic portraits in the Christian tradition, you will see a skull within the painting. This was known as memento mori, the memory of death, which was intended to motivate the subject of the painting to make the most of the time given to him. That skull on my desk is not a morbid decoration or a macabre ornament from a dark holiday. It is a constant reminder of mortality as essential to the human condition, and an impetus to be aware that every passing day removes one tick from the column marked Future and adds one to the column marked Past. The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (p. 200)
that perfection of the Divine Being by which He transcends all spatial limitations, and yet is present in every point of space with His whole Being.Systematic Theology, 60
It is better for me to die in Christ Jesus than to be king over the ends of the earth. I seek him who died for our sake. I desire him who rose for us. The pains of birth are upon me. Suffer me, my brethren; hinder me not from living, do not wish me to die. DO not give to the world one who desires to belong to God, nor deceive him with material things. Suffer me to receive the pure light; when I shall have arrived there, I shall become a man. Suffer me to follow the example of the Passion of my God.
It is astonishing how disinterested people are in the reality of dying. Few things are more certain and universal. The possibilities for joy and misery after you die are trillions of times greater than in the few years on this earth before you die. Yet people give almost all their energies to making this life secure, and almost none to the next. Future Grace (356)