I think, said Jane decidedly, that I should apologise to God.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth" (1 John 1:8). It seems God leads us through failure toward maturity, rather than doing whatever is needed for us to move past ongoing failure.

Working diligently to straighten up our actions without understanding either what it means to deeply repent or what it is that needs to be scrubbed away by repentance will make us more smug than penetrating. We'll pressure others to do right rather than draw them to want to do right. P195

It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.

These are the three pillars on which our prayer rises to God: our own loyalty, the holiness of Israel, the mercy of God.

We can't build anything that will impress God because He has already created the entire universe. There is one thing, however, that does attract His favor: "On this one will I look [esteem or respect]." Whom will God respect and take into account? "Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at My word.

The moment we begin to feel satisfied that we are making some progress along the road of sanctification, it is all the more necessary to repent and confess that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Yet the Christian life is not one of gloom, but of ever increasing joy in the Lord. God alone knows our good works; all we know is His good work.

In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin.

All of a Christian's life is one of repentance.

A broken life in the hands of God is ripe for blessing.

It is so easy for us to stand apart from the culture and do no more than express self-righteous judgmentalism toward it. But those of us who grieve deeply over our own sin will not do this. Instead we will mourn over the sins and wickedness of our nation and will pray most urgently that, just as we want God to be merciful to us, so we want Him to be merciful to our nation as a whole. This will be another expression of humility in action.

Self-emptiness prepares us for spiritual fullness.