And as I was thus in a muse, that scripture also came with great power upon my spirit, Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He hath saved us, etc.  2 Tim. i. 9; Tit. iii. 5.  Now was I got on high, I saw myself within the arms of grace and mercy; and though I was before afraid to think of a dying hour, yet, now I cried, Let me die:

This scripture also did now most sweetly visit my soul; And him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.  Oh! the comfort that I had from this word, in no wise!  As who should say, By no means, for nothing whatever he hath done. 

But I observed, though I was such a great sinner before conversion, yet God never much charged the guilt of the sins of my ignorance upon me; only He showed me, I was lost if I had not Christ, because I had been a sinner: I saw that I wanted a perfect righteousness to present me without fault before God, and this righteousness was no where to be found, but in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Christiana alures her to the Gate which is Christ, and promiseth there to enquire for her.

Wherefore, sinner, here is laid a necessity upon thee, one of the two must be thy lot; either thou must accept God's grace, and be content to be saved freely thereby, notwithstanding all thy undeserving and unworthiness, or else thou must be damned for thy rebellion and for thy rejecting of this grace

Only in Christ can men and women find answers to the ultimate questions that trouble them. Only in Christ can they fully understand their dignity as persons created and loved by God.

God loves us as we are, but He also loves. ... God doesn't care what roads we've traveled, only that our roads turn to Him.

If the Gospel of Jesus is relational, that is, if our brokenness will be fixed not by our understanding of theology but by God telling us who we are, then this would require a kind of intimacy of which only Heaven knows.

If I was going to make Betsy happy, I'd have to trust that my flaws were the ways through which I would receive grace. We don't think of our flaws as the glue that binds us to the people we love, but they are. Grace only sticks to our imperfections. Those who can't accept their imperfections can't accept grace either.

If God has saved you, He has saved you by faith--plus nothing. God is not accepting any kind of good works for salvation. But after you are saved, God talks to you about your works.

Law demands—grace gives. Law says "do"—grace says "believe." Law exacts—grace bestows. Law says "work"—grace says "rest." Law threatens, pronouncing a curse—grace entreats, pronouncing a blessing. Law says "Do, and thou shalt live"—grace says, "Live, and thou shalt do." Law condemns the best man—grace saves the worst man.

My friend, after you have been saved, God is going to talk to you about good works. Until that time, God is not even interested in your 'good works' because what you call a good work, God calls dirty laundry. The righteousness of man is filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). He doesn't want any of that. He wants to save you.