“He is our entire good” by Petrus Van Mastricht

“Let us love God, I say:

(1) By desiring, panting after, and diligently seeking the presence, possession, union, communion, and enjoyment of Him (Ps. 42:2; 63:1), so that we may be as it were cemented to Him (Ps. 63:8; 1 Cor. 6:17), just as He desires and seeks us (Ps. 119:176).

(2) By hanging all our good on Him (2 Cor. 8:5).

(3) By removing all the evil of sin from His sight (Isa. 1:16), that we may please Him (Rom. 12:1-2; 14:18), and that by His goodness He may remove every evil from us (Ps. 103:3).

(4) By resting in His infinite goodness, as in our sole and entire good (Ps. 16:5-6; 73:25-26), that thus we might not desire Him to be more good or less just, for in both we would deny His infinite goodness (Ex. 34:7).”

–Petrus Van Mastricht, Theoretical-Practical Theology: Faith in the Triune God, Volume 2, Trans. Todd Rester, Ed. Joel Beeke (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2019), 2: 337.

“Your worst days and your best days” by Jerry Bridges

“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace.

And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

—Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1994), 9.

“It runs through the whole web of the world” by Stephen Charnock

“Can anything more delightful enter into us, than that of the kind and gracious disposition of that God who first brought us out of the abyss of an unhappy nothing, and hath hitherto spread His wings over us?

Where can we meet with a nobler object than Divine goodness?

What nobler work can be practiced by us than to consider it?

What is more sensible in all the operations of His hands than His skill, as they are considered in themselves, and His goodness, as they are considered in relation to us?

It is strange that we should miss the thoughts of it.

It is strange that we should look upon this earth, and everything in it, and yet overlook that which it is most full of, namely, Divine goodness (Psalm 33:5).

It runs through the whole web of the world. All is framed and diversified by goodness. It is one entire single goodness, which appears in various garbs and dresses in every part of the creation.

Can we turn our eyes inward, and send our eyes outward, and see nothing of a Divinity in both that is worthy of our deepest and most serious thoughts?

Is there anything in the world we can behold, but we see His bounty, since nothing was made but is one way or other beneficial to us?”

–Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, vol. 2, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1682/2000), 347.

“If you believed in Jesus, you wouldn’t be so good” by Flannery O’Connor

“‘For myself,’ she continued, ‘I don’t have that streak. I believe that what’s right today is wrong tomorrow and that the time to enjoy yourself is now, so long as you let others do the same. I’m as good, Mr. Motes,’ she said, ‘not believing in Jesus as a many a one that does.’

‘You’re better,’ he said, leaning forward suddenly. ‘If you believed in Jesus, you wouldn’t be so good.'”

–Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1949/2007), 225.

“The Pulley” by George Herbert

“The Pulley”
By George Herbert (1593–1632)

When God at first made Man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by—
Let us (said He) pour on him all we can;
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span.

So strength first made a way,
Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all His treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.

For if I should (said He)
Bestow this jewel also on My creature,
He would adore My gifts instead of Me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast.