Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: A Brief Account of God’s Exceeding Mercy through Christ to His Poor Servant, John Bunyan (Bunyan Updated Classics Book 5)

by John Bunyan

It did not please me at all to see people merely listen and have opinions if they seemed ignorant of Jesus Christ and the worth

It is far better that you judge yourself, even by preaching plainly to others, than that you imprison the truth in unrighteousness to save yourself. Blessed be God for His help also in this.

I saw that he who has gifts needs to see the nature of them – that they do not save him or mean that he is saved. He must be certain not to trust in these natural gifts and talents and so fall short of the grace of God.

He must learn to walk humbly with God and to be little in his own eyes. He must remember that his gifts are not his own, but they belong to the church, to the body of Christ, to be used in service to the members of that body. He must in the end give an account of his stewardship unto the Lord Jesus, and a good account will be a blessed thing.

Let all men therefore add to their gifts the fear of the Lord; gifts indeed are desirable, but great grace and small gifts are better than great gifts and no grace. The Bible does not say that the Lord gives gifts and glory, but the Lord gives grace and glory (Psalm 84:11). Blessed is the one...

I wear these lies and slanders as an ornament. It belongs to my Christian profession to be vilified, slandered, reproached, and reviled; since all this is nothing else, as my God and my conscience do bear me witness, I rejoice in these reproaches for Christ’s sake.

Say not to yourself, “Tomorrow I will repent,” for it is your duty to do it daily.