Barbara R. Duguid > Quotes

“Every week I counsel young people from solid Christian homes who are undone by their sin. As parents, we are sometimes more invested in protecting our children from the sinful influences of this world than we are in preparing them for the deep sinfulness of their own hearts.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Joy blossoms in our hearts not as we try harder and harder to grow, but as we see more clearly the depth of our sin and understand more fully our helplessness.”
― Barbara Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“The more you come to admire God's wisdom and believe in his love and kindness to each of us, the freer you will be from envying those with more faith and stronger gifts and from feeling superior to those what are weaker than you.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Jesus isn't suffering day after day for your sin. He sits triumphantly at the right hand of God and has won the final and decisive victory for you. If constant lamenting over your sin could actually help you atone for it, then it would be a noble act. However, since there is nothing to be added to your salvation and your agony contributes nothing to your salvation or sanctification, then you are free to walk through life with confidence in your forgiveness. Godly sorrow for sin does not lead to self-condemnation and attempts to atone for your sins through acts of penance. Godly sorrow leads to repentance, which leads us to the cross. There we see, once again, the beautiful sufficiency of our marvelous Savior. Godly sorrow leads us on to a big party, another glorious celebration of the truth of the gospel.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“you were to ask Christians around the world what God wants from the people he has saved, most would probably answer “obedience.” There is great truth in that answer, but it is not enough. If the sovereign God’s primary goal in sanctifying believers is simply to make us more holy, it is hard to explain why most of us make only “small beginnings” on the road to personal holiness in this life, as the Heidelberg Catechism puts it (see Catechism Q. 113). In reality, God wants something much more precious in our lives than mere outward conformity to his will. After all, obedience is tricky business and can be confusing to us. We can be obedient outwardly while sinning wildly on the inside, as the example of the Pharisees makes clear. In fact, many of my worst sins have been committed in the context of my best obedience.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“If the goal of sanctification is actually growing in humility and greater dependence on Christ, then the Holy Spirit is doing an excellent job. Through his ongoing struggles with indwelling sin, the maturing believer will spend many years learning that he is more sinful than he ever imagined, in order to discover that he is indeed far more loved than he ever dared to hope.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“the purpose of confessing our sins is not to render us miserable by simply reminding us what great sinners we are. It is to remind us of what a great Savior we have.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“If the Holy Spirit is carefully and lovingly managing all our falls into sin and using them for God's glory and our good, then there is great cause for joy and peace whether you are leaping forward or crawling through the Christian life.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Simply building a fence between a child and temptation is not the same things as preparing him to face life.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Father, thank you for your deep and endless mercy to rebels like us. We have trampled on the blood of your precious and only Son, time and time again. We know that we deserve your wrath, and yet when we approach you we find grace and mercy instead. Father, we cannot fathom the cost to your heart of pouring out so much anger on your perfect Son. Father, we are so grateful that you were willing to suffer so much for us.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“What if the truth about us as believers is so much worse, yet so much more wonderful than you’ve imagined? What if God has left you in such a weak state here on earth that you couldn’t even want to flip that Holy Spirit switch (if there were such a thing) without his help and enabling? What if he has done this very thing for our own good—and for his glory? What if the pathway to huge, overwhelming, and abundant joy in Christ does not take us around our sin, but takes us right through the middle of it?”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“the baby Christian is often prone to sin. The zeal of his enthusiastic feelings, not yet balanced by a true sense of his own imperfections, leads him to rebuke others with a prideful and censorious spirit. But the grown-up Christian can bear with the youngster patiently because he has been there himself and will not expect fruit to be ripe before its due season. In”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“the purpose of confessing our sins is not to render us miserable by simply reminding us what great sinners we are. It is to remind us of what a great Savior we have. We confess that “there is no health in us” in order that our hearts may be drawn afresh to the Great Physician of our souls, who has provided for our desperate need for cleansing in the gospel. For that reason, we always follow our prayer of confession with a scriptural assurance of pardon: God’s authoritative declaration of the forgiveness of each and every one of the sins of his people in Jesus Christ. This is our only hope in life and death. These assurances, too, we have endeavored to make specific, providing gospel encouragement tailored to our particular failings and pointing us afresh to the new life that is ours in Christ.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“Father, thank you for giving us a new birth in spite of our sin and rebellion. Lord, part of us longs to be holy and sinless, but there is much in us that still cherishes our sin and clings to it. Please help us to hate our sin and run from it. As you draw us toward heaven, open our eyes and help us to see how offensive our sin is to you, and how damaging it is to us. When we are dazzled by the alluring temptations of sexual and nonsexual sins, teach us that you are the only feast that satisfies our souls deeply and permanently. Fill us with awe and wonder that you give us the radiant robes of your Son’s perfection to wear, and carry us to a place of high honor for his glory. Thank you that you have begun a good work in us that nothing can stop, and that one day we will stand before you in the bliss of sinless perfection as Christ’s beautiful bride. We give thanks for this in Jesus’ name, amen.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“He also believed that the richest fruit of God’s work in our hearts would be evidenced by increasing humility and dependence on Christ for everything, rather than in a “victorious Christian life.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Transform us, by your mercy and grace, into children who are more thankful for your kindness, more humble under your correction, more watchful against temptation, more eager to serve you. Give us hearts overflowing with joy in you and lips that boast often of Jesus Christ, our only hope in life and in death.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“The predicament we all share is that while we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and have been given living hearts with which to know and worship God (Ezek. 36:26–27), we are still very sinful people.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“If you are united with Christ today, the number of sins you will commit in your lifetime is a finite number, and they were all paid for in full before you emerged from your mother's womb.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Jesus, thank you for remembering the truth faithfully on our behalf. You worshiped your Father daily, with unwavering faith and unshakable hope in his goodness. Cherishing the Father’s unchangeable character, you submitted to his perfect wisdom and trusted him completely in all the circumstances of your life, even when it was most painful. You took refuge in him often in your times of need and never turned toward false gods. Now your obedience becomes our strong encouragement to hope in the midst of continuing weakness, and you continue to advocate our cause as our heavenly High Priest. We have no other hope, nor do we need one.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“May we always see ourselves accurately as helpless sinners in need of grace, so that we never move beyond the cross or consider ourselves better than our worst enemies.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“We are new creation and old sinful flesh dwelling together—two natures competing for our affections and allegiance. To be sure, these two natures are not equal in their opposition. We are indwelt by the Spirit of the Living God, and God always gets his way. Our sinful hearts are no match whatsoever for his power and ability to work in us, with or without our permission. We see this more clearly in matters of salvation. If the God of this universe chose you to worship him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), then you will not be able to resist his will. Those whom the Father has given to the Son are his sheep and no one can prevent them from coming to Christ, or subsequently snatch them out of his hand (John 10:27–29). God does this transforming work of salvation by making Christ so beautiful and irresistible to you that your greatest desire becomes worshiping him, and you may even believe it was your idea in the first place. There is no conflict between our wills and God’s will in salvation because God sovereignly changes the wills of those whom he chooses to save so that we freely desire to come to him, something we would never have desired if left to ourselves. POWERLESS”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Heavenly Father, Thank you for taking us into the wilderness time and time again, for there we see revealed the secret sins of our souls. In the desert we experience your great power to save us from our unruly and sinful hearts, and there we complain bitterly when you withhold the pleasures and delicacies of life we have come to expect. Father, forgive us.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“We marvel that you would consider us a joy worth suffering for, and we bow humbly before you and offer you our praise, our thanks, and our very lives.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“It is possible to hate your sin and at the same time be compassionate toward your own weakness. Sometimes we act as though there are only two options: either we hate our sin and punish ourselves for it, or we give ourselves a break, which leads toward careless and escalating amounts of sin. There is another way. Like the apostle Paul, we can hate our sin and plan not to do it, yet understand our weakness and accept it, casting ourselves on the mercy of God. Paul is right when he exclaims, “Wretched man that I am!” (Rom. 7:24). We are all wretched sinners throughout our lifetimes. Paul does not chase this thought away with a better plan to read the Bible and pray more. He cries out, “Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24–25). He has already been delivered by the death of Christ, and he knows that he will be delivered comprehensively and forever in the life to come. Paul”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Joy blossoms in our hearts not as we try harder and harder to grow, but as we see more clearly the depths of our sin and understand more fully our utter helplessness. Only then will we take our eyes off ourselves and look to Christ for all that we need in life and in death. Only then will we truly cherish our Savior and believe that we need him every minute of every day, and that without him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Newton”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“Forgive us for relying on our own wisdom and strength; for the hours we spend trying to rescue ourselves from pain, suffering, and sin, when you have already rescued us in your Son.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration

“You have a heavenly Father who would never let this sin and weakness remain in you if he did not plan to overrule it for your good and for his own glory.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“God has also chosen that we should walk on this earth as weak and sinful people for now, so it would be incongruous with his nature to think that, having ordained our weakness, he will then get angry with us whenever we fall.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“I am convinced that these precious saints are among those Christ died for and are in their own way heroes of the faith, clinging to God in spite of the weakness of their faltering faith. They are the bruised reeds that we must not break and the smoldering wicks that our triumphalism would so easily extinguish (Matt. 12:20). They are the ones who believe in the face of their own struggles with unbelief (Mark 9:24). We must love them, bear their burdens gently, and help them to carry their loads, because they belong to us (Gal. 6:2). They are our family in the Lord.”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness

“That is because even when we are believers the natural drift of our hearts is away from God, and sin remains the constant context for our growth in obedience. In the words of Robert Robinson, we are all “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”3”
― Barbara R. Duguid, Extravagant Grace: God's Glory Displayed in Our Weakness