REDEMPTION;
HAPPINESS

So remember, redemption does a lot of things for us. You and I are inclined to take the kindergarten attitude toward salvation—we think its purpose is to make us happy. That attitude is abroad everywhere; people are writing books about how to be happy—just take Jesus and you’ll feel good inside. But the whole purpose of redemption is not to give you a tickle inside your heart, but to reverse the inverted order of things. Redemption puts God where He belongs—exalted to the throne—and man where he belongs—down in the dust—in order that God may, from the dust, raise man to the throne. But never, never does God raise a man to the throne except from the dust. Never does He lift him to His right hand except from the low place of humiliation.

Luke 9:23–25; Colossians 1:19–22; Titus 2:11–14

Success and the Christian, 141.