Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss, he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.
Interpretation
The quote contrasts the empty promises of evil with the fulfilling promises of goodness.
This quote by Thomas Brooks highlights the deceptive nature of evil, which offers enticing promises but ultimately leads to negative consequences. In contrast, it emphasizes the reliability and purity of God's promises, suggesting that while the path of sin may seem appealing, it ultimately results in suffering, whereas following God leads to true value and fulfillment.
In practice
When discussing the moral implications of choices in a debate.
Remember this-all the sighing, mourning, sobbing, and complaining in the world, does not so undeniably evidence a man to be humble, as his overlooking his own righteousness, and living really and purely upon the righteousness of Christ.
Grace and glory differ very little; the one is the seed, the other is the flower; grace is glory militant, glory is grace triumphant.
He is the best preacher, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart.
Ah! sinner, remember this, there is no way on earth effectually to be rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin, but by believing in a Saviour. It is not resolving, it is not complaining, it is not mourning, but believing, that will make thee divinely victorious over that body of sin that to this day is too strong for thee, and that will certainly be thy ruin, if it be not ruined by a hand of faith.
Self is the only oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the hypocrite move in all religious concerns.
Humility can weep over other men's weaknesses, and joy and rejoice over their graces.
Our civilization is locked in the grip of an ideology - corporatism. An ideology that denies and undermines the legitimacy of individuals as the citizen in a democracy. The particular imbalance of this ideology leads to a worship of self-interest and a denial of the public good. The practical effects on the individual are passivity and conformism in the areas that matter, and non-conformism in the areas that don't
A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.
Crime is a product of social excess.
I'm not black, but there's a whole lot of times I wish I could say I'm not white.
Pride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.
Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
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