Life
Steadfast.
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them,
I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house; and it fell not:
for it was founded upon a rock.
~ Matthew 7:24-25 ~
Vocation.
A man is more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord,
not by knowledge alone, nor by intelligence alone,
nor even by wisdom alone,
but by a life conjoined to these.
~ Divine Providence 33 ~
Depth.
…simply believing the truth or the Word is not faith;
but faith is loving what is true from a heavenly love
and intending and doing it from a deep affection.
~ Heaven and Hell 482 ~
Humanity.
…we cannot be united to the Lord
and thus reformed, regenerated, and saved
unless we are allowed to act freely and rationally.
This is what makes us human.
~ Divine Providence 123 ~
Midway.
So long as man is living in the world
he is kept and walks midway between heaven and hell,
and there he is in spiritual equilibrium,
which is his freedom of choice…
Because man is midway between these two opposites,
and at the same time in spiritual equilibrium,
he is able to choose, adopt, and appropriate to himself from freedom
either the one or the other.
If he chooses evil and falsity he connects himself with hell;
if he chooses good and truth
he connects himself with heaven.
~ True Christian Religion 383 ~
Freedom.
The Lord does not compel a person
to accept what flows in from Himself
but leads him in freedom;
and so far as the person allows
He leads him by means of freedom to good.
~ Arcana Caelestia 6472 ~
Planted.
…Divine truths…
teach how man must live in order to be saved.
By these truths the Lord leads man to heaven,
and by them He implants in man the life of heaven.
This the Lord does for all.
~ Heaven and Hell 522 ~
Obstruction.
…the life of heaven can be implanted in no one
unless he abstains from evil, for evil obstructs.
~ Heaven and Hell 522 ~
Peril.
The Lord cannot rescue any of us from our hell
unless we see that we are in it and want to be rescued.
~ Divine Providence 251 ~
Toil.
…there is no way we can abstain from evils as sins
so as to turn against them inwardly
unless we engage in struggles against them
…if we abstain from evils for any other reason than that they are sins,
we are not really abstaining from them.
We are only preventing them from being visible in the world.
~ Divine Providence 118 ~
Flee.
…the Lord is mercy itself and good itself,
and mercy itself and good itself cannot possibly condemn anyone.
It is man who, in rejecting good, condemns himself.
As a person has fled habitually from good during his lifetime,
so in the next life he flees from it,
and therefore from heaven and the Lord.
For the Lord cannot be present except within good.
~ Arcana Caelestia 2335 ~
Tack.
Real repentance is examining oneself,
recognising and acknowledging one’s sins,
appealing to the Lord and beginning a new life.
~ True Christian Religion 528 ~
Jewels.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
~ Matthew 6:19-21 ~