The great paradox is this: to be holy like Christ is holy is impossible through studying the Bible alone (though studying it may very well lead you the person who can make you holy). I can no more make myself holy by my own efforts than I can save my soul by my own efforts. To be holy, as to be saved, is an act of the Holy Spirit by the grace of God made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. 

– Steve Hager “The Quest for the Mind of Christ”

The voice of God indeed daily calls to us; calls to the world to abandon sins and seek the Kingdom of God wholeheartedly. O that we may all hear the call of the Father and, sometime, at last be converted to the Lord…

In silence and in meditation on the eternal truths, I hear the voice of God which excites our hearts to greater love.

– C.S. LEWIS 

And when you hear that we look for a kingdom, you suppose, without making any inquiry, that we speak of a human kingdom. Instead, we speak of that which is with God, as can be shown from the confession of their faith made by those who are charged with being Christians, even though they know that death is the punishment awarded to those who so confess. For if we looked for a human kingdom, we would deny our Christ, so that we might not be killed. We would try to escape detection, so that we might obtain what we hope for. But since our thoughts are not fixed on the present, we are not concerned when men cut us off; since death is a debt which must at all events be paid. 

Justine Martyr (First Apology 11)