God’s agenda is not to make us happy (in terms of temporal bliss). He came to make us holy. This only happens as we begin to understand who he is. The bigger Christ becomes in our eyes, the smaller we become in our own. The ground a redeemed sinner stands on is not purchased with play money or cheap trinkets. It is blood-bought and won by the Spirit over the bitterest opposition of the flesh. That is why so many doors to our hearts and minds have to be forced open by rough break-ins. These things shake us up, but it is the only way to shape us into conformity to Christ.
- Jim Andrews
(Source: Polishing God's Monuments)