Only with time do we really learn who the other person is and come to love the person for him- or herself and not just for the feelings and experiences they give us.
How could a good, all-powerful God allow suffering?
God is so committed to your ultimate joy that he was willing to plunge into the greatest depths of suffering himself for you.
A life of gratitude to God for being saved is far more pleasing than a life based on self-righteousness over being good.
We must not settle for an informed mind without an engaged heart.
The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not ‘used’ the gospel in and on all parts of our life.
We tend to see God as a means through which we get things to make us happy. For most of us, He has not become our happiness.
In the end, we love people into belief. We do not argue them into belief.
The doctrine of grace and redemption keeps us from seeing any person or situation as hopeless.
Idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things.
If you need something in addition to God to make you happy, that is your true King.
Faith journeys are never simply intellectual exercises.
Religion operates on the principle ‘I obey-therefore I am accepted by God.’ But the operating principle of the gospel is ‘I am accepted by God through what Christ has done-therefore I obey.’
Prayer is awe, intimacy, struggle-yet, the way to reality.
We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.
The gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves, for we are already proven and secure.
If we are deeply moved by the sight of his love for us, it detaches our hearts from other would-be saviors. We stop trying to redeem ourselves through our pursuits and relationships, because we are already redeemed. We stop trying to make others into saviors, because we have a Savior.
Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally.
There is a joy available that the deepest grief cannot put out. No circumstance or person can take away the joy God gives.
For every one look at your sins, take five looks at your Savior.