Spiritual growth is marked by a growing realization of just how much grace you need.
There is no better news than that the God who makes the demand for perfection also meets the demand for perfection on our behalf.
The deepest fear we have, ‘the fear beneath all fears,’ is the fear of not measuring up, the fear of judgment. It’s this fear that creates the stress and depression of everyday life.
Every time we sin in thought, word, or deed, we’re essentially saying in that moment that, “I don’t need you God. I don’t want you God. I like my way better than your way.”
If we’re not reaching the same people Jesus reached, then we’re not preaching the same message Jesus preached.
The gospel doesn’t just free me from what people think of me, but also from what I think of me.
I think it’s super important for the church itself to rediscover the gospel.
The overwhelming emphasis of contemporary Christianity: “Just do it.” The overwhelming emphasis of Biblical Christianity: “It is finished”
We don’t need answers and explanations as much as we need God’s presence in and through the suffering.
Grace doesn’t lead us into destructive behavior. Sin does. And grace is the only remedy for sin. The kindness of God leads to repentance.
The gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life but it keeps Christians growing and growing every day. There’s no reason to move beyond the gospel. There’s only movement more into it.
Real, pure, unadulterated freedom happens when the resources of the gospel smash any sense of need to secure for myself anything beyond what Christ has already secured for me.
The gospel alone liberates you to live a life of scandalous generosity, unrestrained sacrifice, uncommon valor, and unbounded courage.
Christian growth doesn’t happen by first behaving better, but by believing better – believi ng in bigger, deeper, brighter ways what Christ has already secured for sinners.
Unfortunately, some Christians are guilty of throwing out an equivalent sentiment when they play the “God is sovereign” card as a way to trump every evil that comes your way.
I didn’t realize that I was in a self-made prison of human approval and human acceptance. Didn’t even realize it. Most of the prisons we live in we are not conscious of.
Moralism doesn’t produce morality; it produces immorality.
Because Jesus was strong for us we are free to be weak.
Christianity is in no way a stoic faith. It fundamentally rejects the “stiff upper lip” school of thought.
The Gospel is not ultimately a defense from pain, it is the message of God’s rescue through pain. In fact, it allows us to drop our defenses, to escape not from pain but from the prison of “How” and “Why” to the freedom of “Who?”