The Bible, of course, is not a theology book. It is certainly not a philosophy book. So we have to derive the meaning of terms from the context in use.

Dallas Willard warns us too of the "cost of non-discipleship." We may be able to live with some pain, but when our whole self becomes more and more rotten, the cost is far greater than dealing with the problem as soon as possible. This is why I think following Jesus, though challenging, is much easier than following anything else. The world has nothing better to offer me. Jesus has come to right my wrongs and to make me refreshingly new.

It's important to distinguish the soul from the spirit, or will, because the will or the heart or the spirit is the executive center of the self.

Today it is the skeptics who are the social conformists, though because of powerful intellectual propaganda they continue to enjoy thinking of themselves as wildly individualistic and unbearably bright.

Projects of personal transformation rarely succeed by accident, drift, or imposition.

To allow lust (or strong desires) to govern our life is to exalt our will over God's.

The humility that cringes in order that reproof may be escaped or favor obtained is as unchristian as it is profoundly immoral.