We have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.' There are no U-Hauls behind hearses.

We make a god out of whatever we find most joy in. So find your joy in God and be done with all idolatry.

Why don't people ask us about our hope? The answer is probably that we look as if we hope in the same things they do. Our lives don't look like they are on the Calvary road, stripped down for sacrificial love, serving others with the sweet assurance that we don't need to be rewarded in this life.

The Gospel is not a picture of adoption, adoption is a picture of the Gospel.

Taken as a whole, the story of Ruth is one of those signs. It was written to give us encouragement and hope that all the perplexing turns in our lives are going somewhere good. They do not lead off a cliff. In all the setbacks of our lives as believers, God is plotting for our joy.

Life is war. That's not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief.

The Christian life becomes impossible. That is, it becomes supernatural.