Our righteousness doesn't depend on our present performance but on Jesus' finished performance.

Sometimes we get way too fixated on how powerful sin is and how weak we are. We worry that if we relax for a second, we'll mess up royally and ruin everything. Ironically, our paranoia only serves to make us more conscious of our sinfulness.

Jesus didn’t care about the scandal. He cared about the scandalous.

Responsibility is good for your soul

Don't allow the opinions of other people to shape your concept of him. Get to know him yourself, and let the goodness of God change you from the inside out.

God is not in a hurry to fix us. Our behavior is not his first priority. We are his first priority. Loving us, knowing us, affirming us, protecting us. That is his top goal and his main concern.

But difficult situations and wrong choices conspire to trap us in hopelessness.