The commands of God are given, not to rob me of joy, but lead me into the fullness of joy.

While the good news of the gospel may not appeal to everyone, the bad news of the gospel still applies to everyone.

More often than not, we want him to have fairy wings and spread fairy dust and shine like a precious little star, dispensing nothing but good times on everyone, like some kind of hybrid of Tinker Bell and Aladdin’s Genie. But the God of the Bible, this God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, is a pillar of fire and a column of smoke.

The context of the gospel message is not our benefit or our salvation; the context of the gospel is the supremacy of Christ and the glory of God.

In essence, we are reconciled to reconcile.

When we see the bankruptcy, slavery, and vanity of everything else, we can finally say, ‘To die is gain.’

The work of God in the cross of Christ strikes us as awe-inspiring only after we have first been awed by the glory of God.