The more you make this world about you, the more miserable you will be.

Truly, God's plan of redemption is about more than me and you and our neighbor down the street. It's about men and women from every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth becoming a part of His covenant community.

God ultimately raises up leaders for one primary reason: His glory. He shows His power in our weakness. He demonstrates His wisdom in our folly. We are all like a turtle on a fence post. If you walk by a fence post and see a turtle on top of it, then you know someone came by and put it there. In the same way, God gives leadership according to His good pleasure.

You and I are stymied in our own creativity. We can only create as sub-creators, and even then our best work is only sub-creation.

Trying to figure out God is like trying to catch a fish in the Pacific Ocean with an inch of dental floss.

Jesus doesn't avoid those who mess up. Jesus runs to those who mess up.

This avoidance of the difficult things of Scripture — of sinfulness and hell and God’s notable severity — is idolatrous and cowardly. If a man or a woman who teaches the Scriptures is afraid to explain to you the severity of God, they have betrayed you, and they love their ego more than they love you.