A Christian is one who stops working to be saved, not one who stops working!

The lack of joy in your life is due to your lack of mission.

Some suffering is given in order to chastise and correct a person for wrongful patterns of life (as in the case of Jonah imperiled by the storm), some suffering is given not to correct past wrongs but to prevent future ones (as in the case of Joseph sold into slavery), and some suffering has no purpose other than to lead a person to love God more ardently for himself alone and so discover the ultimate peace and freedom.

A life of gratitude to God for being saved is far more pleasing than a life based on self-righteousness over being good.

God's salvation does not come in response to a changed life. A changed life comes in response to the salvation, offered as a free gift.

Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.

The early church was strikingly different from the culture around it in this way - the pagan society was stingy with its money and promiscuous with its body. A pagan gave nobody their money and practically gave everybody their body. And the Christians came along and gave practically nobody their body and they gave practically everybody their money.