The emphasis of the Bible is on the work of the Redeemer, not on the work of the redeemed.

Because Jesus was someone, you’re free to be no one.

Because the church has moved away from the gospel anytime you move away from the gospel, you at the same time move toward pretense, you move toward image-keeping, you move toward the need to pretend.

I was spending too much time thinking about how I was doing, if I was learning everything I was supposed to be learning during this difficult season, whether I was doing it right or not, taking my spiritual pulse, etc - my inner lawyer was working overtime.

The Gospel is not ultimately a defense from pain, it is the message of God's rescue through pain. In fact, it allows us to drop our defenses, to escape not from pain but from the prison of "How" and "Why" to the freedom of "Who?"

Jesus has done everything for you.

An identity based in the one-way love of God does not take into account public opinion or, thankfully, even personal opinion.