Passive righteousness tells us that God does not need our good works. Active righteousness tells us that our neighbor does. The aim and direction of good works are horizontal, not vertical.

Grace is the most dangerous, expectation-wre cking, smile-creating, counterintuitiv e reality there is.

Because of Jesus the sin we cannot forget God does not remember.

Only when you realize that the gospel has nothing to do with your obedience but with Christ's obedience for you, will you start to obey. The only Christians who end up getting better are those who realize that if they don't get better, God will love them anyway.

The more I focused on my need to get better the worse I actually got - the more neurotic and self-conscious and self-absorbed I became.

When you don't have anything to lose, you discover something wonderful: you're free to take great risks without fear or reservation.

A biblical understanding of the Christian life is not 'let go and let God,' it's 'trust God and get going.'