You see, the secret of the gospel is that we become more spiritually mature when we focus less on what we need to do for God and focus more on all that God has already done for us. The irony of the gospel is that we actually perform better as we grow in our understanding that our relationship with God is based on Christ's performance for us, not our performance for him.

Thankfully, while our self-righteousness reaches far, God's grace reaches farther.

Christmas is the beachhead of God’s campaign against sin and sadness, darkness and death, fear and frustration.

If the depths of everyone's sin was made public, we would all be much more gracious to each other.

The passive righteousness of faith frees me from passing final judgment on myself.

Even those of us who have tasted the radical saving grace of God find it intuitively difficult not to put conditions on grace.

When I was 25, I believed I could change the world. At 41, I have come to the realization that I cannot change my wife, my church, or my kids, to say nothing of the world. Try as I might, I have not been able to manufacture outcomes the way I thought I could, either in my own life or other people's.