In the Old Testament, we are continually told that our good works are not enough, that God has made a provision. This provision is pointed to at every place in the Old Testament.

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?"

Sanctification consists of the daily realization that in Christ we have died, and in Christ we have been raised.

Christianity is in no way a stoic faith. It fundamentally rejects the "stiff upper lip" school of thought.

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

I had turned personal validation into my primary source of meaning and value, so that without it I was miserable and depressed.

There's absolutely no way you can feel the freedom to embarrass and humiliate yourself unless you have finally recognized that your identity is in someone other than yourself.