The deepest cry of the human heart is to be loved without condition, no matter what. The gospel of grace announces that you are.

Grace always runs downhill, meeting us at the bottom, not the top.

In 'Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels,' I retell the story of Jonah and show how Jonah was just as much in need of God's grace as the sailors and the Ninevites.

Self-righteousness is unavoidable. You can either be a self-righteous Pharisee where you think you are better than everyone else or you can be a self-righteous pagan who thinks you are better than the Pharisee. If you are a self-righteous person, I could become very self-righteous thinking that you're self-righteous and you think you're so good but I know you're bad. I know I'm bad so that makes me better than you.

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

The gospel doesn't make bad people good, it makes dead people alive.

Your pain could be God prying open your life and heart to remove a gift of His that you've been on to more dearly than Him.