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

I was always in places where I was widely accepted, approved and loved and I was finally in a place where people did not approve of me, did not accept me and did not love me. It was killing me.

My daily sins require daily distribution of God's grace. In that sense, it never ceases to surprise me because I don't deserve any of it. I mean, I deserve to be locked in a cage and for God to throw away the key.

Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.

The gospel brings things together. One of the great demonstration of the gospel's power is reconciliation. I've got friends who are surfers, doctors, lawyers, artists and entertainers. Some people are cool and some people are geeky. I look around at my friends and I think, only the gospel has the power to put together a friendship like this.

...this culture of mandatory happiness actually promotes dishonesty and more suffering.

When Martin Luther was asked what we contribute to our salvation, he said, "Sin and resistance"