When the love of Jesus captivates us, our hearts will naturally, and quite effortlessly, love him first and to love him most.

We simply cannot manufacture character in ourselves, no matter how hard we try. Love is not a to-do-list.

Any kind of work that leaves people, places, or things in better shape than before…is work that should be celebrated as good.

Because God has declared us to be blameless in his sight through the finished work of Jesus, we truly have nothing left to prove.

What if we really believed that being loved was our starting point with God, before we do anything good or bad?

If Jesus, who will one day resolve every groan in his good creation, was subject to the groan, shouldn’t we expect to be also?

If only we knew now what we will one day know about our own work and how it fits into God’s overall plan to save and heal the world.

I know that many pastors say it’s impossible to let your guard down with the members of your church. 

We aren’t lonely because something is wrong with us. We are lonely because something is right with us.

God is my refuge on one hand, and the darkness is my companion on the other.