The gospel frees us from this pressure to perform, this slavish demand to “become.” The gospel liberatingly declares that in Christ “we already are.” If you’re a Christian, here’s the good news: who you really are has nothing to do with you—how much you can accomplish, who you can become, your behavior (good or bad), […]
Why God Was Justified to Bring Harsh Judgment in the Old Testament
I recently wrote about some of the harsh Bible verses we find in the Old Testament, where God commands his people to kill entire people groups, including their women and infants. These are the verses picked out by leading atheist Richard Dawkins and others who are anti-Christian to smear God’s name, and in general serve […]
The Church’s obsession with big crowds is so different than Jesus’
Ask any driven church planter if they have a vision of someday having a church with 500 people or a few thousand people and/or multiple campuses, (and if they are honest) they will likely tell you yes. Ask any church planting denomination, and they will definitely tell you yes! This is a successful church in today’s […]
The Enslaving Pressure of Measuring Up to Others
I was learning the hard way that the gospel alone can free us from our addiction to being liked–that Jesus measured up for us so that we wouldn’t have to live under the enslaving pressure of measuring up for others. -Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything
The Only Thing that Brings Peace: Grace
Grace means that no person is beyond redemption, no human stain beyond cleansing…no mistake we make disqualifies us from God’s love Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are The opposite of sin is grace, not virtue God seeks not to crush me but to liberate […]
The Message of the Gospel: You Don’t Need to Improve
I remember hearing an interview with Derek Webb several years back where he was talking about grace and what the Gospel actually is. He said something to the effect of, “We can’t make God love us any more or any less that He already does.” When I first heard this, at that point in my […]