Christian growth, in other words, doesn’t happen by first behaving better, but by believing better—believing in bigger, deeper, brighter ways what Christ has already secured for sinners.

The hard work of Christian growth, therefore, is to think less of ourselves and our performance and more of Jesus and his performance for us. Ironically, when we focus mostly on our need to get better, we actually get worse. We become neurotic and self- absorbed. Preoccupation with our effort instead of with God’s effort... Continue Reading →

We’ll never really feel deliverance if we don’t first feel desperation. We’ll never experience the glory of real freedom if we don’t first experience the grief of our own slavery.