What do we call an obsessively self-centered person? An egomaniac. Then what should we call God, who demands all our praise? We call him gracious.

Hope produces joy and peace, and as we patiently endure tribulation by the power of the Holy Spirit, hope feeds on its own fruit and abounds all the more.

The Puritans took joy seriously because they read the Bible carefully. They saw that delight in God is at the heart of all true obedience.

You will not be perfect in this life, but you can be pleasing to God. You can become a real ingredient in the divine happiness.

Before he created the earth, God knew pain would plague this world. And not only knew, but planned. And not only planned — but purposed.

The individual soul’s affection for God is essential to the corporate, eternal reality of the worshiping church.

When glad in God, we bend low in love for others. We imitate Christ, who not only bowed the knee but hung his body on the tree.

God promises us his life-sustaining presence, even as he leads us into waterless regions of suffering and loss.

Faith does not shipwreck upon the rocks of history, logic, science, or ethics, but on the mountains of sinful desire.

Humility flourishes in hearts that focus not on being humble, but on gladly exalting Jesus, who is superior to us in every possible way.