The Art Of Grace

One of the hardest things about communicating the grace message to religious people is getting them to see they’re not believing in Jesus for what He promised. That can be hard because they often do believe in Jesus for something—but for something less than what He is. Do you know what supplemental health insurance is? […]

A “hostile takeover” refers to “the acquisition of one company by another corporation against the wishes of the former.” If the Christian life is a kind of takeover, is it hostile? Jesus is Lord and wants to exercise that Lordship over your entire life—over your every thought, word, and deed. However, making Jesus “Lord of […]

In Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis used the term “deeper magic” as a metaphor for the gospel. He didn’t explicitly put in a Christian sermon, but the concepts still rang out clearly in the story. Likewise, if you listen carefully to culture, you’ll hear echoes of gospel themes—echoes of that “deeper magic”—present in secular […]

Paul almost makes a very serious spiritual mistake in Romans 7:18. As we’ll see, he avoids it. But if you don’t understand the error, chances are you might make it. Here’s what Paul wrote, For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is […]

God created men and women to live by faith. He also made us with emotions. Faith and feelings are two essential aspects of our humanity. But somewhere along the way, they can get out of order, negatively impacting your Christian walk. Paul wrote: For we know that our old self was crucified with him so […]

Someone said, “The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.” What makes you feel confident? And more specifically, where do you put your confidence in living the Christian life day by day? Even when you believe in Jesus for salvation and know for sure that you’ll spend eternity with God, where do you put […]

Can you overemphasize Jesus’ death on the cross? That’s hard to imagine, but one way comes to mind. I love preaching the cross. It’s central to everything I believe about Jesus, God, and the way of salvation. I consider myself a “theologian of the cross.” But there's a danger there. How so? You can put […]

Do you want people to notice the good things you do or not? Jesus said two things about that question that might appear contradictory, but the harmonization is both simple, and it reveals something crucial about Christian living. On the one hand, Jesus said He wanted His disciples to do good works that other people […]

If you belong to a religious tradition that mixes grace and law, or faith and works, you’ll probably lack assurance of your salvation. After all, if salvation depends on what you do, and you know that you’re undependable, you’ll never be sure that you’ve done what it takes to be saved. You might hope to […]

I often wake up around 3 am. If I can’t fall back asleep immediately, I’ll get up to read, write, or pray. But sometimes, I wake up with my mind racing. Late last month, I woke up, and worries flooded my mind, my chest tightened, and I started overthinking all the potentials, possibilities, and pitfalls […]