We, Jesus' followers, are the agents assigned to carry out God's will on earth. Too easily we expect God to do something for us when instead God wants to do it through us.

only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason he created us.

The storm laid bare an unmistakable truth. More and more Christians have decided that the only way to reconquer America is through service. The faith no longer travels by the word. It moves by the deed.

The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labour for', as Sir Thomas More expressed it. The inner voice of prayer expresses itself naturally in action, just as the inner voice of my brain guides all my bodily actions.

The Christian sees the world as a transitional home badly in need of rehab, and we are active agents in that project.

I do "good works" for my wife not in order to earn credit but to express my love for her. Likewise, God wants me to serve "in the new way of the Spirit": not out of compulsion but out of desire.

We understand God best, Dorothy Sayers suggests, by thinking of God as a creative artist. Imagine God as an engineer or watchmaker or immovable force, and you will go astray. God's image shines through us most clearly in the act of creation-comprising the three stages of Idea, Expression, and Recognition-and by reproducing this act we may begin to grasp, by analogy, the Trinity.

To the question Do I matter? Jesus is indeed the answer.

God already knows who we are; we are the ones who must find a way to come to terms with our true selves.

I find a simple answer in the Bible's overarching theme that God is love. That quality, more than anything else, makes clear the reason behind all creation. Love cannot really exist without an object to receive it.

Living in freedom means learning how to walk again—learning how to walk God's way for a change—because, listen, you can be 100 percent saved and still spend the majority of your time in Egypt. Unbelievers aren't the only ones who contribute to Egypt's overcrowding.

Elisabeth Elliot, has said, "One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was, 'Do the next thing.'" Instead of getting all hung up on looking for the grand scope of God's will for your life, just do what He's called you to do right now. That's all that really matters. Now.