A joyful life of grace toward others grows best in the soil of gratitude. When I really reflect on who I am, when I take time to consider the grace that I couldn't have earned, achieved, or deserved but which has been lavished on me, and when I remember that that grace came at the cost of the life of another, then I am joyfully motivated to give that grace to others.

Your obedience is never to be done in the hope that you will get something, but rather in recognition of what you have already been given.

For most of us, church is merely an event we attend or an organization we belong to. We do not see it as a calling that shapes our entire life.

praise is celebrating God's awesome glory, then complaint is antipraise.

Every time you make creative, interactive, and harmonious jazz with your Redeemer, whether in your home, friendships, community, church, or at work, while staying inside of his parameters, you are expanding what you touch to the size of God's kingdom.

The war that rages in all our hearts is a war between the awe of God and the awe of self. The war really does somehow turn all of us into glory thieves. Perhaps we commit vertical larceny much more than we realize. Perhaps we quest for personal glory more than we think. Perhaps we take credit for what only God can do more often than we think we do. Perhaps, in subtle idolatry, we give credit to places and things when it really belongs to God.

When you remember mercy, complaining gives way to gratitude and self-focused desire gives way to worship.

To speak as Christ's ambassadors, we must understand God's mission and how it offers us practical guidance for the things we face with family, friendships, and the body of Christ. It's Been His Mission from the Beginning

After you have bowed down and worshiped, get up and serve this One of awesome glory. Refuse to question his will. Refuse to let yourself think that his boundaries are ill placed. Be thankful his majesty is your protection, his glory is your motivation, his grace is your help, and his wisdom is your direction.

the way to defeat the dangerous potential of complaint is not by silence but by praise. The more you commit yourself to counting your blessings, the more you will have eyes to see specific blessings in your life.

We are all the same; the character and quality of our life is forged in little moments. Every day we lay little bricks on the foundation of what our life will be. The bricks of words said, the bricks of actions taken, the bricks of little decisions, the bricks of little thoughts, and the bricks of small-moment desires all work together to form the functional edifice that is your marriage.

Yes, God has filled your life with glories of many kinds. There is never a day when you aren't greeted by those glories. But it is vital to remember that the glories that surround you every day in the world that God made are not meant to be your stopping point, because you were created to live for a greater, more glorious glory—the glory of God.