How do I deal with the debt I owe to God? Deny it? My conscience won’t let me. Find worse sins in others? God won’t fall for that. Try to pay it off? I could, but we don’t know the cost of sin. We don’t even know how much we owe. What do we do?

Listen to Paul’s answer in what one scholar says is possibly the single most important paragraph ever written. Romans 3:24-25 says, “All need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. God gave him as a way to forgive sin through faith in the blood of Jesus.”

Simply put. The cost of your sins is more than you can pay. The gift of your God is more than you can imagine. We are made right with God, by grace, through faith!

From In the Grip of Grace

As children, the minute we got home from school we would hit the pavement. The kid across the street had a dad with a great arm and a strong addiction to football. He couldn’t resist when we would yell for him to play ball. He’d always ask, “Which team is losing?” Then he’d join that team, which often seemed to be mine. His appearance changed the whole ball game. He was confident, strong, and most of all, had a plan. “Okay boys, here’s what we are going to do.” You see, we not only had a new plan, we had a new leader. He brought new life to our team.
God does precisely the same. We didn’t need a new play; we needed a new plan. We needed a new player, Jesus Christ, God’s firstborn Son. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
From In the Grip of Grace

It’s the universal strategy of impunity. Even kids use it. If I can get my dad more angry at my brother than me, I’m off scot-free. So I accuse…I compare. Rather than admit my own faults, I find faults in others. The easiest way to justify the mistakes in my house is to find worse ones in my neighbor’s house.

Such scams don’t work with God! God isn’t so easily diverted.  He sees through all smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done. Did you think just because he is such a nice God, he would let you off the hook? God is kind, but he’s not soft. He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life change. We aren’t good enough to judge. Can the sick mock the ill? Can the blind judge the deaf? Can the sinner condemn the sinner? No. Only One can judge…it is God.

From In the Grip of Grace

Rather than worship the Creator, we worship the creation! No wonder there is no wonder. We have figured it all out. Ever wonder why people sleep in on Sunday mornings, whether in bed or in the sanctuary? They’ve seen it all. Why get excited? They know it all! There’s nothing sacred. The holy becomes humdrum.

Can you see why Paul says in Romans 1:24 that people became full of sexual sin, using their bodies wrongly with each other? You’ve got to get excitement somewhere. If there’s no purpose to this life, nothing sacred about this life, what’s to keep us from doing whatever we want? How does God feel about such a view of life? Well, let me give you a hint. How would you feel if you saw your children settling for crumbs when you had prepared for them a feast?…Exactly!

From In the Grip of Grace

As surely as a child breathes, he will someday wonder, “What is the purpose of my life?” Some search for meaning in a career.  My purpose is to be a dentist. Fine vocation but hardly a justification for existence. They opt to be a human doing rather than a human being. They work many hours, because if they don’t, they have no identify. For others, who they are is what they have. They find meaning in a new car, a new house, new clothes.  They are great for the economy because they’re always seeking meaning in something they own. Sports, entertainment, cults, sex, you name it. Paul says in Romans 1:22, “Claiming themselves to be wise without God, they became utter fools instead.” Contrast that to God’s vision of life when he said, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us!” (Ephesians 2:10).

From In the Grip of Grace

How often do you see people more concerned about getting a job done right than they are about saving their necks? Too seldom, right?  But when we do—when we see a gutsy human taking a few risks—ah, now that’s a person worthy of a pat on the back. So…

Here’s to the woman whose husband left her with a nest of kids to raise and bills to pay, but who somehow tells me every Sunday that God has never been closer.

Here’s to the single father of two girls who learned to braid their hair.

Here’s to the girl who was told to abort the baby but chose to keep the baby.

Here’s to the doctor who treats more than half of his patients for free.

Here’s to all of you reckless lovers of life and God.

So what if you forgot about pleasing the crowd. Most of us aren’t even in your league.

From In the Eye of the Storm

Worship happens when you are aware that what you’ve been given is far greater than what you can give. Worship is the awareness that were it not for God’s touch, you’d still be hobbling and hurting, bitter and broken. It is the glazed expression on the parched face of a desert pilgrim who discovers the oasis is not a mirage.

We have tried to make a science out of worship. We can’t do that! We can’t do that any more than we can sell love or negotiate peace. Worship is a voluntary act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, and by the delivered to the Deliverer. If you and I can go days without feeling an urge to say “thank you” to the One who saved, healed, and delivered us, then we would do well to remember what He did!

From In the Eye of the Storm