Bryan Chapell

Because I am united to Christ, God__ love for me is not as variable as my loyalty to him_. God will not love me more because I do better. He will not love me less because I stumble. His love is based not on my behavior but on my union with his Son _ a union built on trust in his grace, not my goodness.

Grace unfolds on every page [of Scripture]: God__ long march through the history of human rebellion and ruin to reach us with the love of his Son; the Savior__ humble service, sinless life, sacrificial death, victorious resurrection, and promised return; the Holy Spirit__ indwelling witness, power, and advocacy__ll unswerving despite our wayward ways and hard hearts.

Grace is never out of view. Grace secures our relationship with God despite our sin. Grace maintains our forgiveness despite the inadequacies of our repentance. Grace filters the consequences of sin in order to protect us from spiritual harm. When this grace captures our hearts, it compels us to love and serve the God who provides its lavish, loving, and lasting provisions.

His mercy, not our merits, make[s] us his.

Jesus does not love any child (young or old) because the child is good. Jesus loves his children because he is good.

Jesus loves us not because we are good but because he is.

Jesus designed the Lord's prayer to reveal His desire to give us more fully, graciously, and suitably the very things we most want but seek elsewhere. He does not want to deny us our desires but helps remove the false objects of our affections so that we will have the greater blessings he longs to lavish on us.

We are not to mimic witches spicing their caldrons with a little eye of newt and tail of squirrel when we add Jesus_ name to our prayers.

God has given his law so that we will experience, not earn, the good he intends for our lives.

Sin gains power over us not by its indomitable force but by our divided heart.

We sin not because we do not love Christ at all but because we don__ love him above all.