No matter the severity of suffering we experience in this life, it will always be less that what we have deserved for our sins

Only those who are truly aware of their sin can truly cherish grace.

Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world.

Effective teaching involves explaining to our children what they're already observing in our lives by example.

We don't accidentally drift into holiness; rather we mature gradually and purposefully, one choice at a time.

Reminding ourselves of the gospel is the most important daily habit we can establish.

It’s not 'those who help themselves' whom God helps; it’s those who humble themselves.

But the very act of pausing in a busy day to pray is an act of weakening pride in my life, acknowledging that I am a dependent creature. I am not self sufficient.

All gifts from God are intended to direct our attention to God and create fresh affection for God.

We cannot free ourselves from pride and selfish ambition; a divine rescue is absolutely necessary.

The biblical purpose of every conversation you have, in every personal interaction, is that they person who hears you will receive grace.

Struggles test the strength of our faith.

What if part of God's message to the world was you, the true and real you?

You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality.

We don't have a full black community in Boston. Our people are scattered. There's a middle class where I live in Highland Park but it's not like a piece of Washington or Chicago.

If you look at my last songs and first short stories, there is a real connection between them.

All of us ambitious young writers hoped to have a cover story in Esquire, of course. The idea was to write the best, most entertaining article that you can.

In Britain you're more used to challenging drama. In America, TV is just boring, and numbing, and bloody terrible.

Let whoever may have attained to so much as to have the power of drawing know that he holds a great treasure.

A forty-year-old woman is only something to men who have loved her in her youth.

There's something scary about stupidity made coherent.