[God] waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain. — A. W. Tozer He was leaning back in his leather recliner in the wood-paneled den, his eyes darting back and forth between the television set and me, as if he didn’t deign to…
Crash the Party: Radical Repentance
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, He went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood…
Fumbles and Failures
Coaches work hard with players to develop in them the skills needed to protect the ball at all costs. Most NFL teams conduct a regular drill in which the runner scampers past a group of heavy-handed linemen who attempt to knock the ball away. Fumbles, failures, goofs — whatever you call them — do strange…
Jesus Paid It All For Us
Back in our elementary school days, my brother received a BB gun for Christmas. We immediately set up a firing range in the backyard and spent the afternoon shooting at an archery target. Growing bored with the ease of hitting the circle, my brother sent me to fetch a hand mirror. He placed the gun…
Oddballs, Defectives, Sinners, Aliens, Gentiles… and Grace
Before writing The Jesus I Never Knew, I spent several months researching the background to Jesus’ life. I learned to appreciate the ordered world of first-century Judaism. I admit that the ranking of people rankled my American sensibilities — it seemed a formal pattern of ungrace, a religious caste system — but at least the…
The New Math of Grace
When a column of mine titled “The Atrocious Mathematics of the Gospel” appeared in Christianity Today magazine, I soon learned that not everyone appreciates satire. Response letters scorched the inside of my mailbox. “Philip Yancey, you do not walk with God or with Jesus!” wrote one irate reader; “This column is blasphemy.” Another condemned my…
God’s Peace for When You Feel Guilty
It’s always tough to sleep when feeling guilty, isn’t it? The snide remark during the meeting, the way you snapped at your mom on the phone, the glare you bestowed on your spouse, the frustration that spilled out when the kids asked one too many questions. You may have felt a moment of relief for…
There’s Enough Grace to Go Around
Passage to Read Laborers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20:1-16. Point to Ponder We all have expectations about what we deserve, and if we’re honest, most of those expectations are shaped by making comparisons. We think, “So-and-So got this, so I should get that.” We compare our value against other people and make conclusions. Usually this…
You are God’s Masterpiece
To see sin without grace is despair. To see grace without sin is arrogance. To see them in tandem is conversion. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved…
Hard Grace
Everything is eucharisteo. Because eucharisteo is how Jesus, at the Last Supper, showed us to transfigure all things — take the pain that is given, give thanks for it, and transform it into a joy that fulfills all emptiness. I have glimpsed it: This, the hard eucharisteo. The hard discipline to lean into the ugly…