Quote of the Day

"…As long as we're living in this world, we will be tempted to locate our identity in something or someone smaller than Jesus. Not just tempted, we will locate our identity in all sorts of things that will disappoint us. That is what it means to be addicted to control, after all. We will listen to the words we read on billboards and hear on TV, the voices inside our own heads that tell us we are not enough, that we have to go out and 'get it,' that it is up to us to secure our significance, legacy, and impact…Fortunately, the gift of identity we have been given in Christ is not contingent upon our grasping it tightly enough, either spiritually or intellectually. If it were, it wouldn't be much of a gift! It is only contingent on Christ's dying and rising again. It persists even when we resist. 

 The Gospel, in other words, liberates us to be okay with not being okay. We can stop pretending that we are anyone but who we actually are. Which means we can admit our weaknesses to ourselves without feeling as if the flesh is being ripped off our bones. We can take off our masks and explore our self-justifying compulsions from a safe distance. When you understand that our significance, security, and identity are all locked in Christ, you don't have to win - you're free to lose. And nothing in this broken world can beat a person who isn't afraid to lose! You may even find you're free enough to say crazy, risky, counterintuitive stuff like, 'To live is Christ and to die is gain'!" 

- Tullian Tchividjian in One Way Love