1. It would serve us well to embrace the beauty of our diversity within the unity of the body of Christ.
  2. How can he say it? How can he say that Christ is after all the entire meaning of life for him, and that death is no real worry?
  3. God knows that when we face insurmountable odds in our moments of weakness, we are more likely to turn to him in trust and reliance.
  4. We have to “remember” that God remembers us. He has not fallen away. For God to remember us means he is working for our good; a restoration.
  5. Faith sees your neighbor not as a means to an end, not as a way to score points, but as an object of love: Christ's love and yours.
  6. We must also address the stigma surrounding addiction within so many churches.
  7. Jesus’s story in Luke 16 draws definitive attention to whom God helps — namely, God always comes close in order to help those who cannot help themselves.
  8. It is of the utmost importance that pastors teach their congregation that through faith in Jesus Christ, they are fortified against the machinations of the adversary.
  9. Christ shows up in the middle of our storms and our nightmares. That’s where he sets up shop.
  10. God comes to us through the flesh and blood and spirit of Christ precisely where he promised to be manifest to us and for us.
  11. This is an excerpt from “Finding God in the Darkness: Hopeful Reflections from the Pits of Depression, Despair, and Disappointment” by Bradley Gray (1517 Publishing, 2023).