For James and for us the most important question we can answer is the “Who is God?” Question. ...

Applying this “chain” takes some intentional work....

Sin doesn’t exist in a vacuum....

Let’s try two thought-experiments....

According to James, God sends trials but he is not responsible for temptations. That difference may seem arbitrary to us, but it matters tremendously to James....

Blessed are those who experience trials because they get a specific kind of benefit that can only come on the other side of a trial....

During our trials, we need to maintain a firm conviction that God is willing and able to give us wisdom to navigate our difficult circumstances. ...

Our generous God cares immensely about who we’re becoming as we walk through life....

Trials change us: for the better or for worse....

Trials remain trials. Pain remains pain. Suffering remains suffering. But we aren’t helpless....

Jesus' compassion and love extend even to those of us who cross our arms and mutter in response to his generosity....

Rejoicing is the only appropriate response when someone comes home to God....

But if we push through the valley with faithful endurance, what a joy waits for us on the other side: second chances, restoration, new life!...

God values “lost sheep” so much that rejoicing spreads through heaven whenever one person changes their life course and heads home to God....

Throughout his ministry Jesus made a special effort to connect with those who were socially ostracized, vulnerable and far from God....

While the father’s patient forgiveness of the younger son is obvious, it’s important that we not miss that he’s just as generous with the older, self-righteous son....

“This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”...

The way people answer the “What’s God like?” question matters tremendously....

If you have a loved one who has left home for a distant country and met disaster, grief is healthy. ...

That’s his reputation. And his core of generosity never seems to be exhausted....

One cannot be a son without being a brother. One cannot be a brother without being a son....