The subtitle of the book is: the believer's struggle with faith, grace, and works. This is a very easy to read/understand book that goes over the tension in the life of the Christian concerning our lives as new creations and our constant fallings to sin. Julian helps the reader understand how he can be reliant on grace while avoiding easy-believism. While the topic may seem simple, this book can teach a mature Christian many things about the believer's struggle with sin.

Of course our actions show us to be sinners, but what else do they show? Are we people who know we are sinners? Have we embraced God's promises to forgive and restore us? Just as my sinfulness will show itself in my life, so also will my faith. (28)

Trials are for our benefit; among other things, they make the invisible realities of our own hearts visible. (28)

Chapter 2: Righteous Sinners

For us to make sense of the Bible and our own lives, we must understand two important truths:

1. The children of God are still morally weak and sinful.
   
2. The children of God are right-hearted people, with a new orientation to the truths of God. (42)

Chapter 3: Who Am I?

A humble willingness to know ourselves as sinners is an essential part of being a believer. (46)

Chapter 4: Who is God?

To fear men means to recognize the power that human beings have to help or to harm me in this life; to fear men is to submit to others out of fear of what they might do. We all find it easy to fear men; experience teaches us the pain that human beings inflict on each other. Unfortunately, our fear of men makes it easy to ignore God. When people disapprove of us the consequences are immediate. In comparison, God's displeasure seems intangible and remote, which is why to be a person who fears God instead of men is significant. Fearing God means seeing God, not man, as the power to be dealt with, the one whose goodwill we must not lose. (61-62)

Fearing God is not the same as being afraid. Believers are not being asked to live in a constant state of abject terror, to live with the panicky, terrified feeling that we are doomed. We have been forgiven; we have been accepted. (63)

Equating an emotional experience with "loving God" can lead us astray. The depth of one's love of God is not measured by the number of tissues used at the worship service. People who don't love God (in the biblical sense) can have powerful religious experiences; people who do love God don't experience an unending emotional high. Emotions play a big part in human life. They play a part in marriage; they play a part in loving God. In each case, however, the "love" required is a more profound commitment of the heart. (64)

If we look at life in this evil age and say, "This is good enough; this is what I want," then we "love" our lives. On the other hand, if we see the kingdom of God as our prize, then we "hate" our lives now. We will not sacrifice anything of eternal importance to keep this life because we "love" the next one. (65)

Chapter 5: What Do I Want?

I have noticed that, when many Christians speak of their hope for the future, they present a bland picture hardly recognizable from a biblical perspective. They typically say something like, "When we die, we will go to heaven. We will see our loved ones, we will praise Jesus all day long, and we will be happy." Sometimes they themselves admit that this picture is uninspiring. Many loved ones (the unbelieving ones) will not be in heaven. They can't imagine how praising Jesus could be interesting for more than a day or so, much less for eternity. And they can't imagine being happy in the absence of everything they have enjoyed in this life. These Christians are right to wonder if "heaven" is all there is because their picture of life after death has not even scratched the surface of all that comprises the Christian hope. (71)

When the Bible speaks of the Christian hope, it almost always speaks of the second coming of Christ, the time when Jesus returns to the earth. (71)

It is easy - but wrong - to believe that all our problems are outside of us. If we could only change circumstances, if only other people would get their acts together, then life would be good. But I am firmly convinced that each of us is his or her own biggest problem. (72)

But although believers can and do experience profound joy, it is a joy in spite of our current circumstances, not because of them. Peter says we rejoice in spite of our trials because of the glory that awaits us when Jesus returns. (74)

Therefore the true problem of worldliness is not solved by merely "keeping our act clean." We are worldly people if we have bought the lie that anything in this world can meet the deepest needs of our hearts. The world is in our face every day, while the kingdom of God seems remote and abstract. Nevertheless, as we have seen, our true fulfillment is to be found in that kingdom. The world is dangerous because it can fatally distract us from our own best interests; it can lead us to our eternal destruction by competing with the gospel. (77-78)

Most of the hungry crowd, however, see only one thing: "This is a guy who can give us bread. Follow Him, and from this day forward the curse on the ground will be lifted; no more digging and hoeing and sweating." They made a profound mistake. Although the crowd is ready to "believe" in Jesus as the Messiah whom God sent, they do not agree with God about what they truly need. It is as if they learned the wrong lesson from the manna in the wilderness: Not "man lives by everything proceeding from the mouth of God," but rather, "man lives by bread, period; that's why God gave it to us." (80)

Chapter 6: Faith Under Trial

The test is not for God's sake, but for ours. The point of perseverance is growth in self-knowledge. (95)

God had never promised Joe a big ministry; He promised to give him eternal life. Was that enough for Joe? (97-98)

Faith is not a one-time event, but a permanent change of heart which, if given time, will show itself in perseverance. (100)

In a way, the fact that sometimes we feel like we're getting worse instead of better is more evidence of the change God has brought about. Instead of hiding from our sin and trying to justify it, we are growing more willing to see how deep our moral problem really runs. Instead of the glib promises of our youth that we are "totally sold out to God," in our maturity we grow much more distrustful of ourselves. We have learned to recognize sin in its respectable disguises; we know now that only a miracle will ever disentangle us from the grip of our own selfishness. (101-102)

Chapter 7: The Wisdom from Above

To be truly wise, one doesn't have to understand everything, just the most important things. (108)

If you live every bit as foolishly as an unbeliever does, then in what sense do you "believe"? (116)

Chapter 9: As We Forgive Our Debtors

What sort of a trial tests whether I am humble or self-righteous? What kind of situation demands that I think about my own moral guilt? The Bible tells us of a powerful test of our own self-concept: How do we respond when we are called upon to forgive others? (142)

In today's American culture, which puts a premium on tolerance, "do not judge" is often interpreted as "do not presume to see anything wrong with what anyone else is doing." We don't have to look far to see Jesus couldn't possibly mean that. We are supposed to be discerning, carefully distinguishing between good and evil. (145)

When I judge, I take on myself what is god's prerogative alone: the right to determine what another person deserves. (145)

If I have decided that I cannot treat you well because you deserve my contempt, then I am refusing to forgive you; I am judging you. (145)

(1) Forgiving is not forgetting; and (2) forgiveness is not based on self-hatred. Those who are victims of abuse often wrestle with feelings of worthlessness: "He was right to abuse me because I don't deserve to be loved. (150)

If we will not forgive, we must ask the question whether we ourselves have been forgiven - or want to be. (152)

Conclusion: Staying on the Narrow Path

They didn't want to think of themselves as ungodly; neither did they want to lose their worldly goods by supporting their parents. Thus their ingenious solution: Dedicate their goods to God so that it would be disobedient to give it to their parents. The wealth was dedicated to God in name only; in practice anything declared "Corban" was still available for use. The solution was perfect - they could keep their worldly goods and practice devotion to Go at the same time. Never mind that their solution was immoral and disobedient to the larger intent of the law. (189)

In a culture as morally adrift as ours, it is easy for church people to fall into the ditch of legalism. The standard is so low we can easily beat it. We can congratulate ourselves for being conservative and heterosexual and pro-life. Most of all, we have the right religion. We know the right answers about Jesus, the right way to be baptized, the right way to pray. Thank God we are not like other men. At the same time, it is easy to fall into the quagmire of licentiousness. How many of us have baptized worldly ambition and called it "furthering the kingdom of God"? How many church are split by power struggles on the building committee? How many of us are straining the limits of sexual purity through flirtatious and provocative behavior, all the while congratulating ourselves for "not going all the way"? How many parents are off building great ministries and saving the world while their God-given children are neglected and wandering unguided? All around us are those who name the name of Jesus and look down on their pagan neighbors while at heart they are no different from those neighbors; they watch the same TV shows and pursue the same elicit fantasies and nurse the same grudges and share the same dreams of wealth and success. I say these things not to condemn anyone but as a warning to us all. If we are not pursuing humility and faithfulness before God, then we have lost our way. The leaven of the Pharisees is fatal. (190)

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