While disagreement is unavoidable, division is a choice. The most important thing to Jesus is his followers’ unity, and in the midst of disagreement, we can create a community where everyone is welcome, and even enemies can work together joyfully.

When someone does something wrong, we want them to get what they deserve. But when we’re the ones who do wrong, we want mercy! Thankfully, Jesus shows us a God who does not give us what we deserve but offers us grace, no matter how little we seem to deserve it.

When you’re going through a difficult time, someone might try to reassure you by saying, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” But if we’re honest, we all have things we can’t handle alone. The good news is that God never expected us to handle everything on our own, and God helps us when we have more than we can handle.

Everyone wants to be happy, but our attempts to chase happiness often have the opposite effect—they make us miserable. While God delights in our happiness, God also has higher callings for us that are better and more life-giving than happiness alone.

We’ve all heard them—simple sayings that sound nice, but are simply untrue. You may have heard that “Doubting is dangerous.” But doubt is something we all experience, and in fact, doubt can actually help us to grow.