The wonderful thing about life in Christ is that it’s more like driving an Uber than working a mail route—you never know who you’ll meet or where you’ll go next.*

R. Somerset Ward (1881–1962), a beloved spiritual director in the Church of England, spent time and energy guiding people into life in Christ. He warned that life in Christ doesn’t always look like a hyperorganized life: It is very easy, when everything we see round us is organized and limited, to fall into the habit of thinking that the same is

The abundant Christian life, the victorious Christian life, the joy-filled and peace-filled Christian life, is based on truth. Every lie we believe about God changes the way we look at him and respond to him. Just as harmful, when we believe a lie, we’ll tend to spread our lies—all with good intentions—and incarcerate our fellow believers in the

Sometimes we think that to prosper in Christ we must control everything around us—our schedule, temptations, relationships, desires. Some teachers define maturity as maintaining and increasing control over our lives. But what if God calls us to relinquish our control? We need to learn the blessed truth of the way of the wind. When we become

My life was upended in a marvelous way when I learned that peace is relational, not situational. Peace is a person. When I could finally say, “Everything is well; all is okay; I have everything I will ever need at this very moment,” I was able to stop striving, worrying, clawing, and fretting right now.

New Testament scholar John Stott pointed out that “do not conform” is a repeated pattern of instruction throughout Scripture.5 Leviticus 18:3 reads, “You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.” Jesus describes to his

As a final word, remember that we don’t follow Jesus to get peace; we follow Jesus because he is truly divine, our creator and our rightful king. He is beautiful, and his beauty compels us to love him. As we love him, we experience the peace that naturally results from putting our trust in a kind, capable, and powerful God. If our only motive in

Reject the things that assault peace. Dismantle what you’ve been pursuing; welcome what brings peace. When you do, you will find spiritual comfort, personal rest, relaxation, and security.

After telling us not to conform to the pattern of this world but instead be transformed by the renewing of our minds, Paul wrote, “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (emphasis added). Until I’m thus transformed, I won’t even know what God’s will is.