We can ‘count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds’ because we know that suffering proves our faith (cf. Rom 5:2-5, 1 Pet 1:6-7) and, as James will continue to build on, suffering produces Christlikeness.

Union with Christ depicts the reality of all the ways that the Bible pictures our human connectedness to Christ, in which he is indispensable for every good that we enjoy.

Not only are we guilty… Not only are we spiritually dead… We’re under the just/right wrath of God! But Christ came to redeem!!!

In Romans 8:14-17, Paul helps us see that there is an immense amount of power and intimacy in our receiving “the Spirit of adoption as sons.”

By faith, those who are in Christ are both free from their past sin by union with his death and free to live for him by union with his life.

Our affection for Christ must be greater than the things he has done for us and the work he has called us to do!

God shows us incredible mercy by calling us to his gospel of grace by its power and then purposing us to partner with him to share it with the world!

God disciplines Jonah in order to correct his heart for the lost. Do we have a heart for the lost? Or are we too running away from our holy mandate?”

Jonah stands alone as the prophet whose doubts turned to disobedience and thus leads us to recognize the difference between doubting God’s call and disobeying God’s command.