Status Updates From I Am: The Statements of Jesus

"Before we are told to obey, follow, and keep, he says 'I have first loved you.' "

"Jesus doesn't say, 'I know the way, I know the truth, I know the life.' He says, 'I am.' What is true, what is right, and what is life—these are not philosophical categories or moralistic ideals that we give assent to, they are personified in Jesus."

"We don't accept what the world says to be true or the cultural commitments of the day blindly, we weigh them against the truth of the Gospel."

"The reason why we can grieve and have righteous anger while not falling into despair is because we are upheld by resurrection hope...Jesus' voice pierced through the silence of death and awakened Lazarus to new life. Jesus was showing us that he has the final word over death and because of that we have hope."

"If the one who is the resurrection and who triumphs over death, grieves over death, then we need to be free, and to free others, to grieve."

"This is how threats often function, they don't look harmful. Yet, the things around us shape us, they inform how we live, and they reorder our desires. The danger is that we become so accustomed to the things around us, that we're unaware of how they're shaping us."

"Jesus places on us the same name that he embraced for himself. That means we are no longer marked by darkness, but we are now identified as light."

Comparing John 8:12 with Matthew 5:14

"It's not the literal darkness that scares us. It's the darkness that fills our world and surrounds us."