Quotes from Timothy S. Lane

Because it is grounded in the Trinity, our unity also allows us to celebrate our diversity in the body of Christ. There is one God, but three persons. God uses our diversity to accomplish his purpose—our growth in grace. Diversity is not an obstacle, but a very significant means to this end.

Blowing up at people when our agendas are trampled

When we choose to practice true forgiveness, the relationship is not just brought back to where it was before the offense; it actually moves further down the road to maturity.

Forgiveness Involves Canceling a Debt

If I consciously live in light of the fact that I am full in Christ, I will ask for forgiveness whether or not I get to watch the game.

For too many of us, our sense of identity is more rooted in our performance than it is in God's grace.

But, more specifically, you make a conscious choice to absorb the cost yourself.

mess. This side of heaven, relationships and ministry are always shaped in the forge of struggle. None of us get to relate to perfect people or avoid the effects of the fall on the work we attempt to do. Yet, amid the mess, we find the highest joys of relationship and ministry.

Genesis 2 is not speaking primarily to Adam's experience of being lonely as much as it is revealing his nature as the person God created him to be. Because God created a communal being—someone designed for relationships—creation is incomplete without a suitable companion.

Forgiveness Is Costly, But Not Forgiving Is More Costly

Real change does not take place until it is visible in our lives and our relationships.

The reason we know this is true is because the word "helper" is often used to describe God's relationship with his people.

Though we are to be wise, we are not to fear the world in which God has placed us. Yes, things will get messy. But if you are humbled by the messiness of sin in your own life, yet confident in God's grace to change you, you will not be afraid to get close to other sinners who need that same grace. God will use the messiness you encounter in others to spur your own growth in the gospel.

An entrenched refusal to forgive is a sign that you have not known God's amazing forgiveness yourself.

Christ reveals that the what and the why are shaped by the heart. Therefore, if we hope to transform the way we talk with one another, the heart must change first.

So God is not addressing Adam's workload, but rather the fact that he is a social being who lacks a suitable companion.

God's provision simply can't be reduced to answers and strategies because his provision is tied to his presence. God knows that our need is much bigger and deeper than what we think will satisfy it. So he not only gives us practical advice, he gives us himself.

If you want to enjoy any progress or blessing in your relationships, it will require you to admit your sin humbly and commit yourself to the work they require.

A failure to forgive someone will change you

Each of us is tempted to make relationships the end rather than the means

Forgiveness is an event and a process

The reason we fail to keep commands 4 through 10 is because we have failed to keep the first three. If you break commands 1 through 3, you will break commands 4 through 10. Your Thorny, sinful responses to life grow out of a heart that has defected to worship something else.

relationships when they were meant to point us to the perfect relational satisfaction found only with God.

As J. C. Ryle said, "A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within." 5 We are united to Christ for a purpose: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight" (Eph. 1:4). Our new life in Christ is just that: new life. A glorious fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil is at its heart and one of the clearest signs of our union with him.