Joy in the Lord

"I refuse to be completely serious. I refuse to be so rigorous that I become a pain to the people closest to me. That cannot be the will of God. If I am not under law but under grace, as the Bible says, then I can relax and enjoy life without a single thought that somehow that will jeopardize my standing with God. It is God himself who gave me this life and who explicitly authorizes me to receive it from his hand as a good gift — not an ultimate gift but a good gift — and who settles the question of my acceptability to himself through Christ my Substitute who was perfect for me."

- Ray Ortlund