This week the giveaway is sponsored by Focus on the Family.

The demands of ministry can sometimes leave little time for anything else. Between serving your congregation and fulfilling your calling, it’s easy for your marriage to take a backseat. But here’s the truth: your marriage is critical to the success of your ministry.

Michael McKinley once said, “If a pastor and his wife do not enjoy a close and healthy relationship, his service to the church will be significantly weakened.” Your relationship with your spouse directly impacts your ability to lead and serve effectively. Without a strong bond at home, ministry can feel overwhelming.

That’s why Focus on the Family wants to bless you and your spouse with a FREE 3-day, all-inclusive Marriage Getaway at one of Focus on the Family’s beautiful retreat centers. This is your chance to step away from the busyness of ministry and focus on nurturing your relationship.

You and your spouse can choose from the following retreat locations:

Branson, Missouri

Greenville, Michigan

Wimberley, Texas

This getaway is more than just a break—it’s a gift that will help strengthen your marriage, renew your energy, and equip you to serve.

Check Available Dates 

For more free resources, encouragement, and practical tools to help you thrive in ministry and at home, join The Focused Pastor e-newsletter. We’re here to come alongside you, your family, and the church you serve.

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This giveaway is sponsored by Moody Publishers.
Attention all Bible scholars, believers in the power of faith, and lovers of the Word! Learn about God’s divine mercy and compassion with our exclusive Bible Study Giveaway. Win the ultimate bible study library including Overflowing Mercies by author and Bible teacher Craig Allen Cooper. This giveaway also includes books that are sure to encourage and challenge you like:  The Kindness of God, Loneliness, Known for Love, and the bestselling Illustrated Little Pilgrims Progress. You’ll also win Bible study resources like the One Volume Seminary and the Moody Bible Commentary. There will only be one winner, sign-up before June 30th!  

This week the blog is sponsored by Moody Publishers and this post is adapted from The Kindness of God by Nate Pickowicz (© 2024). Published by Moody Publishers. Used by permission.
Just like the Old Testament, the New Testament teaches that this wonderful salvation is extended to us as a kindness. Paul opens his letter to the Ephesians by talking about God’s gracious work of salvation toward His people. In saving His people, God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself ” (Eph. 1:4–5a). What is the basis of God’s saving work? We read that it is “according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:5; cf. Eph. 1:9, emphasis added). We are saved because God extends His own lovingkindness to us.
Furthermore, despite being “dead in [our] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1), God “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (v. 5). Why? It is “so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7, emphasis added). Through His own act of salvation, God puts His loving character on display, and we are presented as trophies of His divine grace.
It is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that makes the forgiveness of sin possible for us. Nate PickowiczShare
Similarly, in Paul’s letter to Titus, we see another expression of God’s kindness in salvation. We read, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us . . .” (Titus 3:4–5a). In this verse, we essentially see Jesus Christ as God’s kindness personified. One could almost picture God’s own love and kindness wrapped in the person of Jesus who comes and redeems us.  What a glorious picture!
The Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Him-self God in human flesh (John 1:1–3, 14), came to earth and lived in perfect obedience to every law of God, thus perfectly fulfilling the divine standard. Jesus lived sinlessly (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22), and thereby gave Himself up to be killed as an atoning sacrifice—a propitiation—for sin (1 John 2:2). Being the only acceptable sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners as a substitute (1 Peter 2:24), paying a ransom to the Father; redeeming us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13).
Through the sacrificial death of Jesus, we can have our sins forgiven by God (Col. 2:13), and we are justified—declared righteous and pardoned by God, even though we’re guilty and unrighteous (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16). It is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that makes the forgiveness of sin possible for us. And not only forgiveness, but reconciliation to God—the restoration of relationship. More than this, God actually adopts us as His own (Rom. 8:12–17; Gal. 4:4–7). Now, we who were formerly His enemies have now become God’s children.
It is only by the death of Christ that we will find any hope of forgiveness for sin. All other attempts to “get right with God” are doomed to fail. Why? Because, by nature, we are sinful creatures, and when we try to accomplish anything of redeeming value, God turns up His nose and is repulsed by the gesture (Isa. 64:6–7). Any attempt we make to justify ourselves before Him is insulting and futile. Only the perfect work of Jesus Christ on our behalf is pleasing to the Father. All in all, we see that God’s offer of salvation to sinners is a glorious demonstration of His goodness and kindness.