The Apostle Paul described the Christian life as a race, but all too often it feels more

like a punishing obstacle course.

Afraid that we'll never be able to do enough, or give enough, or be enough, we can start

to see ourselves as spiritual failures.

But God's word offers us good news. Even in ordinary life, Christians can be

faithful, fruitful, and pleasing to God. My guest today is Kevin DeYoung, and he wants to help us

remember this. In our conversation, Kevin and I discuss the reasons that we're so often so hard on

ourselves, how we so often cultivate a distorted picture of God in our own hearts,

and what it looks like to truly embrace the freedom and joy of being beloved children of our Heavenly Father.

Kevin Young is the senior pastor of Christ's Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina,

an associate professor of systematic theology

at Reformed Theological Seminary.

He's the author of many books, including his newest book from Crossway, Impossible

Christianity, Why Following Jesus Does Not Mean You Have to Change the World, be an

expert in everything, accept spiritual failure, and feel miserable pretty much all the time.

Let's get started.

Well, Kevin, thanks so much for joining me again on the Crossway podcast.

Great to be with you.

So today we're going to talk about what our lives as Christians should look like, answering the

question of whether or not true Christian faithfulness is actually possible for us.

And as I've thought about the argument that you're making in your new book, I've kept coming

back to something that I've heard multiple Christian friends of mine say to me over the years,

...