We all wrestle with identity questions: Who am I? Does my life matter? The Bible gives us a story that gets to the heart of those questions in a way that no other story does.

We all feel like our lives are part of a story. That’s exactly what the Bible offers us: a big story to live in. Every story has a setting. What kind of world are we in? This passage shows us.

In our world, you can have joy, or you can have suffering. What you can’t have is both. But this passage shows us that suffering can actually be one of the most powerful ways the joy of Christ comes alive in you.

Every human needs to be safe, seen, soothed, and secure. Instead, most of us feel the pressure to perform for the love we need. Jesus offers us the ultimate experience of being safe, seen, soothed, and secure, because Jesus offers us true peace.

Hopelessness is almost like an epidemic today. Where do we find the hope we need? This passage shows us where to find a living hope.

You can be looking right at something, but without the right frame, it makes no sense. The kingdom of God can be like that. At the end of the book of Acts, the apostle Paul gives us a frame to make sense of the kingdom.

Suffering creates a crisis of confidence in God. But when we see how Paul navigates this storm, it shows us how God is with us in our storms.