Discussion Questions

• Where do you feel the tension between mercy and justice in your life right now?
• Where are you quick to demand strict justice for others, yet hope for grace or “gentle justice” for yourself or those you love?
• How does seeing yourself as a “welcomed rebel” shape the way you approach God when you fail?

Think about someone who has betrayed you and answer these questions.

• Was your response to run from others or move toward a good friend?
• Were you questioning God or submitting to his loving hand?
• Was your response to pray or to get revenge?
• Did you act wisely or become passive?

Discussion Questions

• Where might your anger at sin stop short of action, allowing silence to become complicity?
• Tamar is the only one who names the evil in this passage. What does that reveal about courage?
• What does the cross reveal about how seriously God takes injustice, and how is Jesus fundamentally different from every man in this chapter?

Discussion Questions

• Where are you most tempted to live as if acceptance comes from performance, even spiritually?
• Which “put on” virtue feels most difficult for you right now (compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love)? What is one concrete way you can “put it on” this week, even if you don’t feel it yet?
• Paul repeats “thankful/thanks” three times in Colossians 3:15–17. What is the difference between gratitude as a feeling and gratitude as a practice in your daily life?

Discussion Questions

• What are the primary influences that are actively forming the thoughts, attitudes and desires of your heart right now? Are these forming you into the likeness of Christ?
• What unhelpful habit or practice of your “old self” is God calling you to put off today as an act of faith?
• If none of your habits and loves change, who are you likely to become five years from now? Is that the person you believe God is calling you to be?