In the gospel, everything that a rational person could want is yours: eternal life, adoption in the family, guaranteed life in the new heavens and the new earth, and the knowledge that you are the joy and delight of God.

Gospel believers want to resemble God and just have more of him. Elder brothers–and here's the source of spiritual deadness–believe they're getting leverage over God. They're self-righteous toward anyone else (because they think they're better than others), and they're insecure in themselves (because they know they're not good enough).

At one level we believe the gospel, but functionally, the default mode is to go back to being elder brothers. What are the marks of that?

1. Getting incredibly angry when your life doesn't go well. Disappointment and sadness, fine, but when things don't go well for elder brothers, they get furious with life and God, which shows they believe God owes them.

2. How you respond to criticism? When elder brothers get criticized, they either melt ...