Over and over in the Bible, it is fear that threatens to keep people from trusting and obeying God.

People who are servants-humbly, honestly, and joyfully-keep getting revealed as the biggest winners. People who recognize and embrace their smallness keep getting bigger and bigger in God's eyes. It's the oddest scoring system.

There is a world of difference between being friendly to someone because they're useful to you and being someone's friend.

There are dozens of references to God in the Scriptures for every one to the figure of Satan. This reflects a sometimes forgotten theological truth that the devil is by no means God’s counterpart. He is a creature, not the Creator.

Nobody lives up to the norms that God had in mind when he first created human beings.

At the deepest level, pride is the choice to exclude both God and other people from their rightful place in our hearts. Jesus said the essence of the spiritual life is to love God and to love people. Pride destroys our capacity to love.

The possibility of transformation is the essence of hope.