The possibility of transformation is the essence of hope.

God wishes to be seen, wishes to be sought, wishes to be expected, and wishes to be trusted.

Joylessness may be the sin most readily tolerated by the church.

The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus, you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.

One of the great misconceptions about spiritual growth that develops in a lot of churches is that information alone is adequate to produce transformed human beings. So if we want to have a church of spiritually mature people, let's just keep cramming more and more information into them... Information alone is not adequate for the transformation of the human personality.

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.

It only makes sense to ask God for guidance in the context of a life committed to "seeking first the kingdom."