Christian giving is to be marked by self-sacrifice and self-forgetfuln ess, not by self-congratula tion.

We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgment instead.

Although we have responsibilities to others, we are primarily accountable to God. It is before him that we stand, and to him that one day we must give an account. We should not therefore rate human opinion too highly.

God does not love us because Christ died for us; Christ died for us because God loved us.

The church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought.

The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice-and so the pain-of the cross.

It is impossible to pray for someone without loving him, and impossible to go on praying for him without discovering that our love for him grows and matures.