I think that the church in America today is so obsessed with being practical, relevant, helpful, successful, and perhaps well-liked that it nearly mirrors the world itself. Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups.

God's church is not a stage for us to perform on but a garden for us to grow in.

If you want to be an athlete, there's no way around it: You have to go to the gym. You can't Google your way to it.

My conscience does not render a positive verdict in God’s courtroom when I look inside myself. The only reason I can sleep well at night is that even though my heart is filled with corruption and even though I am not doing my best to please him, I have in heaven at the Father’s right hand the beloved Son, who has not only done his best for himself but has fulfilled all righteousness for me in my place.

The proper focus of holiness is not on being set apart from something (i.e., the world), but on being set apart for something.

But the heart of Christianity is Good News. It comes not as a task for us to fulfill, a mission for us to accomplish, a game plan for us to follow with the help of life coaches, but as a report that someone else has already fulfilled, accomplished, followed, and achieved everything for us.

Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church's agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism.