If following Jesus Christ doesn't cost you anything, it's because you've bought into 'American Christianity.'

We have forgotten how to blush

Maybe that is why there are not a whole lot of problems between the church and worldly culture today, because we are not confronting the culture around us.

The true gospel is radically exclusive. Jesus is not a way; he is the way, and all other ways are no way at all... We live in an age of humanism - over the last several decades, man has fought to purge God from his conscience and culture. He has managed to make himself the center of all things.

Pride is a terrible and dangerous thing. It can take so many forms; it can even assume the appearance of humility. Pride can lead not only to self-exaltation, but also to self-abasement. The key to battling pride is not found in struggling against thinking too highly of ourselves or in striving to think of ourselves as lowly. The key is found in simply not thinking about ourselves at all, but setting our minds on Christ and the needs of others.

Idolatry is when you become the source of your own joy. Poverty of spirit is a wonderful thing.

I would not trade the difficult years for all the prosperity in the world. God knows what each one of us must suffer in order to be conformed to the image of Christ.