Scripture starts with the particular and then universalizes it. You are called to love your concrete individual neighbor and then to realize that every individual is your neighbor. The point is not to destroy concrete neighborhood in a fit of universalism but to expand the local neighborhood and embrace the universal neighborhood.

Now suppose both death and hell were utterly defeated. Suppose the fight was fixed. Suppose God took you on a crystal ball trip into your future and you saw with indubitable certainty that despite everything — your sin, your smallness, your stupidity — you could have free for the asking your whole crazy heart’s deepest desire: heaven, eternal joy. Would you not return fearless and singing? What can earth do to you, if you are guaranteed heaven? To fear the worst earthly loss would be like a millionaire fearing the loss of a penny — less, a scratch on a penny.

Only God is to be loved for His own sake. Everything else is to be loved for God's sake.

Prayer is fundamentally a transformation of will, a lifting of the heart and will to God.

We can't avoid reasoning; we can only avoid doing it well.

Faith is not like bottled water but like rain. Its destiny is not just to be kept and held but to make something visible grow.

Your heart is like an infinitely large hole, and only God is big enough to fill it.