Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.

Christianity is not a purely intellectual, internal faith. It can only be lived in community.

The self-sacrificing, servant aspect of the Christian life has many parallels to parenthood.

We do well to remember that the Bible has far more to say about how to live during the journey than about the ultimate destination.

I begin with confession not in order to feel miserable, rather to call to mind a reality I often ignore. When I acknowledge where I stand before a perfect God, it restores the true state of the universe. Confession simply establishes the proper ground rules of creatures relating to their creator.

No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.

By striving to prove how much they deserve God's love, legalists miss the whole point of the gospel, that it is a gift from God to people who don't deserve it. The solution to sin is not to impose an ever-stricter code of behavior. It is to know God.