Unless we love natural goods - sex, alcohol, food, money, success, power - in the way God intended, we become their slaves, as any addict can attest.

Christians are simply pilgrims who acknowledge their lostness and their desire for help in finding the way.

The world says you gain your life by getting more and more and more and more, but Jesus says, 'No, that leads to death. You get it back by giving it away and when you give it away you get it back.'

If your church conveys that spirit of condescension or judgment, it's likely not a place where grace is on tap.

The promise of pleasures so alluring that we may devote our lives to their pursuit, and then the haunting realization that these pleasures ultimately do not satisfy.

Release what is good.

Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more . . . And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less