Whenever faith seems an entitlement, or a measuring rod, we cast our lots with the Pharisees and grace softly slips away.

Dependence, humility, simplicity, cooperation, and a sense of abandon are qualities greatly prized in the spiritual life, but extremely elusive for people who live in comfort.

At the heart of the gospel is a God who deliberately surrenders to the wild, irresistable power of love.

Often, it seems, we're [Christians] perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers.

I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry.

If Jesus had never lived, we would not have been able to invent him.

Grace is free only because the giver himself has borne the cost.