People instinctively know the difference between something done with a profit motive and something done with a love motive.

I doubt God keeps track of how many arguments we win; God may indeed keep track of how well we love.

To some, the image of a pale body glimmering on a dark night whispers of defeat. What good is a God who does not control his Son's suffering? But another sound can be heard: the shout of a God crying out to human beings, "I LOVE YOU." Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to - because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice. Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross.

The rubber hits the road when we try to show grace to a person most unlike us, even someone morally offensive.

Prayer enters the pool of God's love and widens outward.

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.

We grow up hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us.