God does not seem impressed by size or power or wealth. Faith is what he wants, and the heroes who emerge are heroes of faith, not strength or wealth.

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

Love is an overarching style of relating to another.

The Gospels and the rest of the New Testament reflect the life of Jesus, what it means for us & what it means for the world.

I do not get to know God and then do His will. I get to know Him by doing His will.

Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.

If we comprehend what Christ has done for us, then surely out of gratitude we will strive to live 'worthy' of such great love. We will strive for holiness not to make God love us but because He already does.