If we get it wrong about Jesus, it doesn’t matter what else we get right.

The tithe is God's historical method to get us on the path of giving. In that sense, it can serve as a gateway to the joy of grace giving. It's unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop, but it can still be a good place to start.

Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry, and other relationships are failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other.

Even if abortion were made easy or painless for everyone, it wouldn't change the bottom-line problem that abortion kills children.

I believe the only way to break the power of materialism is first, to see ourselves as stewards that God has entrusted these money and possessions to, and second, to give. Jesus says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive". As long as I still have something, I believe I own it. But when I give it away, I relinquish the control, power, and prestige that come with wealth.

Materialism blinds us to our spiritual poverty. Jesus rebuked the Laodicean Christians because although they were materially wealthy, they were desperately poor in the things of God . Puritan Richard Baxter said, "When men prosper in the world, their minds are lifted up with their estates, and they can hardly believe that they are so ill, while they feel themselves so well."

The repentant man rightfully loses trust in himself. He recognizes his self-dependence as the source of his problems, not the solution.