If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself.

Jesus says, "I want you to follow me so fully, so intensely, so enduringly that all other attachments in your life look weak by comparison"

Only on the cross do you have a totally holy God and a totally loving God.

If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.

The gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves, for we are already proven and secure.

Like a baby learning language, we learn how to communicate with God by listening to His words first.

Even if our own troubles are great, we should still serve. Jesus washed His disciples feet on the way to the cross.