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

Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.

Holding a grudge against someone means you think you know what they deserve and you take it upon yourself to give it to them.

A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do it for them rather than for yourself. And so our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person.

The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.

Religious people find God useful. Gospel people find him beautiful.

We are so evil and sinful and flawed that Jesus had to die for us... But we are so lobed and valued that he was willing to due for us.