Christmas is an invitation by God to say: Look what I've done to come near to you. Now draw near to me...I want to be a friend.

The basic premise of religion– that if you live a good life, things will go well for you– is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet He had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.

No one is exempt from trials and tribulations. In fact, this is often what happens to people God loves very much, for it is part of God’s often mysterious and good plan for turning us into something great.

Most people want Jesus as a consultant rather than a King, and He does not come that way.

For every one look at your sins, take five looks at your Savior.

How could a good, all-powerful God allow suffering?

If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.