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.

A god of less wrath than the God of the Bible is necessarily a god of less love. His anger is a product of his love.

If you're avoiding sin and living morally so that God will have to bless you and save you, then you may be looking to Jesus as a teacher, model, and helper, but ironically you are avoiding him as Savior. You are trusting in your own goodness rather than in Jesus for your standing with God.

Accepted in Christ, we now run the race 'for the joy that is set before us' rather than 'for fear that comes behind us'.

The purpose of Jesus's coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore the creation, not to escape it.

The gospel shows us that our spiritual problem lies not only in failing to obey God, but also in relying on our obedience to make us fully acceptable to God, ourselves and others. Every kind of character flaw comes from this natural impulse to be our own saviour through our own performance and achievement. On the one hand, proud and disdainful personalities come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are succeeding. But on the other hand, discouraged and self loathing personalities also come from basing your identity on your performance and thinking you are failing.

Because we put ourselves in God’s place, He put Himself in our place.