One of the most frequent responses I get from non-Christian readers is: 'I'm not sure I agree with all this, but I must say this is the first book I've read by a Christian that didn't treat me like I was an idiot.'

Covenant community is like air. We don't miss it until we need it.

We only fully grasp the gospel when we understand, as Paul did, that we are the worst sinner we know

You can't live the Christian life without a band of Christian friends, without a family of believers in which you find a place.

Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God.

Forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness. To not retaliate is to absorb the cost.

The human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.