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.

The rich brother needs to let the gospel humble him while the poor brother needs to let the gospel affirm him.

But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.

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

Love is counting someone else’s needs and interests as more important than your own needs or interests or comfort.

We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order.

Religion makes us proud of what we have done. The Gospel makes us proud of what Jesus has done.