Jesus' claims are particularly unnerving, because if they are true there is no alternative but to bow the knee to him.

How Religion Works: If I obey, then God will love and accept me. The Gospel: I'm loved and accepted, therefore I wish to obey.

The very fact that we have access to God's attention and presence should concentrate the thoughts and elevate the heart.

Without immersion in God's words, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow but also untethered from reality.

At the cross, we see the worst that sin can do, as humanity - of which each one of us is a part - crucified the Lord. But at the cross, we also see that the most that sin can do cannot thwart God's salvation.

Idols are often good things that we have made into ultimate things.

There is no way to have a real relationship without becoming vulnerable to hurt. Christmas tells us that God became breakable and fragile. God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back... No other religion-whethe r secularism, Greco-Roman paganism, Eastern religion, Judaism, or Islam-believes God became breakable or suffered or had a body.