Suffering is the stripping of our hope in finite things, therefore we do not put our ultimate hope in anything finite.

Paul sees all kinds of sins in himself and all kinds of accomplishments too, but he refuses to connect them with his identity.

Prayer is awe before an infinite force, and yet it's intimacy with a personal friend.

Cities have more “image of God” per square inch than anywhere else, and so we must not idealize the country as somehow a more spiritual place than the city.

When we grasp that we are unworthy sinners saved by an infinitely costly grace, it destroys both our self-righteousn ess and our need to ridicule others.

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

At the end of history the whole earth has become the Garden of God again. Death and decay and suffering are gone. . . . Jesus will make the world our perfect home again. We will no longer be living 'east of Eden,' always wandering and never arriving. We will come, and the father will meet us and embrace us, and we will be brought into the feast.