The cross is the place where the Judge takes the Judgment.

The world says you are loved because of what you do. Jesus says you can now do all things because you are loved.

God has become human. The absolute has become particular. The ideal has become real. The divine has taken up a human nature.

The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God's will to mine, but to mold my will into His.

The Cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable — it is wrong. Jesus’ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid — God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born — God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.

Nothing is more important than to learn how to maintain a life of purpose in the midst of painful adversity.

Christians don't believe that goodness gets you to heaven. Christians believe it's exhausting to rely on your own goodness to please God.