Tolerance isn't about not having beliefs. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.

This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity. We love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you’ll experience blessing now).

True citizens of the heavenly city are the best residents of the earthly city.

Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you.

Christianity does not set faith against thinking. It sets faith against assuming.

For indeed, grace is the key to it all. It is not our lavish good deeds that procure salvation, but God's lavish love and mercy. That is why the poor are as acceptable before God as the rich. It is the generosity of God, the freeness of his salvation, that lays the foundation for the society of justice for all. Even in the seemingly boring rules and regulations of tabernacle rituals, we see that God cares about the poor, that his laws make provision for the disadvantaged. God's concern for justice permeated every part of Israel's life. It should also permeate our lives.

In religion, you obey because God is useful. In Christianity, you obey because God is beautiful.