Neither son loved the father for himself. They both were using the father for their own self-centered ends rather than loving, enjoying, and serving him for his own sake. This means that you can rebel against God and be alienated from him either by breaking his rules or by keeping all of them diligently. It 's a shocking message: Careful obedience to God's law may serve as a strategy for rebelling against God .

We don't merely need the money from work to survive. We need the work itself to survive and live fully human lives more than money.

Just because you can't see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn't mean there can't be one.

Grace is to be let into a place that you don't have a right to be.

Holding a grudge against someone means you think you know what they deserve and you take it upon yourself to give it to them.

The Gospel is good news not good advice. Advice = what we should do. News = report of what was done for us.

Religion: 'My identity is built on being a good person.' Gospel: 'My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on Christ's.'