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

Describe the God you've rejected. Describe the God you don't believe in. Maybe I don't believe in that God either.

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).

Religious people find God useful. Gospel people find him beautiful.

All I know is, if I don't care about the poor, if my church doesn't care about the poor, that's evil.

The resurrection of the body means that we do not merely receive a consolation for the life we have lost but a restoration of it. We not only get the bodies and lives we had but the bodies and lives we wished for but had never before received.

The gospel frees us from the relentless pressure of having to prove ourselves, for we are already proven and secure.