Nothing we formulate or do can qualify us for access to God. Only grace can do that- based not on our performance but on the saving work of Christ.

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 humbling and restorative. It pulls you down because Christ had to die for you, but also lifts you up because he wanted to die for you.

While Christianity was able to agree with pagan writers that inordinate attachment to earthly goods can lead to unnecessary pain and grief, it also taught that the answer to this was not to love things less but to love God more than anything else. Only when our greatest love is God, a love that we cannot lose even in death, can we face all things with peace. Grief was not to be eliminated but seasoned and buoyed up with love and hope.

Jesus cannot be just liked. His claims make us either kill him or crown him.

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

What you treasure will ultimately require you die for it, Jesus is the only treasure that died for you.