I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.
In a nutshell from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 the bible tells a story of a God who is reckless with desire to get his family back.
The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but rather awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.
Yes, as i read the birth stories of Jesus i cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.
The people of God are not merely to mark time waiting for God to step in and set all right that is wrong. Rather they are to model the new heaven and new earth and by so doing awaken longings of what God will someday bring to pass
When i am praying for another person i am waiting for God to open my eyes so that i can see that person as he does and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person.
When the world asks "Is there hope" we can say yes absolutely, no one is exempt from tragedy or disappointment- God himself was not exempt. Jesus offered no immunity, no way out of the unfairness, but rather a way through it to the other side.
No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost an argument.
I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter and the human rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God who made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry.
Whatever we may say about it, the atonement fulfills in the Jewish people the idea that anyone who has been hurt can forgive. At Calvary God chose to be hurt.
I doubt God keeps track of how many arguments we win. God may well keep track of how well we love.
When i am tempted to complain of Gods lack of presence. i remind myself that God has much more reason to complain of my lack of presence.
Any discussion on how pain and suffering fits into Gods scheme ultimately leads back to the cross.
Jesus tended to honour the losers of this world not the winners. Our modern culture extravagantly rewards beauty, athletic skill, wealth and artistic achievement. Qualities which seemed to impress Jesus not at all.
Christians get very angry about other Christians who sin differently than they do.
Grace already means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.
Forgiveness is the only way to break the cycle of blame and pain in a relationship. It does not settle all questions of blame, justice and fairness but it does allow relationships to start over. In that way we differ from the animals. It is not our capacity to think that makes us different but our capacity to repent and forgive.
Grace like water falls to the lowest part.
In the stories of extravagant grace given to us by Jesus there are no loopholes disqualifying us from Gods love.
People who think they are free eventually end up being slaves to their own desires and those who give their freedom away to the only one you can trust with that freedom usually get it back
I wrote a book on grace and grace is a free gift but to receive the gift you have to have your hands open. and a lot of people do not have their hands open because there are a lot of things to grasp in a prosperous country.
For me prayer is not so much as setting out a shopping list of requests for God to consider, as it is a way of keeping company with God.
When suffering happens it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do.
The new testament persistently presses us upward, toward higher motives for being good.
God already knows the naked truth about us, why not acknowledge it.
The self sacrificing servant aspect of the Christian life has many parallels to parenthood.
The Christian faith is basically about love, being loved and reconciliation. These three are so important to be foundational and can transform individuals and families.
The problem of pain meets its match in the scandal of grace.
Christians are not perfect by any means but they can be people made fully alive.
I would far rather convey grace than explain it.
Grace is the most powerful perplexing force in the universe and i believe the only answer to our twisted violent planet.
God loves people because of who God is not because of who we are.
Gods terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute that he granted us the power to live as though he did not exist, to spit in his face, to crucify him.