The appeal was so often the same: Make me comfortable so I can go on doing whatever I want to do. They wanted sin without consequences.

He will forgive you, but he won't remove the consequences... We must learn to obey

Father said it is not God's will that any should suffer." "Then why must we?" "We bear the consequences for what we have done to ourselves, and for the sin that rules this world. Jesus forgave the thief, but he didn't take him down off the cross.

The only hope I have is the salvation You've given me through Jesus. And the only way I can be with You is to die.

Every blessing comes down from the Father, not in payment for good done, but as a gift.

SIN IS THE MONSTER we love to deny. It can stalk us, bite a slice out of our lives, return again and bite again, and even as we bleed and hobble, we prefer to believe nothing has happened. That makes sin the perfect monster, a man-eater that blinds and numbs its victims, convincing them that nothing is wrong and there is no need to flee, and then consumes them at its leisure.

Jesus is gentle, but He is not weak. He loves the sinner but is absolutely intolerant of sin. He is not a negotiator. He is Lord. It is this bristling truth that invites intolerance toward Christians. Jesus did not say, Do your own thing... all roads lead to God. That would have made Jesus politically correct, but Jesus is not politically correct. He is Lord.

Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven.

We are punished by our sins, not for them.

We are not punished for our sins, but by them.

It may be that we have lost our ability to hold a blazing coal, to move unfettered through time, to walk on water, because we have been taught that such things have to be earned; we should deserve them; we must be qualified. We are suspicious of grace. We are afraid of the very lavishness of the gift. But a child rejoices in presents!

The best way to start each day is with and in gratitude for the gift of life. You receive it by grace not by deeds.