When I ask, "Tell me the first word that comes to your mind when I say Christian," not one time has someone suggested the word love. Yet without question that is the proper biblical answer.

Jesus was able to love men because he loved them right through the layer of mud.

We're all bastards but God loves us anyway.

The One who had the right to destroy the world—and had nearly done so once in Noah's day—chose instead to love the world, at any cost.

Paul harped on grace because he knew what could happen if we believe we have earned God's love. In the dark times, if perhaps we badly fail God, or if for no good reason we simply feel unloved, we would stand on shaky ground. We would fear that God might stop loving us when he discovers the real truth about us. Paul—"the chief of sinners" he once called himself—knew beyond doubt that God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are.

grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less—no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.

grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less.

The warmth of that embrace overpowered Levi's pain. He had never felt so engulfed in love, except when his own father would give him one of his big bear hugs. He felt tears well in his eyes, knowing that whatever happened, he would still be loved well.

Sometimes family isn't the situation you're born into but the people who've chosen to love you along the way.

The chances you take… the people you meet… the people you love… the faith that you have — that's what's going to define your life.

Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don't expect trees to change, you love them as they are.

Guess what? Grace is more powerful than consequences. Grace overwhelms consequences. Even with consequences there is love and grace and the mercy of God in Christ. Jesus says to us, "I know you messed up, and I know there are consequences, but I want to walk with you through the consequences. I want to love you through the consequences. And I even want to use the consequences in this whole big story.