Meeting with God and grasping the grace he freely gives us changes our relationship to our money, possessions, and career. When we see that salvation cannot be earned or gained through hard work, we are freed from the idolatry of wealth. When we experience this freedom, we can give with spontaneity and joy.

The Pharisees pose a controversial question to Jesus when they ask him if they should pay taxes. Jesus responds with a revolutionary answer: He refuses political complacency, political simplicity, and political primacy. Jesus then models a revolutionary idea, showing his followers that the way to gain power is to give it away.

Christianity presents a revolutionary view of sex, singleness, and marriage that rejects both traditional and modern conceptions of the purpose of sex. Ultimately, our hope in our future family, future journey and certainty of our true love, Jesus Christ, shapes our attitudes towards sex, singleness, and marriage.

Jesus not only saves us from our sins, he weaves us into a new human community. That community is characterized by a reversal of values. When we realize that we are both sinners and saved by grace, we will have freedom from the values that previously defined us, and yet a regard and love for those who don't share our values.

The rich young ruler in this passage has followed all the rules, but receives an astonishing rebuttal from Jesus. Any encounter with the “real” Jesus shocks us. His religious assumptions failed him because he didn't understand treasure in heaven, and failed to recognize the true freedom and inheritance Jesus offers us.

Anger has the power to disintegrate our health, our communities, and our individual wisdom. However, anger can be a good thing; it is an attribute of God and of anyone who loves. The key to healing anger is to find out what you truly love and why your anger is out of control.