I believe a whole lot of things – but some seem more important to mention now:
God is good!
God is unspeakably good! His goodness exceeds our wildest imagination. Belief in the goodness of God is the foundation of hope in life. In fact the temptation to doubt his goodness and to make our own way is at the root of everything that is wrong in the world. He is the Father who does not fail.
All things summed up in Christ
History is headed in one direction only: the fulness of Jesus’ kingdom as heaven comes to earth. He is the end of history! He is the new humanity. Everything will be taken up in his headship and summed up in him. So everything that is outside of Christ is already passing away. The only thing that counts is a new creation. Gives a new sense of priorities!
Partnering with the Holy Spirit
God is present with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He is upon us, within us and alongside us. He empowers, comforts, stirs. He works through us to touch the lives of others. He makes our lives truly supernatural and turns the impossible into the possible. He is our joy and our life source.
Connecting to the story of scripture
The bible is God’s supernaturalistic telling of the story of human existence. When we make it about rules and proof texts we miss the whole point. We connect faithfully and authentically to scripture that was written in another age and a different culture simply by remembering that it is a story – a true story. When we make our story part of the bible story then we get to understand ourselves and our world from God’s perspective.
Faith seeking understanding
God gave us the power of reason, to love him with. Of course, no one thinks their way to heaven: salvation is a faith encounter with the risen Christ, which is a mystery! But it is a kingly pursuit to search out the mysteries and add understanding to our faith. I want to love God with my mind as well.
Run with compassion
The religious people of Jesus’ day definitely missed the whole point! If we are not to become latter-day Pharisees, we must remain vitally connected to the compassion of the Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one. God’s mission is fired by his love for the whole world. Compassion is the willingness to love people who not like us.