The more trouble we have seeing Jesus, the more we wander into foolish thinking.  The consequences are devastating: sinful patterns of self-indulgence, angry conflicts with other people, and bitter thoughts about ourselves as well as others.  If these are some of the struggles that we have – habitual sin, broken relationships, self-loathing – then we must not be seeing the love of Jesus the way that God wants us to see it.

– Phil Ryken in Loving Jesus More