Great quote from a good book

I've jus finished reading a great book called Velvet Elvis - Repainting the Christian Faith (Rob Bell, 2006). I plan to re-read it and take notes on each chapter, but for now I want to leave you with one quote from the final chapter.

It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and
compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly
put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody
primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or
nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who
are the "un" and "non", they work against Jesus' teachings about how we are to
treat eachother. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbour, and our
neighbour can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we
are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters. To
treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the
image of God in everyone. As the book of James says, "God shows no
favortism." So we don't either.

I am not a universalist, and I do believe that following Christ is the way to God, but I want you to know one thing "I love you. You are precious to God. You were created in the image of our Loving Creator, and I respect that. I respect you. My prayer for you - seek God in humility with a hungry heart. We are all on a journey."