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This is an excerpt from Broken Bonds: A Novel of the Reformation by Amy Mantravadi (1517 Publishing, 2024), pgs. 12-14.
Jesus stands before the disciples as the bridge between heaven and earth, and between Old Testament and New Testament.
I think the problem with the idea of eternity is that we do not have any direct experience of it, but we encounter enough of its possibility to be unsettling.
Hope is found precisely while we’re dead.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is both a call to faith in Jesus and a call to love our neighbor.
I trust that because of the gospel, God will continue to mend what I, in my sin, continue to break.
Obviously, the Day of the LORD looks frightening according to the words of Zephaniah the prophet. The question is: “For whom?”
We now stand holy and blameless before our Heavenly Father as his own dear children, and we are set free to serve our neighbor in love.
There are two ways to think about what’s happening when someone is tempted. The first is to imagine temptation as enticement toward something bad and wrong. This is probably the more common of the two. But there’s another way of thinking about it. Temptation could also be seen as encouragement away from something good and right.
There have been so many times in my life where I have thought to myself; God isn't paying any attention to me. He doesn't care what I do down here on this inconsequential planet in the middle of the huge universe He controls.
Separating the Law from the conscience is not just bad because it makes the Law ineffective. If the Law and the conscience are not brought together, it also means leaving the conscience unaddressed and unassuaged when the Gospel is preached.
But here we are again on the other side of a Christmas celebration. This inevitably involves a sense of let-down, even for preachers (Warning: Do not check the attendance numbers this coming Sunday). If Christmas is as significant as we say, it is worth reflecting with your hearers on what comes next. What is on the other side of Christmas?