Wisdom and strength require bootstrap-pulling and the placing of noses to grindstones.
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
How do the words “The righteous shall live by his faith” go from a context of hope in hopelessness to the cornerstone declaration of the chief doctrine of the Christian faith?

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Golgotha is the point where not only Mary and John’s family life assumed a new character, but it is the point of orientation for all human community that uses the cross to straighten out the lives of individuals turned in upon themselves.
The cross does not remain on a hill far away. It pursues us into the valleys, the ravines, the crevices in which we get trapped as we wander in search of a fixed point for our lives.
The truth is we’ve always mixed up the roles of penitent and priest.
This is not a plea for us to be given the strength to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. It is our helpless cry when boots – straps and all - slip off the edge of temptation’s cliff.
The true liberty that Christ gives to us through the gospel is not political. It is spiritual freedom. It is freedom from fear of God's judgment and wrath.
Paul wants us to see this “present evil age” is dominated by a theology of glory and “the age to come” is dominated by a theology of the cross. They are two ways of understanding and interpreting all of reality, but especially the ways and nature of God.
Being able to tell the difference between truth and lies is at the core of repentance.
The petition not to be led into temptation is found in just the right place within the seven petitions.
James and John come before Jesus and request positions of honor in His coming Kingdom. While we may be surprised at their actions, we understand their desires. They are interested in upward mobility.
The fact of Jesus being the greatest of all priests in the greatest of all orders of priesthood, means Jesus is the consummate pastor for those in need of a powerful and availing shepherd.
Jesus takes the sins of man upon Himself and carries them to the cross to make our hearts holy and acceptable in the eyes of God.
Repentance means being cut down by the law’s declaration of judgment. It’s not an activity we do to prepare for grace, but a point of despair worked by God himself.