This is an excerpt from the third chapter of By Water and the Word: God’s Gift of Baptism for You by Brian Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 52-60.
Even when the bitter places sink down deep into our bones, the Restorer never relinquishes his grip on you.
To Live Well is therefore not a general advice book, but a message suffused with the gospel.

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It turns out the family trait of not being able to wait runs deep and wide in the family of God. We do foolish things while we wait for promises to be fulfilled.
Christ urges us to love our neighbor as He loved us, forgiving all of their sins - giving them the absolving, shirt-pulling, embrace that we would also want.
He assumed the weakest form to do his greatest work.
On this day in the year 1093, Anselm was consecrated as the archbishop of Canterbury.
Jesus does not seek out Peter to condemn, but to restore his precious lost sheep, His dearly loved prodigal son.
Bearing fruit is wonderful, but you do not stay a Christian through fruit-bearing. You bear fruit and are growing because you are united to Christ.
In a year where things are unclear, tensions are heartbreaking, and uncertainty is rampant, what can we be thankful for?
We are given, so we give thanks, and we give thanks by giving.
Because everything we possess, and everything in heaven and on earth besides, is daily given, sustained, and protected by God, it inevitably follows that we are in duty bound to love, praise, and thank him without ceasing
Where there’s more sin, there’s more grace! Are you comfortable with that? That the greater the sin, the greater the grace? Could it be that easy?
This is an excerpt from Martin Luther’s Commentary on Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (1535), written by Martin Luther and translated by Haroldo Camacho (1517 Publishing, 2018).
We stand before God with a unique set of problems, diseases, and sins. The comforting truth of the Incarnation is that Jesus took my flesh. All of it.