What does it take to draw near to God? It takes a perfect priest, a finished work, and a broken body to open the way. In short, it takes everything, which is exactly what Christ has given for you.
Christianity need not retreat from investigation. Its central claim is that the Word became flesh, entered history, was crucified, and on the third day rose from the dead. That is not an embarrassment to be overcome. It is the claim we have been given to declare and defend.
In the end, your story isn’t an epic of personal glory. You aren’t the hero. Your Savior Jesus is.

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God is holy, nothing I say or do or pray is going to make God any more or less holy. So what are we praying when we say, “hallowed be your name”?
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).
God is coloring over your sin and making you fragrant; he is making you righteous in his sight. The old is gone, forever covered over by this new work.
The following is an excerpt from “The Christian Life: Cross or Glory” written by Steven A. Hein (1517 Publishing, 2015).
In this context where death looms large, Jesus reveals a kingdom where life looms even larger.
The tragedy of this parable is not the failure to serve. It is the failure to truly know your Savior.
Good works do not make a Christian, do not secure the grace of God and blot out our sins, they do not merit heaven.
The parable is harsh. It judges. If you do not believe, you will not be saved. But let us pause for a moment and think about why Jesus is telling the parable.
Jesus breaks through our barriers in His beatitudes. He shatters our conceptions of the blessed life and opens the Kingdom of God to all people.
Jesus will strengthen and encourage us because he is true life, and life has defeated death.
Christians are in a unique position to show the world something truly other-worldly. We are free from living in our world as if it contained all there is.
Satan and the old Adam don't want Jesus to bear our crosses for us because that means we can't claim that we've done anything to merit God's mercy and salvation.