1. The sign of the cross, according to the earliest centuries of Christians, is “the sign of the Lord,” and every baptized Christian was “marked” with it.
  2. The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
  3. Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
  4. Rejoice with Mary as she would rejoice with you. Be blessed, like her, with humility from God, so that you may serve joyfully and willingly wherever and in whatever role God has placed you.
  5. God is not calling us to “grow up.” He is calling us to dependence.
  6. We live again, not so that we will now pay our debt, but to proclaim that we live because our debt was paid!
  7. You are a child of God. You’re blameless, holy, perfect, and righteous. Don’t feel that way? Too bad. God is greater than your heart.
  8. The mind-blowing part of this entire story, though, isn’t that only one leper came back to “give thanks,” but that the Lord Jesus healed all ten knowing full well that only one would come back.
  9. Through water, blood, and word, the Spirit never stops pointing us to Christ, and even more, giving us Christ.
  10. The good news is that with our God there is always more: more than we deserve, dare, ask, or expect, more than we can see, hear, feel, or think.
  11. The reason that God’s commandments are not burdensome is that Jesus has fulfilled them.