1. “So loved,” then isn’t about how much but instead simply how.
  2. Love is pointing to Jesus who said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
  3. Forty days after giving birth, Mary, along with her husband Joseph, presented their firstborn Son at the temple and "bought" him back with a sacrifice of two small birds. This is known as the "Presentation of Our Lord."
  4. Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
  5. The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
  6. As the writer to the Hebrews affirms, what makes the Christian gospel so much better is that we are no longer dealing with “types and shadows."
  7. Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
  8. Who would ever want all these screamers and haters? It turns out that Christ does.
  9. 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.
  10. For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.
  11. We don’t start with behavior and work toward Christ. We start with Christ and everything works out from there.
  12. 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.