1. I hate to break it to you, but "are" is not an action verb. "Are" is a being verb.
  2. I can guarantee you that when Paul was overtaken by the Spirit and inspired to write these words, he did not have in mind your local school's boys' basketball tournament.
  3. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
  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. Even as he was dying, the heart of God poured itself out for the sake of sinners.
  6. Repentance is meaningless unless we are willing to acknowledge who we are: sinners needing mercy.
  7. The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
  8. Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
  9. The more awareness we have that we are weak and low and frail and incapable of doing this thing called life, the more perfectly we are positioned to meet the God of grace.
  10. You are the friend in low places. It’s only from this place that you are free to look outside yourself for the remedy to the issues that plague you and humanity.
  11. You’re not new because of what you do. You’re new and so you do new things, even in spite of yourself, because of your sinful nature.
  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.