A rightly-oriented heart and a rightly-oriented love will consistently do what is best for God and best for our neighbor, which is why St. Augustine speaks of sin as a disordered love.
For Bonhoeffer, Christ crucified, and the cross of the Christian life were not of peripheral importance, but foundational.
While we often talk about our growth, our progress, and what we are doing for the kingdom of God, the reality is that any goodness in a Christian does not originate in us.

All Articles

This is an excerpt from “Confession and Absolution” by John T. Pless in Common Places in Theology: A Curated Collection of Essays from Lutheran Quarterly, edited by Mark Mattes, (1517 Publishing 2023).
Dispel some of that darkness bottled up inside you, with the grace first shared to us by Christ that is now ours to share with those around us.
God does not give us an undebatable answer to suffering. Instead, God suffers, too.
If you are a Christian, you already have what you need to give a reason for the hope within you. That reason, though, is not you.
Instead of a death sentence, those brothers hear the words of deliverance.
The cross not only stands as the measure of our hatred of God but also as the measure of God’s love for us.
Applying the pressure of law to ensure you do not to take grace for granted squeezes the life and power out of the gospel.
For Paul, the hope of the resurrection was the ultimate antidote whenever his circumstances tempted him to despair or to "lose heart."
The love of God in Christ Jesus never changes. That love is for you.
Rod Rosenbladt, the encourager of all things good, true, and beautiful and a tireless warrior for Jesus and the Gospel message, finally rests at the marriage feast of the lamb.
One way or another, Rod always found a way to bring whatever story he was telling back to the gospel and God's grace in Christ.
In a world—and even a church—full of distractions, thank God for Rod Rosenbladt. He pointed us to Jesus and Jesus alone.