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. As disciples of Jesus, our righteousness cannot be performed before others, because our righteousness was already performed by Jesus.
  4. If you interpret James, as most do, as an encouragement toward proving your faith by your works and then say it is your "favorite" then you are proclaiming that your favorite thing about the Christian faith is the practical outworking, the proving your faith by your works.
  5. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
  6. To believe God is love and thus loves you is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit.
  7. His love for you is so deep that in his mercy, while you were yet a sinner, God sent his only begotten Son to die for you.
  8. “So loved,” then isn’t about how much but instead simply how.
  9. 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).
  10. 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."
  11. Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
  12. Even as he was dying, the heart of God poured itself out for the sake of sinners.