He doesn’t consume us, even though that is what we deserve. Instead, Jesus comes down to us and consumes all our sin by taking it on himself.
This article is the first part of a two-part series. The second part will take a look at when pastors abuse their congregations.
The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335

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Christ has come to make all things new, and water and the Spirit are used for His new creation just as it was for the original.
Perhaps this past year has prompted the recognition that God is not the tame projection of our highest hopes and dreams. Instead, he is the one who uses even his foes to make a point.
The setting for Luke 2 is the first century analog to my backyard. The stage is dressed with rust and decay, guilt and shame, sin and death.
To the extent that God is exclusive by offering salvation only through Christ we can say he is more gracious than other systems because he takes on our guilt upon himself while gifting us his righteousness.
Christmas-time is the bold proclamation that God was born to save sinners.
As we close out an old year, Saint Silvester can remind us God is the Lord of history and He has used and is using even people whose lives sink largely or totally into obscurity to keep the confession of our faith in Jesus Christ alive.
We begin in ignorance and we end in ignorance. But, in the midst of our ignorance, Jesus is walking with us.
Here is Paul’s repacking of the Christmas gift in terms of the personal and corporate implications of God so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
The receiving and/or possessing of a gift, even one from God, is far different than putting it to use.
Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error-driven out, and truth has been brought back.
This story of despair met with the hope of the gospel is rightly told by many during the holiday season.
We’ve hung on every whisper of hope that this way of life would end and a new one would rise to take its place.