We are invited to entrust everything to the one who accomplished what we could not: living and bleeding and dying and rising again, so that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). To put it another way, when it comes to the kingdom of God, there’s no room for DIY’ers. Best leave it to the professionals.
We live in the “already” but “not yet”. Peace is already ours but not yet. The resurrection is already ours but not yet. Justice is already ours but not yet. Until then be comforted by the fact that you are reconciled in Christ on account of his life, death, and resurrection.
Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.

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The crucified and risen Christ comes to renew, restore, and build up.
Christ is the beating heart of Christian faith and its only object.
Instead of a “how-to” manual, the Bible is a “what-you-didn’t-do” story.
Christ is always the ultimate for God's children, but we sometimes struggle with things that come before.
No amount of ritual, sacrifice, devotion, or money could ever do what Jesus of Nazareth was sent to accomplish.
To preach Christ and him crucified is to keep the message simple and accessible.
Let your soul grieve, yes, but don’t let it be eaten alive by worry.
God’s creatures on four legs are some of the greatest storytellers of the Scriptures.
The sinful nature loves self, and pride is its native tongue.
“Praying the Bible” sounds odd to the ears of most believers today. That’s unfortunate.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
In the Bible, we meet the God who also does not prance around naked as a jaybird.