This is an excerpt from Chapter 1 on Sinner Saint: A Suprising Primer to the Christian Life
The Fourth in the fire is Jesus.
If you struggle with doubt, take heart: You are not alone.

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God excludes our boasting out of his abundant mercy.
On May 2nd, Cantate Sunday, in the year 1507, Luther celebrated his first Mass.
To give us God’s name, the name that is above every name, Christ gave us the exact words to say at baptism: the name of the triune God who is three persons, one God: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
False holiness is always a possession and achievement of the individual in isolation from the good of others. And so it isn’t holiness at all.
We cannot love first. Therefore God comes, takes hold of the heart, and says: "Learn to know me."
Sometimes it’s important to go far away to learn of holy places back home.
God is often hidden in history, even as we make it now, but He is always manifest where He has promised to be.
God is not a preoccupied parent, he’s an invested and interested tender loving Father. He values what perplexes us.
When we own up to our sin, our Father is not scandalized, and his response is not to reconsider his calling us.
This is the patient love of God. He is stubborn about the salvation of sinners. He will not be rushed even if his name is mocked, and the trustworthiness of his promises are called into question.
This world of unbearable grief and accidental calamity is being renewed and, soon, will be completely bereft of every pernicious foe.
There is perhaps no better observation about the nature of anxiety and depression than its fundamental desire for avoidance.