With their minds set on God’s grace in Christ for them and for all, your congregation will leave church this week prepared to be unfairly gracious toward everyone they encounter.
Forgiveness is hard, especially when we have been deeply hurt and badly wounded, but this should drive us back even more to our gracious and forgiving Father.
Comfort, ease, pleasure, happiness, these are worth pursuing, say the preachers of this world. Suffering is not. Do whatever you must to avoid it. In Christ, however, we see suffering differently.
The issue is not the existence of so-called inner rings, but our desire and willingness to spend our lives in order to gain from an inner ring what is freely promised in Christ: hope, security, and identity.