1517 Blogcast

We can celebrate what others consider mundane and ordinary because it's miraculous. After all, it's God-given.

God’s plans and purposes for this world aren’t dependent upon us. They’re dependent upon him. This means our faith is liberated.

God is not what we experience him to be, what our emotions narrate him to be, or what our intuition thinks he might be. God is what and who he says he is.

Regardless of my experience, my talents, or even my mood, it’s these gifts of Christ that I have to give away. They are all I have, and they are everything.

Our anxiety about the future is a consequence of our old self’s attempts to achieve freedom for himself apart from Christ Jesus.

So, what do we pray? What do we say? In times of fear, in times of chaos, in unprecedented times, we pray and say the words that have been written on our hearts. 

Your forgiveness means you are in God’s favor, and no matter what tomorrow brings, God’s face is shining upon you, and he is gracious to you. Whether you live or you die, you belong to the Lord. 

And because Jesus on the cross was sin in its entirety, God cannot look at him. He turns his face away, causing Jesus to cry out in utmost agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

From the womb to the tomb, from the cradle to the grave, Jesus’ name defines and describes who he is and what he is all about.