Daily Bible Reflections: Missional Living
This is my latest post from Daily Bible Reflections. The original entry can be found here, where you can subscribe to the daily devotional if you are interested.
“The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.” - Acts 16:22-34
Lots can be said about this passage, and indeed lots has been said about Paul and Silas’s flogging and imprisonment in Acts 16, but that is not what I want to talk about. If you would like textual notes and proper exegesis, Matthew Henry does a great job.
What I want to talk about is missional living. Yes, I realize that this has become a throughly hackneyed buzzword today to a point of almost becoming jargon, but the heart of it and the spirit of the movement is commendable and Christ seeking.
Lets start with a definition. Missional Living: a philosophy of life and ministry centered on Christ and living a life as he did - engaging culture in order to redeem it. Making disciples wherever you are. Refusing to seperate your life into ‘ministry’ and ‘not ministry’.
Reading through the accounts of the earliest church fathers in the book of Acts, we see precisely this kind of relational outreach being not just incorporated into the outreach, but defining the lives of disciples like Paul and Silas. They did not start a ministry organization with an obscure name and a cool logo and have discipleship committees and host ministry seminars. As we see in this passage - Paul and Silas make the decision “well, we are in jail. Hey look at that - we are chained to this big Roman guard. He must be elect!”
Do you see the difference? Don’t misinterpret my argument - I am not saying that ministry organizations are wrong or un-scriptural, but anyone in ministry (an we are all called to be the aroma of Christ to an unbelieving world) must not be willing to separate their lives into neat little sections: this part of my day being relational outreach, then I take lunch, then I hang with my family a bit, and then maybe I’ll go to a soccer game and do some ministry again. ITS ALL MINISTRY! I know that if I were in jail, still bloody from the savage beat down I got in the middle of the mall today, I would definitely call myself ‘off the job’ of making disciples, at least for the night. But as we see here, Paul and Silas see no difference between their life and their ministry - their life IS their ministry. Even in their personal worship time in a stinking and dirty Roman dungeon, they take every opportunity to preach the gospel in any way they can - because it is their calling and their very life.
Don’t worry, I am not going to end this post with a list of questions about how you can be living your life more missionally - but not because that would be ineffective, only because it would contradict the whole argument. You see, its not about specific things you can do, its about living your life for Christ, and seizing every opportunity you are given to preach the gospel. You needn’t go ‘on missions’ to be a missionary. You are called to do so wherever you are. Your school, your workplace, your family, your church. These are not just places, but mission fields which you are called to engage and redeem for the Kingdom. So stop worrying about how to do ministry, and start living ministry.
Heavenly Father, prepare my heart this day to live in submission to your will, to take every chance I have to be the aroma of Christ to a hurting world. Lord teach me to trust your sovereign will and to see your hand at work in every way, presenting me with the privilege of being your disciple and aiding in your calling of sinners to yourself. Lord shine through me that my family, my colleagues, my peers, and my bosses would see your loving kindness in my actions and my words. Lord be glorified in my life. I ask these things for the sake of Christ and His conquest for men’s hearts. Amen
-MD Letteney
Daily Bible Reflections
I have been asked to contribute along with my friend BJ Buracker (of the Stupid Scholar blog) to an ongoing project called ‘Daily Bible Reflections’.
DBR is a daily “devotional” entry on a passage of Scripture, as determined by the Daily Lectionary. From Monday through Friday, BJ and I will be posting a passage of Scripture, a brief reflection, and a concluding prayer. The purpose is to aid readers in their personal worship of God, not supplant their own “Quiet Times.”
Although we follow the Catholic Lectionary of the USCCB, we will avoid reflections on the Deuterocanonical books.
I still have not decided if I will be posting my DBR entries on the Isaiah 52 blog, but probably not, so if you are interested in reading DBR or even subscribing to it via email, click the text above the banner and you will be redirected.
I pray that this new venture will be helpful in your daily personal worship of Christ our Lord.
In Him,
MD Letteney
An Exegetical Look at Romans 4:1-12
This is the outline for an exegesis I did in discipleship school on saturday morning. It is not too overly theological, but definitely requires a basic understanding of justification, imputation, and Pauline studies. I pray that it is informative and encouraging. Feel free to comment with any questions or further analysis as you see fit.
“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” - Romans 4:1-12 (ESV)
Theme: Justification of gentiles and Jews
Look at the passage as one linear argument in four distinct parts.
The passage begins with a direct link between justification and imputation as Paul refers to Genesis 15:6 and Abraham’s faithfulness. The forensic value of justification hinges on word “counted”, but the preposition translated as “for” or “as” (εις) can more literally be translated “with a view to”. Keeping this in mind, we know that Abraham’s righteousness didn’t consist of his faith – a decisive, whole hearted reliance on God’s gracious promise – but his faith was the occasion and means of righteousness being imputed to Abraham.
Justification and imputation in relation to faith now being linked, Paul goes on to explain the means by which we are imputed righteousness. Because Abraham did not receive righteousness as a result of his works, it was a gift. As verses one and two establish, Abraham’s faith was not the impetus for God’s imputation, but only the occasion and means by which he was made righteous. The next passage contributes to the argument as a whole by underlining the gift aspect of righteousness. We cannot conclude that Abraham’s faith was the reason for his imputation, because that would be a work in and of himself, and would directly contradict Paul’s whole argument in the passage - that justification is a gracious gift and not deserved or earned. In the broader context of Romans 3-4, we can see Paul’s macro argument that justification is not subjective to individual believers, but objective and outward (forensic). This is precisely why justification (forensic imputation) and sanctification (creation of an actual righteousness) are separated.
Abraham was a gentile, and Paul mentions him not only to show a gentile who has been justified but also to highlight one of the mega themes of Romans, God’s just judgment of the world and his gracious election of sinners that do not deserve favor.
Paul now shifts the focus of the argument to David, one of the preeminent men in the mind of Jews and someone known as ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:13-14), but also known as an egregious sinner. David’s ‘works of the law’ mentioned were not his submission to the Levitical law, but his works of lawlessness in his sin. Paul uses this passage from Psalm 38 to illustrate that ‘righteousness apart from the law’ is positively imputation of God’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), and negatively freedom from sin and its mortal effects.
What is interesting about Paul’s reference to this text is that the psalm is about confessing sins and the freedom from sin as a result, but Paul assumes here that the reader knows confession and freedom from the law are a part of faith.
Paul begins the macro argument of this passage with “Abraham, our forefather”, but does not explain how this could be the case for both the Jews and the gentiles he was writing to. Echoing Old Testament rhetoric (beginning, middle, beginning), Paul closes the argument in this passage by explaining the beginning. He cites again Genesis 5:6 and the fact that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised (apart from and before the law), that gentiles might become his ‘children of faith’, and he was later circumcised that Jews may become his ‘children of faith’ as well, but only by walking in faith as he did.
Faith is pivotal in receiving justification from God because it looks to God for justification in Christ (Rom 4:24-25, 1 Corinthians 1:30). Because justification is towards ungodly (sinful) men, it must be apart from works in that a sinful man cannot be vindicated to a sinless God. The father’s justifying work is none other than the establishment of His right as Creator, calling into being (righteousness) that which is not present in the life of a sinner. This makes justification twofold – forensic and actual, in that a man is called righteous (forensic) before God on the basis of Christ’s atoning work, and that a man is at the same time (the moment of regeneration) made righteous through sanctification, which is both a instantaneous and a continuing process, albeit in different respects. If God were to merely call us righteous forensically, then what is the use of Christ’s atoning death? Precisely that at the same time as justification and imputed righteousness He also creates an actual righteousness in the sinner who is justified by sanctification through Christ.
-MD Letteney
Leave your comments
Theologians are Predictable
I was talking to my roommate Martin (hereafter M.G. Wessbrandt) today about the New Perspectives on Paul and the implications of covenantal nomism in christian teaching today when I made an offhand remark about all of the New Perspective authors using this format: F (first name) M (middle name) Lastname. EP Sanders, JG Dunn, and NT Wright are just a few New Perspective authors among a whole slew of others that use this format. We continued talking as I was hit with another (special?) revelation - almost all of the prominent and influential theologians of the last three hundred years use this format! Don’t believe me? Here’s a short list we came up with to explain this point:
NT Wright
CH Spurgeon
JI Packer
JG Dunn
EP Sanders
AW Pink
CS Lewis
DA Carson
AW Tozer
GK Beale
CJ Mahaney
WY Fullerton
GK Chesterton
RC Sproul
FF Bruce
TF Torrence
JC Ryle
AA Hodge
JN Hawthorne
BB Warfield
JI Packer
DL Moody
And that was just our first ten minutes of brainstorming! MG Wessbrandt and I have decided that when we start writing theological papers, we will use this format. And how could you not? Ok, your turn. Can you think of any that we overlooked? Leave a comment and let us know.
Sincerely,
MD Letteney
Holding On
Idolatry - prohibited in the first commandment of Moses (Exodus 20), idolatry is the act of putting anything or anyone in the place which rightly belongs to Christ.
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” - Phillippians 3:7-14
From where does comfort come? Where are you looking for rest? Is it in the riches this world has to offer? What about your own accomplishments? A boy or girl, husband or wife? For those who are not being saved, this is their portion in life - and there is joy in it - but Jesus instructs us over and over that the joy found in this world is fleeting. It is like a vapor blowing in the wind. King Solomon urges in the book of Ecclesiastes Meaningless! Meaningless! The things of this world are meaningless! They are here one day, and gone the next.
As Christians we are called to forsake our portion in this world as of no value considering the surpassing glory of knowing Christ! Possessions, power, relationships - these are all good and gifts from the Father above, but when compared to the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, they are as rubbish.
What are you holding on to? What or who are the idols in your life, and do they compare to Christ? What has replaced the priority that rightly belongs to God in your mind, and in it is there life?
”Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee, oh Lord”. - St. Augustine
Clarification: Why I Hate Religion
I have received a lot of feedback relating to my “Religion Sucks” blog entry, and to my surprise it has all been very positive. This entry should not serve as a retraction or rewriting of the statement but an expansion and clarification of it. I have written I think clearly my position in the entry, but Pastor Mark Driscoll out of Mars Hill Church in Seattle puts it even better. I will not try to paraphrase what he is saying, but simply let you watch and hear for yourselves.
This is an excerpt from Mark Driscoll’s sermon series on the book of Ruth, the entirety of which can be found at http://www.marshillchurch.org
In Him,
Mark
Things My Father Has Taught Me
”Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)
I can still remember distinctly a car ride with my father many years ago. Always riding around in the police car as a child, I was constantly reminded of his pledge to enforce the law of the land and defend the victimized of our country. We were talking about an ethics class he was teaching at the time at the police academy and his current lecture about ‘pre-deciding’. My father went on to explain that in life we are given a lot of very tough choices, and in the heat of the moment much of the time we are not capable of making the proper decision. We talked about his choice that he made when he was in the academy to never take a bribe, which made it so much easier when the situation came up years later on the job. Strangely enough this conversation stuck with me years later, and I think about it quite a bit still. I am constantly running scenarios through my mind and making decisions before hand, because I know that under pressure I may not be as ready and able to stand up under my convictions as I am far removed from the situation.
“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” - Luke 14:25-33 (ESV)
Reading this passage yesterday I was once again reminded of the wise teaching of my earthly father. Jesus states very clearly in Luke chapter fourteen that we must very carefully weigh the cost of discipleship before even deciding to follow Him, lest we be like the builder who lays the foundation for our tower only to realize that we have not enough resources to finish the project. He states clearly that the christian life will not be easy, indeed it will require us to forsake everything that we hold dear and make Christ supreme in our mind and heart. Letting go of the things of this world, we are commanded to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and run the race set before us with perseverance in hopes that we might win the prize of eternal life in the presence of the Creator. (Hebrews 12)
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.” - Colossians 3:1-8
If I have then been raised with Christ and the life I live is no longer centered in the body but in the spirit, then why does my heart continually focus on the things of this earth? I am commanded to take off the old self that is marked with sin and rebellion and put on the new self that is in Christ! If I have a new heart, and at the core of me my deepest desire is to follow He who redeemed me from death, why am I constantly making provisions for the flesh? Christ created me anew, and now my duty and my desire is to put off my old worldly ways and strive for holiness and righteousness.
This is precisely why we are called in Philippians 2 to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” For those of us that are in Christ - it is always a struggle to put off our fleshly desires. We are charged to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. Now this does not mean that we do not have blessed assurance, but we must daily work out my salvation with fear and trembling, because you never know if in a year you am going to say ‘oh screw it’ and leave the faith. I love Christ with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength, but that does not mean that I can forsake searching the scriptures and pursuing Christ on a daily basis. To do so would be foolish, and to act just as the builder in Luke 14.
I am ultimately thankful for my father and mother, for their love, their teaching, and their Godly rebuking of me throughout my childhood. For teaching me what it is to ‘pre-decide’ in comparatively minor life choices so that when the time came, I was ready to count the cost of the most important decision I will ever have to make, and decide to embrace the Savior.
In Him,
Mark
God’s Providence: Stories from the Field
I realize that in the last few months I have not been great about updating the blog and keeping you all informed as to what is going on here in Tranås. I am sorry for this, and will be updating more regularly from now on. If you are at this site, you know that the blog has moved from the dot Mac account to WordPress, and I am excited to announce that I will be continuing to blog on the Christian Life and goings on in my own life after I return to the states. I sincerely pray that this blog is both informative and encouraging to you and hope that you will leave comments about the entries and questions you would like me to answer.
Today I would like to take you with me back to friday night and show you a glimpse of God’s divine providence in my life and my ministry here in Sweden.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” -Romans 8:28-31 (ESV)
There is a weekly youth group in town at the Missions Church, a part of a moderately liberal, emergent, and dispensational denomination in Sweden. The work they do is nonetheless worthwhile and their calling to it sure. I have been frequenting this youth group since coming back to Tranås and getting to know some of the high school guys and girls that go to the friday night services as a part of my relational ministry. There usually is a time of worship and a sermon, followed by more worship and an altar call before we all go to fika (which means to have coffee and a snack and talk for a number of hours) until about midnight. It really is one of the highlights of my week as I get to meet kids who are far away from Christ and talk to them in a very open and accepting environment about the person and work of Jesus. I have been recently getting to know the leadership and asked the youth leader there, Ludde, if he would like to go get a beer after the service and talk. He said he would love to but needed fifteen minutes to pack up, so I decided to drive the van home to my apartment, get some money, and ride my bike back because it was a beautiful night. The fact that I drove to the church, that I had no money on me, and was going out for drinks after was both unusual and providential.
While riding back on my bike, I took an unusual shortcut (another Divine Providence) and on the way rode by a man who was lying unconscious on the sidewalk. Remembering the story in Luke 10, I decided that I could under no circumstance leave this man on the road and decided to get off my bike and see if he was alright. I walked slowly up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, not sure if he was dead, very sick, or passed out drunk. To my relief, he was passed out drunk but arose very quickly. I asked him if he was alright and made sure he could stand, tied his shoe, and started walking him home when he started pouring his heart out to me. His name was Luke, and his best friend had just died, fallen off of a high balcony. He felt very alone in his pain and could not tell anyone. He told me that he was an alcoholic and had been in rehab before, but relapsed recently back into his addiction. I asked him if he would like to come to the church with me and talk for a little while. Crying, he said yes and thanked me profusely for helping him and for caring enough just to stop and see if he was alright. We got to the church and I poured him a cup of coffee, and it wasn’t long before he said “I shouldn’t be here.” Inquiring what he meant, he went on to explain that church was for the ‘good’ people, and that he didn’t belong in a church at all even in the building. I had been praying during our conversation to the Lord to open up a door for me to share the gospel in no uncertain terms, and this was it!
We talked about John 4 and the samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, and I explained to him that the church was not a place for ‘holy’ people, but a place for those who had screwed it up, for sinners, and had come to Jesus with nothing to give but with faith in His death, burial, and resurrection as a propitiation for their sins.
I shared Luke 5:31-32 with him, which says “And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ ” (ESV) He was astonished at this and continued to cry while I explained that this world is screwed up, and the reason is Sin.
Luke and I talked for about an hour in the church until Sydney came to me asking to leave (she had been waiting patiently in the other room). I had to make a decision to walk Sydney home or to stay with Luke, but because it was the night of a very big hockey game and there were a lot of parties and drunks around the decision was easy. Luke and I exchanged phone numbers and I promised him I would call in the morning and make sure he was alright.
I don’t know what the ultimate purpose of my seemingly chance but obviously providential meeting with Luke will be. I do know that in Second Corinthians 2 it says “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”
Will Luke turn from his sin and embrace the Savior of the World, who loves him unconditionally? This I don’t know. My job was to plant a seed, and with the help of the Holy Spirit I hope that a seed was indeed planted. I hope to see Luke again and lead him relationally to Christ, but whether or not that ever comes to fruition I will continue praying for him to be effectually called to Christ and I hope you will too.
In Him,
Mark
Religion Sucks
And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” -Matthew 9:11 (ESV)
Are you sick of pretending to be oh-so-holy? Are you tired of lists of rules and books about ‘how to achieve your best life now’? In a sentence, are you as sick of religion as I am? Are you as sick of religion as Jesus is?
Its no secret that Jesus had differences of opinion with the Pharisees of His day - the legalistic and pietistic teachers of the law that had extra-scriptural rules for everything - right down to how many steps a ‘good jew’ was allowed to take on the sabbath. He is seen railing against them and their rules based religion countless times throughout all four gospels, not to mention Paul’s epistles. Particularly in the book of Galatians, Paul flatly denies any justification before God on the basis of anything we do. So why do we constantly look for reasons that we should be acceptable to God? We’re not! Jesus is, and our faith in Him is the only hope we have for a right relationship to the Father.
Jesus said to him “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the father except through me.” -John 14:6 (ESV)
But that is not why I am sick of religion. The reason I am so sick of Religion is it is all about doing what you don’t want to do - about following a legalistic set of rules instead of doing what you want. According to Christ, however, and the doctrine of regenerational grace, when you come to accept Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you, your desires change. You get a new, regenerated heart, and at the core of who you are, at the deepest part of your soul, you want to follow Him and live a life of holiness in His presence. There are conflicting desires - yes - but if at the deepest part of you your desire is for Sin, you need to doubt your salvation.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” -Ezekiel 36:26-27 (ESV)
Religion is also worried about where you came from. Did you go to sunday school as a child? Do you know verses in the King James Version? Do you have at least three different bibles (extra points if you have read the interlinear bible)? Jesus came to save the sinful people in this world, to be as Charles Spurgeon says ‘our glorious Boaz’ (speaking about the redeemer in the book of Ruth). Simply - Jesus came to redeem those who messed it up. He came that Sinners may have life. He did not come for the religious, but for the faithful.
But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” -Matthew 9:12-13 (ESV)
What would happen if you decided to stop pretending to be holy, and started looking to He who is? What would happen if you stopped worrying about messing up, and realized that God will love you even if you do? My prayer is that you will, and in the process you will discover a freedom to follow Christ in a new way, uninhabited by pride and worry, but flush with Grace and excitement that He who has conquered all, your Lord and Savior, is a God of love and compassion.
-Mark
