Taking (Smaller) Thoughts Captive...

At the age of four, you were an artist. And at seven, you were a poet. And by the time you were twelve, if you had a lemonade stand, you were an entrepreneur. Of course you can do something that matters. I guess I’m wondering if you want to. There may be a voice in your head that is ready to announce that you can’t possibly do what I’m describing. You don’t have what it takes; you’re not smart enough or trained enough or (sheesh) gifted enough to pull this off. I’d like to ask for a simple clarification. You can’t—or you don’t want to?

The system we grew up with is based on a simple formula: Do your job. Show up. Work hard. Listen to the boss. Stick it out. Be part of the system. You’ll be rewarded…

You’ve been scammed. You traded years of your life to be part of a giant con in which you are most definitely not the winner.

Why did God allow His dear Son to appear in a form and to present a doctrine that seem to annoy the natural soul of every man? The answer is that if God is to help us, He had to send us a Savior who would not delight our natural hearts. For our natural hearts are full of natural pride and virtue, imagined wisdom and righteousness, and fleshly desires, all of which shut us away from God and His holy communion. A true Savior must be such that, when we receive Him, all of what is false in us is destroyed.

In no other way can man come to God or deal with him than through faith. That is to say, the author of salvation is not man, by any works of his own, but God, through his promise; and that all things depend on, and are upheld and preserved by, the word of his power, through which he brought us forth, to be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire.

Eternal God, you counsel us not to be anxious about earthly things. Keep alive in us a proper yearning for those heavenly treasures awaiting all who trust in Your mercy, that we may daily rejoice in Your salvation and serve You with constant devotion; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

A theologian is one who, driven by agonizing struggle, enters with prayer into the Holy Scripture and interprets what is set forth within it, in order to give insight to others who are engaged in agonizing struggle, so that they in a like manner—with prayer—can enter into the Holy Scripture and can interpret it.

Just as light cannot be present without illuminating its surroundings, just as fire cannot fail to provide warmth, and just as rain certainly moistens the dry land, so Christ cannot come among His own without blessing them.

Although the variety of sins is great and sad, from careless and vain thoughts to the obstinate hardness of Pharaoh and Judas, each demonstrates an uprising of heart against God, the Father of light. Some may appear to be ever so small, but not one sin can be forgiven—except for the sake of Christ, the Son of God.