Sublime

His library was surprisingly wide-ranging, flowing from his belief that a teacher of the Bible should never stop learning. For all his fire and persistent stubborn streak, he had spent a lifetime building a team of genuine partners rather than yes-men.

In the shadow of the radicalizing of how over the what, it becomes nearly impossible even for a Protestant pastor to disconnect herself completely from the what, unless she takes an extreme step and furiously deconstructs confession, Bible reading, prayer, and more.

“This is the mark of perfection of character—to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending.” —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS

Jesus justifies by giving us his person; he ministers to us by dying with us, so that having his person we might share in his resurrection. Justification gives us the gift of Jesus’s faith, that indeed the “although” is the “because.” So although we were dead in sin, we are alive because God is the minister who gives new life through the union of h