Jesus sends us into each other’s lives, and into the lives of other people, so that we’d be able to encourage each other: “Do not fear; only believe.”
We need our great king, to make a judicial pronouncement – that our sins have been dealt with at the cross, and that our souls have been dressed with his righteousness.
It’s not as though the idea of love existed eternally, and then God came across it at some point and learned to love. No, love has its definition and existence in God. Love exists, because God exists.
Your present state does not give you any choice but to hope or long for something better.
Believers in the God of Abraham have great hope for the future.
Our citizenship is something to be understood, and enjoyed, and acted upon.
in Christ, life is good and productive, and death is transformed into gain. In Christ, we’re given a new commission to live for the one who died for us, and new confidence to die for the one who lives for us.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.
If Christ is able to give us hope and new life in the midst of death, he is able to give us hope and life in every life situation.
Either your mind will be set on the Spirit, or on the flesh. Either your convictions will be built on divine knowledge, or your convictions will be shaped by human opinion.