In the Old Testament, the people of Israel had a high priest who would make sacrifices on their behalf. This was necessary in order for their sins to be forgiven, but there was a problem. The high priest was also sinful. “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf…
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Posts by University Lutheran (Page 63)
What is needed to sustain life? That’s an easy question. The basics include food, water, and shelter. But beyond physical life, the question isn’t so easy. Our human condition is one of brokenness. We are helpless in so many ways. We are aimless, wavering in the wind. We are ignorant, not sure of what is…
Have you ever had a teacher who was convinced he or she knew everything? I know I have. I recall a professor who taught us out of a book and then proceeded to tell us that most of the book was wrong. She based this only on her own experience, not on research she had…
This is an important question that all too often we neglect to answer for our neighbors around us. How is your experience of Jesus and His Church somehow valuable to you? Our culture (both in its secular and parochial manifestations) has done a phenomenal job of denigrating the word “religion” to mean something that has…
Because of Christ, you are alive. If you were left to your own devices, you would be dead in your trespasses; but because of Christ, you are alive. End of story, some might say. But is it really? Not in the slightest. Yes, as Paul says to the Ephesians, “by grace you have been saved…
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He provided them with food and water in the desert. They owed their very lives to him, and yet “the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no…
We have been made holy. This has occurred because God chose us and because he demonstrated it for us through the holiness of others. Jesus, holy above all others, was our ultimate example. He had great zeal for the house of the Lord (John 2:17), but much greater zeal did he have for us. Although…
It is my birthday this week. And in that vein, I look to the immortal words of the rapper 50-cent (at least the ones that I can quote here): “Go shawty, it’s your birthday. We gon’ party like it’s your birthday. We gon’ sip Bacardi like it’s your birthday . . . “. 50-cent’s song…
1st Corinthians 1:30-31 says this: “Because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” This tells us that we are in Christ Jesus. Through him, we have been redeemed…
Exodus 20:1-17 is a list. This list is uncomfortably long and descriptive. If there ever was a demonstration of the word “Law,” this is it. The list, of course, is the 10 Commandments. “You shall have no other gods before me. … You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.…