By His death and resurrection, Jesus locked up sin, death and Satan forever — and unlocked paradise for all who would believe.

Luther himself was well aware that he stood on the shoulders of giants. This Reformation, why not dust off a really old book and make a new friend?

It happens every Sunday morning at every congregation: As soon as sinners gather, they start to compare themselves to each other.

How often do we go for gold in grumbling? How hard is it for us to let someone else be more wretched than we are?

The Lord put His Church together so that each member is an important part of the Body. We are incomplete when even one of our members is missing from our fellowship.

“You’re going to be out of a job soon, Pastor Bob,” I said to our pastor in the handshake line the other Sunday. “Not you personally. But preachers everywhere.”

Every “now” of our lives is a good time to pray. Whether we are content or troubled, each day is a good day to pray to the Lord.

Our life together should certainly include bearing one another’s burdens and interceding for the sorrowful, but it is also important to celebrate together — to “rejoice with those who rejoice” even as we also “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).

God does not call on us to don a cape and trounce bad guys, vigilante style. But He does take care of our neighbors through our rather mundane actions as we fulfill our various vocations.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does Christ remove our transgressions from us.