From the Lutheran Files...

From C. F. W. Walther's epic lectures "Law and Gospel; How to Read and Apply the Bible"

"...the essence, of a Christian - that which makes a person a Christian - is that he knows how to seek his salvation in Christ and thus to escape the Law."

Paul says God's law has the power to condemn us because we don't keep it but when Christ died for us He freed us from the law's power.  He did this by taking the punishment we deserve for breaking the law upon Himself "Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin... if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

Don't eat the French Fry

 

An excerpt from The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement found on Mockingbird:

"You can tell people not to eat the French fry. You can give pamphlets about the risks of obesity. You can deliver sermons urging them to exercise self-control and not eat the fry. And in their nonhungry state, most people will vow not to eat it. But when their hungry self arises, their well-intentioned self fades, and they eat the French fry. Most diets fail because the conscious forces of reason and will are simply not powerful enough to consistently subdue unconscious urges."

The law is powerless to save you from yourself.  You need to be changed by someone outside of yourself.  "The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit." - Paul in his letter to the Romans.

 

Don't worry, be happy (or else)

From the November 2010 issue of Australian Vogue:

In the article “Happiness is overrated” writer Elizabeth Heathcote comments on positive thinking “My beef is less with the details of positive psychology and more with the way it functions. By lending academic credence to the idea that we can be better, shinier and happier if we just try, it has turned happiness into not only something we should expect, but yet another must-have commodity that you are failing if you don’t achieve”.

Happiness is a gift, a result of something good that has happened to us. We cannot manufacture it. It is pure gospel – something that is a result of something happening to us. When we try to turn it into law – something we must do, “don’t worry, be happy”, then we miss out on it.

Can I hear an Ephesians 2:8-10 out there people?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”