Grace and Effort

”Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Effort is action. Earning is attitude.” Dallas Willard

”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.” Ephesians 2:8-10

"And the Word became flesh…."

"In Jesus Christ the reality of God has entered into the reality of this world. The place where the questions about the reality of God and about the reality of the world are answered at the same time is characterized solely by the name: Jesus Christ. God and the world are enclosed in this name … we cannot speak rightly of either God or the world without speaking of Jesus Christ. All concepts of reality that ignore Jesus Christ are abstractions….As long as Christ and the world are conceived as two realms bumping against and repelling each other, we are left with only the following options. Giving up on reality as a whole – either we place ourselves in one of the two realms, wanting Christ without the world or the world without Christ – and in both cases we deceive ourselves.… There are not two realities, but only one reality, and that is God’s reality revealed in Christ in the reality of the world. Partaking in Christ, we stand at the same time in the reality of God and in the reality of the world. The reality of Christ embraces the reality of the world in itself. The world has no reality of its own independent of God’s revelation in Christ. … [T]he theme of two realms, which has dominated the history of the church again and again, is foreign to the New Testament." Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Jewish Virtual Library

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

A louder word over us

”The voice of condemnation speaks accurately about the sins we have committed; 

God speaks a louder word over us in the gospel.” Martin Luther

He still prayed

"When Job was prospering, he prayed. When he was suffering, he still prayed." Tim Keller

'And Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."' Job 1:21

Three picts...

Flowers before our apartment and church

Men of the Abundant Life Church painting the sign post.

My students at Shinshu University working on an outline for their narrative essay.