But the Scriptures declare
that we are all prisoners of sin,
so we receive God’s promise of freedom
only by believing in Jesus Christ.
(Sky full of Stones–1332 paper stones hanging during Lent in St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Austria)
How foolish can you be?
After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit,
why are you now trying to become perfect
by your own human effort?
…Christ lives in me.
So I live in this earthly body
by trusting in the Son of God,
who loved me
and gave himself for me.
(Bamberg Cathedral)
Yet we know that a person is made right with God
by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law.
And we have believed in Christ Jesus,
so that we might be made right with God
because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law.
For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.
Jesus gave his life for our sins,
just as God our Father planned,
in order to rescue us
from this evil world in which we live.
…For we are the temple of the living God.
As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
…we know that as long as we live in these bodies
we are not at home with the Lord.
…and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies,
for then we will be at home with the Lord.
(Old Town Hall fresco with trompe d’oeil architecture in Bamberg, Germany on Regnitz River. Kayaker’s markers hang over water)
But the Scriptures declare
that we are all prisoners of sin,
so we receive God’s promise of freedom
only by believing in Jesus Christ.
(Vienna Boy’s Choir entrance into the Imperial Chapel of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria)
…Christ lives in me.
So I live in this earthly body
by trusting in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
(Auersperg Palace–Vienna, Austria. Mozart performed here at age 6)
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now;
rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
For the things we see now will soon be gone,
but the things we cannot see will last forever.
