| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: their proper turn, when the discussion is concerning works and not the
article of justification.
Here the question arises by what means are we justified? We answer with
Paul, "By faith only in Christ are we pronounced righteous, and not by works."
Not that we reject good works. Far from it. But we will not allow ourselves
to be removed from the anchorage of our salvation.
The Law is a good thing. But when the discussion is about justification, then
is no time to drag in the Law. When we discuss justification we ought to
speak of Christ and the benefits He has brought us.
Christ is no sheriff. He is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." (John 1:29.)
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: thought. It is a good word.
Thursday
She told me she was made out of a rib taken from my body. This
is at least doubtful, if not more than that. I have not missed
any rib. ... She is in much trouble about the buzzard; says
grass does not agree with it; is afraid she can't raise it; thinks
it was intended to live on decayed flesh. The buzzard must get
along the best it can with what is provided. We cannot overturn
the whole scheme to accommodate the buzzard.
Saturday
She fell in the pond yesterday, when she was looking at herself
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: turning, or about a hen's egg which had been found in the church
belfry without anyone being able to understand what creature had
been there to lay it, or the queer story of Jean Pila's dog, who
had gone ten leagues to bring back his master's breeches which a
tramp had stolen while they were hanging up to dry out of doors,
after he had been caught in the rain. She told me these simple
adventures in such a manner that in my mind they assumed the
proportions of never-to-be-forgotten dramas, of grand and
mysterious poems; and the ingenious stories invented by the
poets, which my mother told me in the evening, had none of the
flavor, none of the fullness or of the vigor of the peasant
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