New Lutheran Quote of the Day

We go wrong when we play one thing off against another.  Because we can only do that in forgetfulness of the fact that both are gifts to us, and as gifts they run in the way of the Gospel, which does not come in the way of snippets, of fractions, or of levels.  You have faith?  How come?  The Lord forgave me all my sins.  I am baptized.  You have works?  How come?  The Lord gave them with His enlivening gifts.  So if someone says:  "I have works.  Look at what I have done.  God should be pleased with me," such a one you deliver into the hands of Paul.  If someone says, "I have faith.  I can say the Small Catechism forward and the books of the Bible backward," such a one you will deliver into the hands of James.  -- Dr. Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons, pp. 218, 219.