New Lutheran Quote of the Day

Saving faith is not just knowing the right words to claim credit for.  It is a gift of God; more exactly, it is our receiving and living the gift.  The gift is, first, the forgiveness of our sin and life as the children of God for Jesus' sake.  This is the big gift, and it brings us to accepting it.  Faith is nothing apart from the gift it receives, but the receiving the gift, it is, in Luther's words, "a living, energetic, active, mighty thing this faith.  It does not ask whether good works have to be done, but before the question is put it has already done them and is forever doing them.  Faith is a living, daring confidence in the grace of God." -- Dr. Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons, p. 356.