His successes were not the result of his brilliance, might, and ability as an apostle. They were the result of the all-sufficient grace of God.

No matter how far away they wander, God always hears the prayers of his children.

Both Paul and Martin Luther were Olympic champions when it came to ladder climbing.

God excludes our boasting out of his abundant mercy.

The only one rightful heir of the kingdom of God, inherits from us, our cross, and descends into the kingdom of the damned.

What then does this sequence of stories teach us? It teaches us a pertinent lesson about the Christian life.

Humility kills pride. So “humble yourself before the Lord,” as James writes (Jas 4:10). Kill your pride before it kills the things you love. Subdue it before it gets you into the kind of trouble that may even kill you. Conquer your pride before it defeats you. It’s that simple, but we all know it’s not that easy.

We would be utterly miserable if we could not find somebody less than ourselves, somebody to look down on, somebody to make us more pleased with ourselves.

Shame is shameful. That may seem obvious but ponder this observation from the authors of Scenes of Shame: “Shame, indeed, covers shame itself—it is shameful to express shame.”

The foundation of the Christian’s life is that our life is not our own. We don’t belong to ourselves. God has purchased us with the currency of Jesus’s blood.

You may be surprised to discover that, rather than changing your theology, these other voices deepen and expand it in ways that never would have happened if you listened only to the “approved” voices.

There is nothing more appealing than someone telling me I can be whatever I want to be, do whatever I want to do, accomplish whatever I set out to accomplish. No boundaries. No walls.