The pressures of life can be overwhelming. Stressful circumstances cause us to sin. While feeling stress is not a sin, how we react to it can be. Everyone has been on the receiving and giving end of ungrateful behavior, expressing their feelings in ungodly ways. We recognize the damage it can do, but our sinful nature still often wins. Yet in a world that seems to be out of control, God’s grace, even under pressure, is sufficient and unlimited. No one suffered more pressure than our Savior Jesus Christ, but he always responded graciously and lovingly, even as he hung on the cross, suffering for our sins. Even as people jeered at Him, and as the world turned from him, Jesus remained graceful. He is our source of perfect redemptive grace. Today we’ll talk about God’s grace, the stress we all live with, and the seven last words of Christ from the cross, as we discuss Rev. Christopher Kennedy’s new book, Grace Under Pressure: Responding Faithfully to Stress. Rev. Kennedy is a senior pastor at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas.
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