God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, [laziness], and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like on traveling in an easy carriage… If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must “fight.”
My kin are those who have been bought by the blood of the Lamb. They are my brothers and my sisters, even if they root for the wrong football team. My calling is to love them like family, for they are family. They, like me, have been born a second time, born into the family of God. We share a common Father, we share a common mother, the church, and we share a common brother, Jesus our Lord.