I have always regarded these distilled teachings of the reformers as undeniably true. It is easy to find scriptures to back them up. However, they also have been obviously incomplete, not providing the full picture of the process of salvation (for example, there is no emphasis on agape love, the role of Church traditions and sacraments, or the role of the Holy Spirit). I have discussed this elsewhere. But in this short article I wish to focus only upon God's glory and grace.

We may think that we have been overlooked by the goodness and love of God. He is not going to follow us around. He is going to pursue us. Francis Thompson (1859-1907) studied for the priesthood and then for medicine. He never completed his courses because he became an opium addict, and started living on the streets of London. He was rescued by a friend and became a famous poet.

Who are your enemies and how does the Lord defend you against them? I married John and Nancy many years ago. Nancy gave birth to a beautiful daughter, and then shortly afterwards found that she had breast cancer. She fought the disease valiantly but it was of a pernicious variety. On the night she died, as I was driving over to the house, these words came into my mind, "An enemy has done this." They are the words of Jesus in his parable of the wheat and the weeds.

"At this the fiends fell back, allowing Christian to pass by, though not unscathed, for one evil and malicious spirit crept up behind and whispered blasphemies in the traveler's ear... In this tortured frame of mind, he continued along the way for some time, but his spirits rose a little when he heard a voice quoting, 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.'"