it's not about us

Too often as God's people we fall into the same mistake as Israel of old. They turned all of God's promises in on themselves. It was all about God blessing them, when God was blessing them, according to the promise made to Abraham, in order that he might bless the world. They were actually to be a blessing to the world!

We are blessed by God in Christ, to be a blessing to others. It's not about us, or what we get out of it. Yes, we do receive salvation through Jesus Christ, but it's a salvation that is meant to save us from ourselves. For God, and for others.

That is surely where we find life, true and abundant life. And no where else! I have to keep being reminded of that, reminding myself. I forget easily, as I'm naturally attuned to looking out for myself, and seeing everything in terms of my own interests, rather than my Father's interests. And God's interests ends up being the true, lasting good for everyone.

What might you add here?

life in God

Life in God moves on; it's a living, dynamic, transforming reality. Of course this life is meant for all: from the Father, in Jesus, by the Spirit. We must first come to God through Jesus. And then we are swept up into this life, this torrent of love. It's a dynamic that won't let us go, if we will only keep ourselves in its life-giving flow. Maybe that's poetic, especially for me, but it is true in Jesus.

Even in the midst of the daily doldrums of life, in the midst of trial and error, in the midst of even failure, God's love in Jesus is present for us. This love, by grace through faith brings us into a new life, life in God. It's a life to be lived out forever, but it begins in this life, even in this present condition of sin and death. Ultimately to overcome all of that, as death is swallowed up through Jesus' resurrection life.

For me this is so very important. I'm as dependent on God through Jesus, as when I first came to God through Jesus by faith, that October day so long ago in 1973 (the 22nd). By the way, Deb came to Jesus just the day before, of course we would not meet until several years later, or marry until 1985. So 1973 has special meaning for us.

It really doesn't matter if we know the day we crossed from death to life. What does matter is whether we are living by faith in that life in God now. If we are, that can make all the difference in the world. We must continue in this grace, by faith, but as we do, God will see us through, and this life is of such a nature, that it will sweep others up with us, as we live it out, in Jesus.

What would you like to add to this?

get a life

When we hear the words, "Get a life," they're usually in a tone that is hardly encouraging. But Scripture tells us the same thing in words like, Choose life, not death. And Choose my ways that you may live. As well as, "I am the way and the truth and the life."

Oftentimes we're perplexed or unhappy about something in our lives to the point where we lose sight of where real life comes from. It doesn't come from having our way, or our needs met. Remember that the writer in Ecclesiastes speaks of a man or men having their own way completely, getting whatever they wanted, but in the end being left "high and dry." That writer ends up saying that what really matters in life is to fear God and keep his commandments.

More often than I'd like to admit, I too find myself wishing that this and that in my life would be different. I will admit I'd like to be doing something different vocationally, though I thank God for the job I have. And it's not above Christians to have thoughts of discontent in nearly every area of life.

But we need to hear and heed the words of God in Scripture telling us in gentle yet firm and persistent tones, Come to me, open the door for me, that you may have real life. This is where real life lies. Not in having our way, but in finding our way in the one who is the way, the truth and the life.

What words would you like to add here?

Tomorrow: "Indiana Jones - fear", from L.L. Barkat's book, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places.

acquired taste

Many of the best things in life are enjoyed only through an acquired taste for them. Take a good glass of wine, or some music from Bach. I really think a good marriage fits into this, as we learn what makes a good marriage and acclimate ourselves to it. Relishing Scripture is an acquired taste. It's certain that when we're new born babies in Jesus we love the milk of the word of God. But to get into the meat of the word, and grow by that as well, we need to keep maturing in Jesus, and that involves an ongoing change which involves an acquired taste.

Why do we need an acquired taste? It's because we don't have the capacity in ourselves to take in and appreciate what is really good and from God. We need a change and this comes through grace, ultimately the grace of God in Jesus. That is the change which begins now, and is ongoing and lasts. It involves a process for us in Jesus, a part of our new life in Jesus.

What thoughts do you have on an acquired taste and what this means in your own life?

Pentecost Sunday

Tomorrow, or today already for many parts of the world is Pentecost Sunday. This is the day on which we remember the coming and outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers after Jesus' resurrection and ascension. Jesus from the Father baptizes the believers with and in the Holy Spirit. It is the birthday I take it of the Church, the Body of Christ in the world. It is the coming of the Spirit to empower God's people to be Jesus' witnesses all over the world. And to be Jesus' hands and feet, everything, Jesus' Body, present for each other, but to the goal of living as children of the light in the Lord which we are.

Of course it's personal: the Spirit is changing us who believe more and more into the resemblance of Jesus. And it's corporate: we're in this together as people of God in Jesus. We build each other up by the gifts the Spirit gives us. And it's missional: not for ourselves and our enjoyment, but to be Jesus by the Spirit, to the world, both individually and corporately as each of us prayerfully does our part in deed and word.

Pentecost Sunday. Oh how we need more of the Spirit in our lives. But let's remember also that we have the Spirit. Let's walk in the Spirit, learning to do so more and more. And be filled with the Spirit, speaking the truth as it is in Jesus, in love. This is why we're here; this is why the Spirit has come.

Be blessed in your worship tomorrow, as many of us and our churches celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit.

What does this day mean to you? What would you like to share with us on this?

joy in seeking

This was a rather lazy weekend for me, but next weekend will be full. I'd like a happy medium, but it seems more often than not it's either one or the other. So I was getting some needed rest (though I've been better at getting rest during weekdays) and slacking off a little too much I'm afraid.

Took a nice walk yesterday evening for a little over a couple of miles. In prayer and with my small Bible in my jacket pocket (it was in the 40's Fahrenheit, though no breeze to speak of). I felt the need to get away from the house and seek the Lord in prayer and in his word. Took a long way around to get to the Stations of the Cross which is near us out in the open. I sit on the bench as far away from the statue of Mary with uplifted hands, as I can get. But while I don't accept all of Roman Catholic theology, I do respect what I know and understand of it, and don't cast it all in the same light as do some of my brothers and sisters in Jesus. Read from 1 Samuel 15 as well as 1 Samuel 3 as I made my way around the stations of the cross, meditating a bit on each station in what was symbolized in the statues concerning Jesus' suffering for us. And it ends in Jesus' resurrection and soon to be ascension, as I take it in the final picture. Than headed out, and as I continued in the neighborhood (none of this is really private because there are houses everywhere) I read the first part of James about trials then continued along, seeking to seek the Lord in prayer.

I've learned not to be distraught if I think I don't "hear" anything from God. And to be measured as to what I think I might be hearing from God. At any rate I was finally nearing the end of my walking journey of meandering down streets for a little over two miles and finally was winding down our street and near home. And the thought came to me something like this: Your joy needs to be in your seeking of me, of God. I need to be taken up with the joy of seeking him.

This makes sense because whatever we find of God along the way, as God reveals it to us is certainly not the end of our knowledge of God. What there is to know about God is endless, and better put, to know God personally and together as his people is also endless as to its possibilities in the depth of this intimate knowledge and love. And the opening up of our capacities for God likewise surely has no end. I'm guessing this will be a part of what the life to come is all about, though it will be heightened and experienced in ways we can only vaguely guess at, yet related to the taste of the Lord and of the good things he has for us we experience at points in time even now.

Joy in seeking. I need to not complain about what I do not know of God and of his beauty, love and greatness. Instead I need to take that as my cue to seek the Lord and find in him all I need and much more. But to be taken up with the joy of seeking God.

What might any of you add to this?

walking by/in the Spirit

Lately I've been pondering the importance of walking by the Spirit, as we read in Paul's letter to the Galatians. Gordon Fee, an eminent New Testament scholar, says:

The first instruction [in Galatians 5:13-6:10] , "walk by the Spirit", is the basic command in Paul's ethics.

I was taught and again have noticed that the filling of the Spirit seems mostly related to speaking as in proclaiming the word of God, the wonders of God, the gospel of God. People often talk much about being filled with the Spirit, and I think that seems to me Scripturally, to be more related to the gifts, at least generally. But to walk in the Spirit concerns more the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, etc.

This is a command (an imperative), no less: present tense meaning it's ongoing for us, and active- we do it. Yet it's of the Spirit. So that we must walk or live in all of life, by the Spirit.

Fee thinks the Spirit's presence was more overwhelming or evident to the believers Paul wrote to, than to many of us today. So that Paul doesn't tell us how to walk by the Spirit. But it was certainly true then, as now that we in Jesus can grieve and quench (or, put out the fire of) the Spirit.

And Fee points out what he wrote had at least up to that time, been missed in most commentaries: how this command is community-oriented. Looking at the passage we can see this to be the case. Yes, we're individuals but individuals coming into and living in community.

This is something I want to work on for my life. So I'm realizing it must be community-oriented, and I'm a rather slow learner here, though gregarious by nature. Steeped in the tradition of individualism, but longing to know better the richness of community in Jesus and out from that, in mission for the world.

And I want to understand better in my life, what is ours in Jesus by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit. Not by the flesh, which as Fee points out is of our old life apart from Christ, not to be in our present existence even now. And doing this in community. More on this in future posts.

What thoughts might you like to share on this?

dialing down

One of our greatest enemies is pure expectation, and I mean the kind that revolves around our wish list, having to do with our perceived needs, wants and feelings. Not that these things aren't important in their place, but they're out of place in us humans, because of sin. They displace God himself: Father, Son and Spirit. And the irony is that in the end they're only really satisfied and fulfilled in God. Which means we must leave the old path of pursuing our needs, wants in accordance with our feelings, behind.

What we need, of course it begins in Jesus, and apart from him this won't happen...., but what we need to do is to "dial down." I mean we need to put our perceived needs, wants and feelings into the hands of God. As we do that, displacing them so that the Triune God through Christ becomes the center, than we'll find that our desires eventually begin to be fulfilled.

This is not easy in this life where sin is simply turning good things into idols so that those good things, no longer received as from their Creator, God, end up sending us down a long and winding dead end path. We may get what we want, but we'll have lost something of ourselves, of our true humanity, in the process. So that what is left is less satisfying to ourselves and others around us.

To dial down for me means to quit my own expectations about life, or what anything in life ought to be. Instead I need to see what is already there and present as gifts from God. And I need to give thanks to God, worshiping only him.

We can do so only in prayer. We need to give our wills over to God and embrace his will, even when we don't understand or maybe just don't like it. Dialing down will end up getting us in on the real good, while failing to do so will see the good not last forever. In God through Jesus the real good does last forever. And better still- along with that- we'll be lost in wonder, love and praise for our God.

This is a process, and like everything else in this life involves growth on our part which will involve repentance from our old ways and repeatedly so, faith open to God's ways in Jesus so that we increasingly are on that path and grow. So that we become more and more confirmed in this.

What do you think about dialing down?

against a privatized faith

Often what we hear as to what faith in Jesus amounts to in living in this world, is some kind of personal, privatized faith, kept to oneself without interfering into the personal, private lives of others. But this is not the faith of the Bible, or of Jesus.

When Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world, the Greek translated better in this case in the NRSV means that his kingdom is not from this world. But in Jesus this kingdom has already entered into this present age. And it's a kingdom that has to do with the holy nation in Jesus, scattered throughout the earth. Not with any one recognized nation.

Jesus along with the apostles following, and the prophets in the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham there- the faith they held from God was not meant to stay with them, but to bless all nations, all peoples. And not only that, but to bless in terms of taking care of the land, being God's caretakers of it, and in the favor of God seeing their work overflow into blessings for all peoples, and even for the good earth and God's good creatures on it. This is something of what I see when it comes to the kind of faith we in Jesus actually have.

This gives meaning and value to all we do in helping others in any way. When done in the Lord there will somehow be meaning and value not only for this life, but also for the life to come in the resurrection of all things.

For too many people, Christianity is some kind of otherworldly religion that has nothing really to do with the down to earth, practical matters and existence here, except maybe to make people better so they can serve the status quo here and now. But in Jesus there is nothing less than a different dynamic, shaping different stories and outcomes than what would have been possible prior to Jesus' coming. This is why, while we see the Old Testament as foundational for what was to come, the fulfillment in Jesus in the New Testament, brings a new, living dynamic into the world. Of course the complete fulfillment won't occur until Jesus returns, but it begins now in us- in the people of God in Jesus.

So let's beware of any individualized, privatized faith. Yes, our faith is personal, but it's meant to become public. And in so doing bring God's new creation in Jesus to bear, in all of creation here and now.

What do you think about this? What would you like to share here?

God's leading of us

I am thinking of an old hymn, He Leadeth Me. God is so good in the leading of us, his children. We see this theme in Scripture, throughout.

We need to be still, seeking to be so before the Lord. We need to listen to his voice in our reading of Scripture, and try to discern what he may be saying to us as we prayerfully endeavor to hear his voice in our lives. This takes patience in faith- through grace, a persistence that won't quit until the clear, calming peace of God helps us rest assured in his way, and that we are on the right paths for his name's sake.

I must say for myself however, that if I wait on a feeling than I'd seldom move. I have to in faith press on in spite of my fears quite often, to find that perfect love that casts out fear.

God's love for us is so deep and so infinite. Why we can't trust him to lead us is a deficiency in us. We need to be those sheep that can come to have a growing and deeper trust in the goodness of our Good Shepherd. Knowing he is present for each and every one of us.

What thoughts would you like to add to this?

Is "the Lord is my Shepherd" enough?

We looked at Psalm 23 in our homegroup Sunday evening. It is a highly personalized psalm, as seen in the repeated use of "I" and "me". Though this is for all of God's people, it is instructive that the personal nature of this Shepherd/sheep relationship is important here.

Community is crucial in our life in God, inherent in fact. But we also have our individual part in the whole. This must never be lost. And God also takes us seriously as individuals, not just as individual parts of the whole, or one of the many. But his care for each of his sheep is complete down to the very hairs of our head.

Is "the Lord is my Shepherd" enough for us? Are we satisfied with that? As such he provides us each with needs met, rest, refreshment, guidance, protection, discipline, honor in grace before enemies, rich blessing, and God's presence for end of days. This is a blessed life in this present existence, meaning in a state of continued need in every way and protection from enemies. Of course we need all of Scripture to see this psalm or any other part of Scripture aright, especially passages in the New Testament that see this Shepherd imagery fulfilled in Jesus.

Is "the Lord is my Shepherd" enough? Most certainly in this psalm. And if so in this psalm, then true for our lives as well. By faith I must accept this metaphor that God in Christ is my Shepherd, that I am a sheep. And be satisfied with God's provision on his terms, not on my own. God's goodness and loyal love, or commitment will chase us all our days (Goldingay). And as sheep, how much each of us needs that. I know I do, as when I go my own way, or complain about my lot before God.

God wants us to find what true life in him means, a life more abundant, to the full. We'll find it only in this way, through the Lord who opens up the way to this life, and he being our Shepherd, and "we...the flock under his care."

What comes to mind here that you would like to share with us?