redemptive critique

Right now in my listening of Scripture I'm in Jeremiah, one of my favorite books, but a difficult one, indeed. It is full of judgment over the people's sin. Yet it is redemptive. God's ultimate end for his people, in spite of all the judgment is redemptive, giving them a future and a hope.

I must say that when I hear some Christians, I'm wondering just how redemptive the critique is.

A critique is redemptive when it lovingly and faithfully points out the sins which need to be repented of. This is loud and clear in Scripture. But it is not a critique which tries to find something wrong somewhere, or is prone to think the worst. That critique can be more like the devil's, one of accusation and of being an adversary rather than an advocate for the sinning person.

God in Jesus comes alongside those who are sinning, offers his hand, lifts them up, then tells them, "Go, and sin no more."

I believe we should seek to find the best in people, not the worst. And that we should be faithful in how we live, and what we say as in testimony and teaching. God alone can convict sinners, and bring the dirt out of their lives to save them. We also must be very careful what we say about God's children. They may be in error, and in sin, but they are in God's image, and well could be his children in Jesus, part of our family.

I'm thankful God's critique is redemptive, because if it were not, there would be no hope for any of us. But in Jesus there is always hope for everyone of us. As we seek to live in the grace and truth that is in Jesus our Lord.

What would you like to add to this?

culture

Last evening Deb and I enjoyed visiting Holland, Michigan which has the Tulip Time Festival on now. We enjoyed the Klompen Dancers again, and of course the tulips planted in the downtown area.

This area is rich in its culture, many Dutch people having settled here generations past. "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much." I'm not aware of Deb or I having any Dutch ancestry, so I guess that applies to us!

Culture is simply expressions in various ways of what it means to be human. It is interwoven with both good and evil. Expressions of our humanity reflect God's good creation. But we're all impacted by the Fall, which means that what is sinful becomes a part of human culture, and what is good in human culture can become sinful, when we let it take the place of God in our lives.

I'm reminded of the book of Ecclesiastes. The perspectives there are from people who seem to want to live life to the full in content and in manner. The writer (or writers) wants to experience everything, and he wants to do so, so completely that these normally good things become ends in themselves, or the end and goal for himself. In other words they become idols in one's heart.

But in the end the book comes around to the abrupt conclusion: "Fear God and keep his commandments!" Knowing that God will bring every hidden thing into judgment, whether it is good or evil.

I don't think Ecclesiastes pushes culture aside. It simply warns us to see culture for what it is: in part God's good gift to humanity, but impacted by human folly and sin.

I saw nothing sinful about the Klompen dancing. The costumes are delightful, and the wooden shoes. And the dancing. We do well to embrace our humanity. Culture to a significant degree is a gift from God. Though we need discernment to see what might creep in that is not reflective of God's goodness and will.

At the same time we must not let culture or any part of it become our center. God in Christ and his kingdom must be our center. Then all God's gifts can be for us a blessing and not a curse. And an expression of the very image of God in us as humans in ways that reflect not only God's good creation, but his new creation in Jesus. Ultimately redeemed in Jesus.

Just a few thoughts. It was fun; we both enjoyed it. Was nice to be there and spend time together in that way.

What might you like to add here?

what is this world coming to?

I grew up in a Christian setting influenced by the belief that the world would become worse and worse, then the Antichrist would come, God would judge- with the belief that the church is gone in all of this through the rapture (now I believe the church is present through that time of tribulation)- and then Jesus would return to set up the Millennial Kingdom.

I now hold to a more complicated view. The light in Jesus becomes brighter through the church, and this shows sin all the more for what it is. The Spirit of God being at work through the church, and perhaps in some way, in other ways throughout the world in reaching out to people. But God being at work in the new creation already present in Jesus, but not yet completed.

In that I see potential for the world to be better at certain times and places, maybe even overall with exceptions to that rule, but the need for final judgment against those opposed to God and God's will, as some in their quest for power continue to wreak havoc on people and on God's creation. As well, the need for both the redemption of Jesus accomplished at the cross and it fruit or result in the resurrection, to be completed in the reconciliation of all things to God and in that, the renewing, or new creation in Jesus.

This has to be worked out more in my theological thinking, but this is kind of where I'm at now, in a few as well as hurried words.

I wonder if any of you out there has any thoughts on this in reference to how you may have it worked out. Or anything to add.

pain

Pain is good, as we're reminded in a book by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. Without it we wouldn't know that something was wrong with our bodies or our souls. No pain is the plight of lepers, as explained in that book. Pain in Scripture is the inevitable result of sin. God made that clear to both Adam and Eve after they had sinned. Her pains in childbirth would be greatly increased, and the ground would be cursed over which they would toil, Adam would have to work extra hard in what is at times a losing battle. And they would grow old and die. And their fellowship with God in the garden, would be only a distant and probably fading memory.

God steps in by grace. He pursued the guilty and fleeing pair, and he pointed to the way, right through them, the way of redemption. Yes, they would procreate the seed by whom the serpent's head would be crushed. It is moving that God in his grace would use the very ones who sinned and through whom came the fall, to bring redemption and restoration to all things in the end. But such was, and is the nature of God's redemptive work. It is incarnational. In the incarnation, God in his Son, becomes completely human while remaining completely God. And to the undoing of the serpent and all that was done in their very sin. God used them, the guilty pair, they were not set aside as useless. And he uses us today, even in the midst of our own sin and guilt. God brings redemption in the Seed, Christ. Through faith we enter in and become part of what God is doing in Jesus, even in the midst of all our pain, struggle and doubt.

Some of us do seem to go through so much more pain than others, whether physically or emotionally. And for all kinds of reasons. But by faith we can see the pain work for the glory of God if we'll just let it point us in the direction God has for us. God can take the pain away in answer to prayer, but it may be present for a good reason. More often God wants us to learn to live through the pain and honor him in it. That is the real miracle, as I read recently, and I believe that's true. That is experiencing God's grace and walking by faith. To keep looking to God even when all our being is impacted in some kind of ongoing pain. That is pleasing to God.

What would you like to add here?

Tomorrow: "Climbing - justice" from L.L. Barkat, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places