Love as seen in Jesus and described in Scripture is something to be worked into our hearts and into our very bones. It needs to become a part of who we are, and we a part of what it is. This is possible in God; in the love of God in Christ; in the love of God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I think a good question to ask in our lives, especially when we meet up against inevitable difficulties, what does this love look like here? We need to get into Scripture to see that, especially looking at the life of Jesus in its entirety. In that we can see and find and participate, by grace in this same love.
Love enables us to hang in there through the most difficult and trying times and troubles. When we would in our old selves simply have a meltdown or drop out, this love helps us to stay put, seeking to live out God's call to us in Christ through everything.
This is a call, at its heart to love God with all our being and doing, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This will mean some creativity and much patience, endurance and perseverance- all born of prayer to the God who is love. This love is beyond us, we don't have it; but it is a gift from God and a gift as we seek to follow on with the Lord, staying in communion with his people in mission to all other fellow sinners in this world.
What about you? How has God helped you to live in this love that is beyond us and live it out in your life?
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
faith and obedience
Is there saving faith apart from obedience? This has been debated among evangelicals, but I think it is safe to say that none of the Reformers nor the great Church before that made such a distinction. Luther and the Reformers did want to be sure that it was Christ's righteousness alone that was imputed/judicially given to the sinner who put their faith in Jesus (the Anabaptists with Menno Simons, etc., had trouble with the teaching of imputed righteousness, so differed). But faith was at least evidenced by good works in obedience to God, and the two in a sense were linked together.
I really don't like the teaching "once saved always saved" because though it does not necessarily lend itself to a separtation of faith and obedience, too often I'm afraid, it does. For me in this post it's beside the point whether "once saved always saved" is actually true. All I want to insist on is that while faith on the part of the sinner comes from God's grace, for that faith to be proved real there must follow obedience.
Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship likens this to our Lord's call to Peter to come out to him on the water. Peter, to really have faith in this word from the Lord must step out in faith. Otherwise he could say what he will, but there would be no faith in that word if there was no obedience. We see this in other calls of Jesus to others, such as in the case of the rich young ruler. In that case, of course, there was no obedience therefore there was no faith.
If I'm struggling in defeat in my life, then I have to step back and look at what's going on and ask if I really do have faith. Faith involves following Jesus, so this involves obedience to the word of Jesus no matter how difficult or impossible that call may come across to us, and of course apart from the grace of God in Christ such a command is impossible for us to obey. This amounts to the death of our old selves and of course that is never comfortable in itself. But from that comes the new life and finding our true self in Jesus. And this is a reality for us only as we really seek to live it out, our one concern to follow Christ in complete obedience.
I'm working on this and I want to do so in fellowship with other followers, but I must be sure that I'm meeting the issues in my own life as I seek to live this out with others.
What stands in the way in our lives to this simplicity of obedience to God's word in Christ? Is this thinking making faith a work? Are faith and works distinguishable in one crucial way, yet inseparable in another crucial way?
I really don't like the teaching "once saved always saved" because though it does not necessarily lend itself to a separtation of faith and obedience, too often I'm afraid, it does. For me in this post it's beside the point whether "once saved always saved" is actually true. All I want to insist on is that while faith on the part of the sinner comes from God's grace, for that faith to be proved real there must follow obedience.
Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship likens this to our Lord's call to Peter to come out to him on the water. Peter, to really have faith in this word from the Lord must step out in faith. Otherwise he could say what he will, but there would be no faith in that word if there was no obedience. We see this in other calls of Jesus to others, such as in the case of the rich young ruler. In that case, of course, there was no obedience therefore there was no faith.
If I'm struggling in defeat in my life, then I have to step back and look at what's going on and ask if I really do have faith. Faith involves following Jesus, so this involves obedience to the word of Jesus no matter how difficult or impossible that call may come across to us, and of course apart from the grace of God in Christ such a command is impossible for us to obey. This amounts to the death of our old selves and of course that is never comfortable in itself. But from that comes the new life and finding our true self in Jesus. And this is a reality for us only as we really seek to live it out, our one concern to follow Christ in complete obedience.
I'm working on this and I want to do so in fellowship with other followers, but I must be sure that I'm meeting the issues in my own life as I seek to live this out with others.
What stands in the way in our lives to this simplicity of obedience to God's word in Christ? Is this thinking making faith a work? Are faith and works distinguishable in one crucial way, yet inseparable in another crucial way?
Sunday, July 29, 2007
prayer for the week
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
from Book of Common Prayer
from Book of Common Prayer
Saturday, July 28, 2007
tagged, I'm now it!
Monica Tutak tagged me and I'm now to share eight things about myself and or my spouse that most people don’t know.
1. My wife, Deb, is not only an avid horse lover, but she paints and draws as well.
2. Deb also has a gift for helping the sick, especially those who are older and in hospice as a nursing assistant.
3. Deb is a vegan on the Hallelujah Diet, no meat or dairy (100% as far as what she controls most of the time); she is much healthier as a result, and so am I- who along for the ride gets in about 80+% in the same way of eating.
4. Deb likes to take walks with the dog and myself.
5. I would like to read at least three hours a day.
6. I like to spend time with people.
7. I would like to write a book, if it could help others in some way.
8. I would like to travel more; maybe even doing this!
Now I will tag some of my friends who I think will do this, or wouldn't mind doing so: Craver VII; Halfmom, AKA, Susan; KM; Llama Momma. If you’re up to the challenge, list eight things about yourself and or your spouse that most people don’t know.
1. My wife, Deb, is not only an avid horse lover, but she paints and draws as well.
2. Deb also has a gift for helping the sick, especially those who are older and in hospice as a nursing assistant.
3. Deb is a vegan on the Hallelujah Diet, no meat or dairy (100% as far as what she controls most of the time); she is much healthier as a result, and so am I- who along for the ride gets in about 80+% in the same way of eating.
4. Deb likes to take walks with the dog and myself.
5. I would like to read at least three hours a day.
6. I like to spend time with people.
7. I would like to write a book, if it could help others in some way.
8. I would like to travel more; maybe even doing this!
Now I will tag some of my friends who I think will do this, or wouldn't mind doing so: Craver VII; Halfmom, AKA, Susan; KM; Llama Momma. If you’re up to the challenge, list eight things about yourself and or your spouse that most people don’t know.
Friday, July 27, 2007
change takes time
I think too many times, too many of us Christians have bailed out of a commitment to work on an issue, because we did not see an immediate breakthrough. But change takes time. Yes, there are breakthroughs by faith at times, but even most of those times we find that growth in grace in regard to whatever issue it is we're working on, takes time. We may sense and see lack of progress, or even at times a falling back into our old ways. We must not give up, but repent and press on by faith.
When we do so we will find God's grace there for us, in forgiving and cleansing ways in God's love for us. But that doesn't mean all the sudden we've arrived. We need to keep "our feet to the fire" and keep trusting and obeying God in regard to the issue, so that in the long haul we will change, and become different people, more and more like God's Son, more and more his ways becoming "second nature" to us.
What might you like to share on this?
When we do so we will find God's grace there for us, in forgiving and cleansing ways in God's love for us. But that doesn't mean all the sudden we've arrived. We need to keep "our feet to the fire" and keep trusting and obeying God in regard to the issue, so that in the long haul we will change, and become different people, more and more like God's Son, more and more his ways becoming "second nature" to us.
What might you like to share on this?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
life as a sacrifice of love
Life as a sacrifice of love is a description of Christ's life for us and for the world. But it's also a description of our life in Christ and following Christ. Of course it is grounded in the foundation who is Christ as well as the foundational act, which is Christ's work of love in dying for us, for our sins and the sins of the world. From that we live, and that life that we live is a Christ-life he lives out in us by the Spirit and we live out in cooperation with him, in faith and obedience to God.
This takes in everything, all that we face and experience. It ends up being swallowed up in this reality, so that we can live this out and grow in the grace of doing so.
Do we see all we experience in this light, particularly the difficult things and problems we encounter, the trials and even temptations? We are called to be little christs, and in Christ we are. And this is the life that we need to see in each other and that the world needs to see from us, a life that points them to its true source: Christ.
What would you add here?
This takes in everything, all that we face and experience. It ends up being swallowed up in this reality, so that we can live this out and grow in the grace of doing so.
Do we see all we experience in this light, particularly the difficult things and problems we encounter, the trials and even temptations? We are called to be little christs, and in Christ we are. And this is the life that we need to see in each other and that the world needs to see from us, a life that points them to its true source: Christ.
What would you add here?
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
our reason or faith?
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but--more frequently than not --struggles against the divine Word...
Martin Luther, Table Talk (1569)
Are we as God's children in Christ servants of the Word? Yes, we are. Word here Luther is refering to is Scripture. We are servants of the Word, Christ, as well as the word, Scripture.
As servants of the word of God we are in an optimal/most favorable place to be sure that it is the word alone that moves and dictates our existence, not our reason, experience or anything else. That must be our goal and endeavor.
I find Luther's quote here from his Table Talk (I need to get my copy of that) helpful. I find reason always wanting to help in unhelpful ways. Reason thinks it sees and knows best, and that it even sees according to Scripture. Yet I also find that dissecting reason, my reason from Scripture helps me see that it is taking me away from its pure (not in the sense of perfect, but in the sense of unsullied: the word alone) fulfillment of it.
I think a large part of what I'm getting at is found in Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight
I find God's help and peace only when I submit to his word and am willing to cast my reason aside.
Reason is a gift from God but it is to be a servant of God's revelation. It is under God's revelation, not over. The problem is when it usurps the place of God's revelation or the place of God himself. And reason cannot be the interpreter of God's revelation found in Scripture and in Jesus Christ.
We are servants of the word of God. Let us live according to that word alone, placing ourselves under it and in so doing under the care, goodness and guidance of God.
What might you add to this?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
keep reading and praying the psalms
Both Eugene Peterson in Eat This Book, as well as Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together speak of us praying the psalms in and through Jesus Christ. The first time I read Bonhoeffer on this I was scratching my head, though I did think there was truth there. Yes, it was afternoon break, and no, I'm not necessarily that coherent that time of day. I kept after it, reading it repeatedly and it began to make more and more sense to me. Not that I understand it well yet, but I'll keep working on it.
One thing is for sure, keep reading and praying the psalms, and do so as God's child and part of Christ's Body, in and through Jesus Christ. These psalms can help us through the darkest days and times in our lives. Every general human experience and mood seems present in them.
And we know that through Christ and his coming in his Incarnation, life, death and resurrection, these psalms take on a kind of fulfillment that we end up participating in together. The psalms in a sense become the prayer of all of us, as God's people in Christ. And it is Christ himself who prays them with us and in him that we find their meaning in God's judgment and grace that comes through Christ. This is praying in the Spirit and it is also praying according to God's word and the revelation of God we see in Jesus from the gospels as well as the rest of the New Testament.
Keep reading and praying the psalms. There's everything in Scripture we need, and the psalms themselves in some form, contain all of that. Who of us isn't facing difficulties, hard knocks, impossibilities, temptations, at times failures- all that life can throw at us? God will help us, as we help ourselves to this inspired song and prayer book: Psalms.
One thing is for sure, keep reading and praying the psalms, and do so as God's child and part of Christ's Body, in and through Jesus Christ. These psalms can help us through the darkest days and times in our lives. Every general human experience and mood seems present in them.
And we know that through Christ and his coming in his Incarnation, life, death and resurrection, these psalms take on a kind of fulfillment that we end up participating in together. The psalms in a sense become the prayer of all of us, as God's people in Christ. And it is Christ himself who prays them with us and in him that we find their meaning in God's judgment and grace that comes through Christ. This is praying in the Spirit and it is also praying according to God's word and the revelation of God we see in Jesus from the gospels as well as the rest of the New Testament.
Keep reading and praying the psalms. There's everything in Scripture we need, and the psalms themselves in some form, contain all of that. Who of us isn't facing difficulties, hard knocks, impossibilities, temptations, at times failures- all that life can throw at us? God will help us, as we help ourselves to this inspired song and prayer book: Psalms.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Jesus prays for us
Jesus prays for us- "he always lives to make intercession for [us]" (Heb. 7:25). The verb is in the present tense. This is the most important thing to know about prayer, not that we should pray or how we should pray but that Jesus is right now praying for us (see also Heb. 4:16 and John 17).
Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading , p. 106.
This is a blessed truth that we need to remember. We can count on this: Jesus will not fail in praying for us as his people. We do fail, time and time again, though we want to grow and do better, and we should.
Just the same it is good and important for us to fall back time and time again on this truth and reality. And how much we need it. Left to ourselves we would fail and give up, but because of Jesus's intercessions in prayer, meaning that he prays for us with petitions to the Father- we keep getting up and going on in spite of ourselves because of him.
This blessed truth took hold of me the other day after I had read it in this book, coming afresh and anew to me. I sensed God's peace in spite of myself and my struggles; maybe someone was praying for me somewhere and God always honors that. One thing we should in faith count on: Jesus is always praying for us as one who is one with us as well as one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
How has this truth impacted you, or what might you like to add here?
Sunday, July 22, 2007
prayer for the week
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
from Jesus Creed, and from Book of Common Prayer
from Jesus Creed, and from Book of Common Prayer
Saturday, July 21, 2007
the Bible and life
I share Eugene Peterson's lack of enthusiasm for Bible promise books and the books or teachings designed to make us feel better, meet our perceived needs and satisfy our wants (Peterson's "the replacement Trinty" in reverse order). As he points out, the life of Scripture and our lives do line up. Oftentimes in Scripture things just don't seem to add up at all, and isn't that true, oftentimes in our own lives and in the lives of others?
We need to come to Scripture and let this word of God speak to us in its own terms and from the Word through whom it comes to us. It is meant not so things would turn out the way we would like, but so that we would learn to follow our Lord in obedience and faith even when life seems to make little or no sense at all.
We do need to be much in Scripture and with that goes reading (listening), meditating, praying and living, in a kind of interactive spiral, as Peterson puts it. These go together as he helpfully works through the Christian practice of lectio divina. That part alone is worth picking up this book, but really the entire book is more than worth the read.
So this means I find the life God has for me as it is: not as I want or think I need or what would make me feel better. But that I enter into the world of the text of Scripture and out from that, this Story enters into my world, and my story becomes a part of this Story of God.
Nice to have some time for reading during these summer weekends, and this is a good book to take up and read. What are your thoughts here, or what might you be reading this weekend?
We need to come to Scripture and let this word of God speak to us in its own terms and from the Word through whom it comes to us. It is meant not so things would turn out the way we would like, but so that we would learn to follow our Lord in obedience and faith even when life seems to make little or no sense at all.
We do need to be much in Scripture and with that goes reading (listening), meditating, praying and living, in a kind of interactive spiral, as Peterson puts it. These go together as he helpfully works through the Christian practice of lectio divina. That part alone is worth picking up this book, but really the entire book is more than worth the read.
So this means I find the life God has for me as it is: not as I want or think I need or what would make me feel better. But that I enter into the world of the text of Scripture and out from that, this Story enters into my world, and my story becomes a part of this Story of God.
Nice to have some time for reading during these summer weekends, and this is a good book to take up and read. What are your thoughts here, or what might you be reading this weekend?
Friday, July 20, 2007
Christian nonresistance
Recently I was challenged gently by a sister on war and nonresistance. I must say that the answers on either side have plenty of difficulties as well as seeming justification for their views (Just War and Christian Pacifist positions).
The position of Christian Pacificism would hold that we are to take the steps that Jesus took, in all of life. This means taking up our cross, which means following closely to the Lord, and thus finding his easy yoke and light burden (Bonhoeffer). The good news that Jesus brought was assured by him taking on himself the evil and sins of the world, not resisting that, so that the love of God could prevail in reconciling all peoples and creation to himself. We in Jesus are to live out this gospel in our lives, a good news bringing peace and overcoming evil with good.
To those who hold to Jesus's teaching of nonresistance, and actually all Christians must hold to it in one way or another, but I mean to those who hold it with a pacifist view, this means a refusal to take vengeance in one's own hands no matter what, because vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12). Repeatedly in the New Testament Christian nonresistance is linked to God's vengeance against the evildoing and evildoers (Volf).
I believe Christian participation in the military and in war is a watering down of what Jesus taught us and a compromise of the gospel itself. That is, if I profess to follow Christ and his way, this must be true in all of life, not just in my private life. If I'm willing to take up arms and kill during war, then I'm saying that the gospel and the way of Christ does not apply in that situation. Christians in Jesus are called to a different life, apart from the state, which has been established by God to execute his vengeance on evildoers. But in Christ, I believe, this is not a part of the calling of the believer.
I know this is short, and many good Christians ardently disagree. I believe in the end we must subject all things to Scripture, and especially look at the life of Jesus when he was on earth, as well as all that is written about this present age between Christ's first and second comings. Some of the arguments I've heard against Christian pacifism and nonresistance, I'm afraid, don't do this. We must keep searching the Scriptures and work on this.
Anyone for nonresistance?
Great links: Why I am a pacifist and Paul and War from Scot McKnight
And my seven part series on this (links at bottom): Christians and war
The position of Christian Pacificism would hold that we are to take the steps that Jesus took, in all of life. This means taking up our cross, which means following closely to the Lord, and thus finding his easy yoke and light burden (Bonhoeffer). The good news that Jesus brought was assured by him taking on himself the evil and sins of the world, not resisting that, so that the love of God could prevail in reconciling all peoples and creation to himself. We in Jesus are to live out this gospel in our lives, a good news bringing peace and overcoming evil with good.
To those who hold to Jesus's teaching of nonresistance, and actually all Christians must hold to it in one way or another, but I mean to those who hold it with a pacifist view, this means a refusal to take vengeance in one's own hands no matter what, because vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12). Repeatedly in the New Testament Christian nonresistance is linked to God's vengeance against the evildoing and evildoers (Volf).
I believe Christian participation in the military and in war is a watering down of what Jesus taught us and a compromise of the gospel itself. That is, if I profess to follow Christ and his way, this must be true in all of life, not just in my private life. If I'm willing to take up arms and kill during war, then I'm saying that the gospel and the way of Christ does not apply in that situation. Christians in Jesus are called to a different life, apart from the state, which has been established by God to execute his vengeance on evildoers. But in Christ, I believe, this is not a part of the calling of the believer.
I know this is short, and many good Christians ardently disagree. I believe in the end we must subject all things to Scripture, and especially look at the life of Jesus when he was on earth, as well as all that is written about this present age between Christ's first and second comings. Some of the arguments I've heard against Christian pacifism and nonresistance, I'm afraid, don't do this. We must keep searching the Scriptures and work on this.
Anyone for nonresistance?
Great links: Why I am a pacifist and Paul and War from Scot McKnight
And my seven part series on this (links at bottom): Christians and war
Thursday, July 19, 2007
seeking God
The psalms redound with this ring to seek the LORD, to seek his face, along with other passages in Scripture. I believe we often do this because we know that we're lost, and that's half the battle.
To seek God's face is to seek his light found in his countenance, revealed to us Spirit-ually, by revelation in an experiential way, not only in the mind. And it is to seek his blessing in helping us through difficulties and impossibilities, to ourselves, that we may walk in the way of the Lord.
What do we do? A good way to go about it is to open up to the psalms. Start at Psalm 1 and begin praying your way through them, in the name of Jesus and even as one in Jesus, that is the psalms impacted and fulfilled by his person and work for us and the world.
This includes confession of our sins and petitions for God's forgiveness and restoration. Of course through Jesus' death we have the forgiveness of our sins, but to receive that we must really want it or choose it regardless of our wants and feelings. And as we seek God we open ourselves up to receive from him his grace to give us what we can never work up in ourselves.
Seeking God is often done in times of desperation, when we know that without God's help we're sunk. But we must be ready and willing to obey, seeking to do so eagerly, from the heart, not sugarcoating any sin, as sweet as it may seem to us, along with the bitterness it brings.
These are just some aspects of seeking God that I see in reading Scripture and in living and trying to do this very thing myself. What have you seen about seeking God?
To seek God's face is to seek his light found in his countenance, revealed to us Spirit-ually, by revelation in an experiential way, not only in the mind. And it is to seek his blessing in helping us through difficulties and impossibilities, to ourselves, that we may walk in the way of the Lord.
What do we do? A good way to go about it is to open up to the psalms. Start at Psalm 1 and begin praying your way through them, in the name of Jesus and even as one in Jesus, that is the psalms impacted and fulfilled by his person and work for us and the world.
This includes confession of our sins and petitions for God's forgiveness and restoration. Of course through Jesus' death we have the forgiveness of our sins, but to receive that we must really want it or choose it regardless of our wants and feelings. And as we seek God we open ourselves up to receive from him his grace to give us what we can never work up in ourselves.
Seeking God is often done in times of desperation, when we know that without God's help we're sunk. But we must be ready and willing to obey, seeking to do so eagerly, from the heart, not sugarcoating any sin, as sweet as it may seem to us, along with the bitterness it brings.
These are just some aspects of seeking God that I see in reading Scripture and in living and trying to do this very thing myself. What have you seen about seeking God?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
take the lower place
Jesus tells us in the gospels that when invited to a banquet one should take the lowest seat. Jesus speaks to us in our lives; humble yourself. Do you look for great things for yourself? Don't seek them (Jeremiah; word to Baruch).
This involves any number of things, including seeing others as better than ourselves, seeing ourselves as the worst of sinners (like Paul did) and acknowledging that at times we're the weaker brother or sister.
If we focus merely on taking the lower place this can become an end in itself and can end up making us proud of ourselves; after all, I took the lowest place here. Isn't that true greatness?
But this lowering of ourselves is simply to be an acknowledgement of who we really are and who God really is. This must work its way into our minds and hearts as a part of who and what we are. And we must be in Scripture to see it, as well as seeking the face of God in Christ.
Then comes the promise that whoever humbles themselves like this will be exalted. We find this to be the case with the one who was supreme in humbling himself; now exalted to the highest place. And we in him are exalted to true greatness that is in Christ as we learn to abide in this practice and stance of humility in truth and in love.
What thoughts might you add here?
This involves any number of things, including seeing others as better than ourselves, seeing ourselves as the worst of sinners (like Paul did) and acknowledging that at times we're the weaker brother or sister.
If we focus merely on taking the lower place this can become an end in itself and can end up making us proud of ourselves; after all, I took the lowest place here. Isn't that true greatness?
But this lowering of ourselves is simply to be an acknowledgement of who we really are and who God really is. This must work its way into our minds and hearts as a part of who and what we are. And we must be in Scripture to see it, as well as seeking the face of God in Christ.
Then comes the promise that whoever humbles themselves like this will be exalted. We find this to be the case with the one who was supreme in humbling himself; now exalted to the highest place. And we in him are exalted to true greatness that is in Christ as we learn to abide in this practice and stance of humility in truth and in love.
What thoughts might you add here?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
finding God's peace
To want to live in God's peace is a part of seeking to find God's will, I believe. We want the peace of God in our hearts with the sense of security, wholeness, and love of God that goes with that.
But I think we too often want just a singular, individual peace, when surely we should be looking for it in community with each other in Jesus.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace, Paul "wrote" to the Colossians. There are times when we can find God's will and his peace in seclusion, but normally, I believe, God wants us to learn how to live in his will, finding his peace in community.
This involves a whole host of things, such as encouraging each other, praying for one another, confessing sins to another, and so on as we read in the New Testament, all in the love of Christ which we give and receive from each other.
And it's not like we arrive, and that's it. It's continual, we must continue on in this way, learning more and more what it means to live in God's will, together, as we seek to follow Christ in mission to the world.
This has helped me in my life. Though I'm still working on what all this means as well as how it is worked out in life. What about you?
But I think we too often want just a singular, individual peace, when surely we should be looking for it in community with each other in Jesus.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace, Paul "wrote" to the Colossians. There are times when we can find God's will and his peace in seclusion, but normally, I believe, God wants us to learn how to live in his will, finding his peace in community.
This involves a whole host of things, such as encouraging each other, praying for one another, confessing sins to another, and so on as we read in the New Testament, all in the love of Christ which we give and receive from each other.
And it's not like we arrive, and that's it. It's continual, we must continue on in this way, learning more and more what it means to live in God's will, together, as we seek to follow Christ in mission to the world.
This has helped me in my life. Though I'm still working on what all this means as well as how it is worked out in life. What about you?
Monday, July 16, 2007
what God's will looks like
In a sense, as we read Scripture, and especially the story of Jesus there, we can pick up what God's will looks like in a person's life. But in another true sense we simply cannot.
I'm in a situation where I've been praying something like: "God, I really don't know what your will looks like in this situation. It is puzzling to me, and I want to seek to be open at all times for your direction."
This is part of what we're called to do in following Christ. Do we know where he is going? I refer here to our lives and the circumstances and issues we are encountering along the way. What are we to do? Oftentimes we may not know until we get there. And even then we seek to follow as best we can, knowing that our doing may at times be mistaken, or even wrong. But we seek to follow on, confident in the Lord that the Spirit by the Word/Scripture in community and even directly to us will help us see the error of our way, and if need be, repent, adjust and learn from it.
What thoughts would you like to share with us on this?
(Much of the thought here, while based on Scripture is influenced by my understanding from thoughts of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.)
I'm in a situation where I've been praying something like: "God, I really don't know what your will looks like in this situation. It is puzzling to me, and I want to seek to be open at all times for your direction."
This is part of what we're called to do in following Christ. Do we know where he is going? I refer here to our lives and the circumstances and issues we are encountering along the way. What are we to do? Oftentimes we may not know until we get there. And even then we seek to follow as best we can, knowing that our doing may at times be mistaken, or even wrong. But we seek to follow on, confident in the Lord that the Spirit by the Word/Scripture in community and even directly to us will help us see the error of our way, and if need be, repent, adjust and learn from it.
What thoughts would you like to share with us on this?
(Much of the thought here, while based on Scripture is influenced by my understanding from thoughts of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
prayer for the week
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
from Jesus Creed and from Book of Common Prayer
from Jesus Creed and from Book of Common Prayer
Saturday, July 14, 2007
relax
This sounds like a good word for a Saturday and for a weekend. As well as for those of us who in Jesus hold to a rest on Sunday (or Saturday).
Relax is important in life for us in Jesus, because life doesn't depend on us. We need to be layed back, in a way. Too often we walk around, talk and live as if it all depends on us. But while what we do or don't do is important, and especially the inward dispositions of our hearts, it still in a true sense all depends and hinges on God and his grace, as well as on the help we're called to give each other.
Let's emphasize relax. Even, and maybe especially so when we are busy. In that busyness and hard work, let us learn to relax with the truth that God is with us in Christ. And we know that only because of that will anything prosper according to God's will.
How do you relax in this way, or what thoughts might you add here?
Relax is important in life for us in Jesus, because life doesn't depend on us. We need to be layed back, in a way. Too often we walk around, talk and live as if it all depends on us. But while what we do or don't do is important, and especially the inward dispositions of our hearts, it still in a true sense all depends and hinges on God and his grace, as well as on the help we're called to give each other.
Let's emphasize relax. Even, and maybe especially so when we are busy. In that busyness and hard work, let us learn to relax with the truth that God is with us in Christ. And we know that only because of that will anything prosper according to God's will.
How do you relax in this way, or what thoughts might you add here?
Friday, July 13, 2007
remember Lot's wife
It's easy to give pat answers as to why Lot's wife looked back. But one need look only into their own hearts to find the answer, I think. At least that's true of me.
When one gets intrenched in a certain way of life it is much harder to get out. Your roots are there, you know the ropes, you're comfortable, and after all, we all struggle with sin and temptation. Lot had chosen to live among a people ripe for God's judgment and condemnation. Though Lot himself was righteous, as Peter tells us, he was vexed everyday with the ungodly lives of those in his city. Yet he was hardly on mission, but he was seeking to benefit himself from his associations there.
Lot's wife was all apart of this. How, and what exactly was occuring here, we can't say for sure, though we can know some things in general.
Jesus warns would-be followers of him, that if they are to so follow, they must not be like Lot's wife. There must be no looking back. Jesus makes it clear that it's a matter of giving up one's own life.
We hold on to what we love, don't we? It's hard to give up, even impossible in ourselves to avoid the same end as Lot's wife. Yet that's what God calls us to do.
Only in God through Christ by the Spirit can we do this. And it must be done, or at least ought to regularly be done in community. This is where our sin issues need to be straightened out. Notice in Lot's case, he and his family had no such community there. Nor had they become that kind of community themselves.
No looking back. We need to look one direction: towards Jesus, and the Jesus way of the cross: death to self unto resurrection and new life. A brand new life that leaves the other behind.
What would you add here?
Related Post
Charity: Wide Open Spaces: Recycled Lives
When one gets intrenched in a certain way of life it is much harder to get out. Your roots are there, you know the ropes, you're comfortable, and after all, we all struggle with sin and temptation. Lot had chosen to live among a people ripe for God's judgment and condemnation. Though Lot himself was righteous, as Peter tells us, he was vexed everyday with the ungodly lives of those in his city. Yet he was hardly on mission, but he was seeking to benefit himself from his associations there.
Lot's wife was all apart of this. How, and what exactly was occuring here, we can't say for sure, though we can know some things in general.
Jesus warns would-be followers of him, that if they are to so follow, they must not be like Lot's wife. There must be no looking back. Jesus makes it clear that it's a matter of giving up one's own life.
We hold on to what we love, don't we? It's hard to give up, even impossible in ourselves to avoid the same end as Lot's wife. Yet that's what God calls us to do.
Only in God through Christ by the Spirit can we do this. And it must be done, or at least ought to regularly be done in community. This is where our sin issues need to be straightened out. Notice in Lot's case, he and his family had no such community there. Nor had they become that kind of community themselves.
No looking back. We need to look one direction: towards Jesus, and the Jesus way of the cross: death to self unto resurrection and new life. A brand new life that leaves the other behind.
What would you add here?
Related Post
Charity: Wide Open Spaces: Recycled Lives
Thursday, July 12, 2007
God's peace
God's peace. It is shalom in the Old Testament, meaning God's blessing transforming all creation. In the New Testament influenced by Greek culture, peace takes on both an intrinsic and extrinsic meaning, for us as individuals and for us as community in Jesus.
But peace is not meant to stop there, as really is especially evident in shalom yet likewise is carried over in the New Testament meaning of it. In Christ we're to be proclaimers and bearers of God's peace, extending it to every sphere of life and activity that is ours, and beyond.
At its heart it is a peace that is healing the brokenness of creation, beginning with relationships of humans to God, then humans to each other (including ourselves), humans to God's creation and the healing of creation itself- all in the new creation in Christ.
When people see us they should see little christs (C.S. Lewis). And especially should this be so when they see us together in mission to the world. As we give ourselves even as the Lord gave himself in such mission, God's peace we'll be made known to many and will begin that work of transformation that is someday to cover all the earth.
What do you see in this peace of God that can help us better understand and live in it?
But peace is not meant to stop there, as really is especially evident in shalom yet likewise is carried over in the New Testament meaning of it. In Christ we're to be proclaimers and bearers of God's peace, extending it to every sphere of life and activity that is ours, and beyond.
At its heart it is a peace that is healing the brokenness of creation, beginning with relationships of humans to God, then humans to each other (including ourselves), humans to God's creation and the healing of creation itself- all in the new creation in Christ.
When people see us they should see little christs (C.S. Lewis). And especially should this be so when they see us together in mission to the world. As we give ourselves even as the Lord gave himself in such mission, God's peace we'll be made known to many and will begin that work of transformation that is someday to cover all the earth.
What do you see in this peace of God that can help us better understand and live in it?
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