groans in our praying

Romans 8 tells us that we don't know how we should pray, but that the Spirit helps us with groans that words cannot express. Is this our groans or the Spirit's groans? I'm not sure, though it would seem grammatically that it is the Spirit who both intercedes and groans in us. But it seems that God's work in humans often includes humans so that we take on personally and from our hearts something of what the Spirit is doing, and indeed even the mood of the Spirit. I think I agree with Ben Witherington III who writes:

...Cranfield is probably right that what is meant are utterances or groanings that are imperceptible to the believer. The Spirit groans along with the believer, just as the believer groans as part of fallen creation.

Ben Witherington III, Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, 226

N.T. Wright has noted how we as believers in Jesus groan with the rest of creation for God's full renewal of all things, which begins with the redemption of our bodies in the resurrection.

When we seek to pray, just groaning should never be despised. This can be among the most powerful kind of praying and prayers. Even though we may not be uttering a word, not knowing what to pray, just our groans to God can be taken by, and/or come from the Spirit, who intercedes in us according to the will of God.

I often feel near groaning, at least a good part of any given day. And such often is the case when I am troubled in trying to pray for someone or something. But we should turn our groans "upward" in prayers to God, seeing them as something God can take as we think of those in need of God's intervention. And for ourselves as well.

I think I've found this helpful. When my prayer life may seem dormant, groanings may end up finding their way in and out of the throne room of God for the good of others, and the world, as well as ourselves.

How do you look at groaning as potentially being a most powerful kind of prayer? Or any thoughts on this?

knowing and doing

Leo Tolstoy is known for some of the greatest writing ever, and for his powerful words on the kingdom of God and the difference that can make on this earth, and in this life. The problem is that he didn't live it out well, by some accounts. He and his wife lived in a love-hate (and maybe hate should be put in bold, or capitalized letters) relationship. (I learned this from this book)

We in Jesus know more than we do, or practice. As we go along in our lives, hopefully the gap is narrowing. I can look at my life and see how in some ways that certainly is true. The one who built his house on the rock in Jesus' story, not only heard his teachings, but based his life on them.

But is there value in someone's words, like Tolstoy's, even though it seems he didn't come close to living up to them? I think there is. He saw something in Jesus that was beautiful and true. Something that hopefully beckoned him on, and that most certainly helped him see that the answer is not in anything this world has to offer. A part of the hope in Jesus we have, as we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

What do you think on this?

coming home

"There's no place like home." Maybe a trite saying, but there's truth in it. It's good to get away, and that's part of most people's summers. But there's no place we're at home at quite like home! :)

We as people are likened in Scripture to sheep. We easily lose our way and go astray. But Jesus is the good Shepherd who brings his sheep through the gate (which Jesus is likened to), finding that lost sheep and bringing it home, into safe pasture. And Jesus keeps his sheep in his care.

We as humans are really only at home when we find that home where God is in the center through Jesus by the Spirit- and as human beings living on earth.

Are we coming home? Are we more and more at home with Jesus, and is he by the Spirit more and more at home in our hearts by faith? Are we finding all of this in the midst of our daily existence, even in this world where there is no escape from trouble?

The beginning of this now in Jesus, in anticipation of our future home when heaven and earth become one, is here for us now. Are we learning to live in it?

What would you like to share here?

the cross

Here is a good example of Paul’s ministry to the intellectual elite of his day. And note these words of Paul:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written:

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

It’s the cross, which of course is shorthand for Jesus’ death and resurrection- God's work in Christ, to which we Christians go and from which we live, and on which is our hope for the world. Nothing more and nothing less.

love's hope

In Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, we read that "love....always hopes." This love Paul is referring to, is the love that alone gives value to what we do in Jesus. It's a love that has hope for every person because of God's grace in Christ.

It's easy to lose hope for someone. We may be seeing no progress, or them growing worse, and we falter in despair over them. Paul does put faith, hope and love together, as the most important aspect of how we live out our lives in God during this life. A triad that can't be broken.

As we love God, then we're to love others, and as we love them we're to do so with faith in God, hope in God's promises, and a love that acts on that: in prayers, loving words and deeds for others.

This hope that comes from God is one assured of his good promises being fulfilled. And one that in love hopes in faith that all will enter into the joy of this reality beginning in this life, in Christ.

In some small measure we may have lived this out by faith, for others. I hope to grow in this, so that this is a characteristic that marks my life. And is at least a reminder to me when I feel like giving up on someone, of love's hope in Jesus. And the difference it's made in my own life.

What would you like to add here?

walking by faith

Walking by faith and not by sight in the context of that Scripture passage, means that we anticipate the promise of being present with the Lord in our present condition apart from him, and the new home we will have. Perhaps the passage speaks of the intermediate state between death and final resurrection, but it certainly speaks of an existence after death. And as N.T. Wright expresses it, we as Christians are destined for a new "life after life after death." Meaning resurrection of our bodies.

Too often I live as though I want to hold on with all my might to this present life, almost as if that is all there is. Of course it is faith to say it is not, because one can go only on promises allegedly received from God through Christ. Though there are evidences both external and internal for believers of the validity of faith in Jesus.

It's not as though we shouldn't see death as an enemy. It is not God's intention for humanity, and indeed Jesus by his death destroyed death. While we don't want to fear death, since we know it doesn't have the final word because of Jesus, we most certainly don't welcome it, either. Except for those who long to pass on, experiencing disease or the end of life.

To have new covenant faith as given to us from the New Testament, we need to learn to live with a future orientation. We need to see that already the future in the new creation has broken in, even into this world in Christ, its completion in fullness to be known in the resurrection of our bodies and of all creation through Christ.

I need to do this by continuing to focus not on this old world which is passing away, but on the new world, evident to us by the indwelling Spirit, with the promise that that Spirit will give life to and raise up our bodies, just as Christ was raised from the dead. What has begun now will be perfectly fulfilled in an even more dynamic existence. This old, decaying creation will paricipate with God's children in a new creation which we both live in now and await.

Of course those who insist that all reality is only what meets the eye, are not going to receive any of this. Such include atheistic science and a rigid naturalism which actually rules out any god and whose hope and practical belief is that science eventually will explain everything. And maybe indeed science will end up with some explanation of everything, though one should never imagine that any knowledge in such endeavor can be complete and final. And even if it could be, we Christians believe there's more to life than meets the eye.

This is important for us all, and in my case it is good in fighting against recurring anxiety bouts. While we want to live responsibly in this life, yet we want our existence here to be lived out in view of the life promised to us in Jesus, begun now by faith and through the Spirit.

Both in my thinking and most certainly in my walk, I am especially in process on this as you might gather from this post.

Would any you have something to share from your own thoughts and reflections on this? Or anything related?

when all hope is gone

That first Holy Saturday as Jesus' body lay in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, hopes seemed dashed. The disciples were either hidden (except for the women disciples), out of fear, or else they were pondering with sadness over their disappointment.

At times we experience this waxing and waning of hope, how it comes and goes. Of course for us in Jesus our hope is called living, alive through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But at times, it seems like all hope is gone. Even Jesus himself seems to have experienced that hanging on the cross, as he expressed the anguish of being seemingly forsaken by God.

I marvel again and again just how God keeps giving us hope, after we experience periods when all hope seems to be gone. Yes, we know by faith that certain things are true, but unless we enter into the experience of that, beginning in this life, it's really of little or no value to us. I think of the word, "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him!" It's not enough for us to simply say the Lord is good; we need to enter into that reality and experience by faith for ourselves.

This hope goes on no matter what. It's living, and destined to complete fulfillment in Jesus. But on that first Holy Saturday Jesus' disciples seemed at a loss. They hadn't yet cast their faith aside from what we can tell. I would guess that it was dormant. They continued to gather together, even if in hiding, and mercifully, the time between Jesus' death and resurrection along with his appearances to the disciples, was short.

I am thankful for this living hope which continues on to this day. We also experience our times of doubt and struggle. But before too long God makes himself known to us through Jesus by the Spirit, and often together. And all of this is not just for ourselves, but for our mission in this world of witness to Jesus through words and deeds.

What does this look like in your life, or how might you describe it? Or whatever you would like to add here.

head scratchers

When listenting this morning to the account about the 200 men who were too exhausted to pursue the rescue of their own wives and children, along with the other 400 men and David, I have to admit (and maybe this is the first time after going over this passage many times before), it was a bit of a head scratcher for me. I'd have to be practically dead to not be on my way, especially after the Lord had promised David that they would overtake the raiding party and rescue their loved ones.

Sometimes the critics of Scripture (and there are growing militants of that in Western society today) will call attention to passages like this one, in their disdain for Scripture and faith in God. But on the other hand, in Scripture, there is a refreshing realism in the stories, David's included, which as in Abraham Lincoln's portrait, includes "warts and all," just as Lincoln insisted.

I have experienced depression, and knowing how distraught the men were, how they were weeping and even suggesting treason by stoning David to death- I can understand why they might want to catch a cat nap, but why the others would refuse to wait, even for a half an hour. Of course I'm using my imagination here, and the text doesn't fill in the details, but we do need to see these as real life stories (not using "story" here as in the sense of myth, but in the sense of a special telling of events which happened).

The Lord gave special faith to David, and through him to many of the other men, I take it, during this crisis. And I would think the grace of humility to those who found themselves unbelievably exhausted. I could see myself in this portrait in more than one place. Maybe looking down on my brothers who didn't do whatever necessary to keep themselves going, and shaking my head literally over that. Or on the other hand, seeing myself as so completely exhausted, so completely spent over the deep depression, maybe even flagging in my faith, though one would think there was a renewed hope through the Lord's word given to David- I could see myself with others asking for a brief rest, maybe suggesting we'd be better off if we did.

I like what David did in insisting that the men who went and those left behind would share equally in the plunder, David making that a statute for Israel. Grace is needed all around. It's an attitude of needing each other, and not judging another, while exercising discernment, which I believe David did well at that point.

Good to think through, and especially to see ourselves in Scripture. And in all of that, to see our God and his ongoing Story at work in our lives and in this world through Jesus.

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

looking ahead

As we look ahead at the turning of the calendar, I wonder what kind of thoughts and expectations we may have for the new year. And from where do these thoughts and expectations come?

I look forward to this new year, because I do so trying to look to God's promises to me and to us in Christ as my basis for seeing more change in my life. This alone gives me hope. Never any kind of resolution I may make, which I am guaranteed in time to break.

Looking ahead should embrace more than just our personal lives. We need a bigger scope and picture. Praying the "our Father" prayer daily can help us, as well as learning to pray with that in mind. And keeping in view the first and greatest commandment and the second like it, called by some of us, "the Jesus Creed," is helpful in this, as well.

What would you like to add to these few thoughts on looking ahead?

anticipation

For people like Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna and the Magi there was anticipation over someone special to be born. They were given enough details in prophecies and signs from God to know that this one to be born was extra special. But they did not know all the ways. Nor the way in which he would be special. Except as God gave it to them as it unfolded before their eyes.

We live as humans keen on anticipation. We're generally looking forward to something, or someone. We live with this sense, and when it is weak or gone it is not good, for this is part of our humanity, to look forward to something better, to live in hope, really a gift from God.

But what is our hope set on? Is it set on something or some things outside the boundary of God's revealed will? Is it set on things that are of less importance so that what is most important is no longer in sight (all things in their good place of course)? And what about this Christmas? How does our celebration of that reflect the anticipation that we actually do have?

Like those people of old, may we by grace have our hearts set in anticipation on the coming of our Lord Jesus. As we celebrate his special coming to earth as a little baby, God become human for our salvation and for the salvation of the world, may our hearts and minds be drawn out in anticipation of Jesus, and of God's good work through Jesus in the world, creation and in our own lives. And may we be open along the way to all that means as this salvation unfolds before us. That we may live in it, indeed in Jesus.

What would you like to add to this?

keep on keeping on

I'm not a TULIP guy (but the flowers, yes!), but a large part of the P (and probably all the T, properly understood) I think I would agree with. God's grace is at work to help us in Jesus, to keep on keeping on. This is so even after we fail and sometimes fail miserably. Or even when we're keenly aware of just how wrong and sinful we are inside. If left on our own it would be easy, and probably inevitable that sooner or later we'd throw in the towel and abandon the project altogether.

That stands to good reason since the project then would be dependent on us, but it is one in which God is at work. Yet it's a project of which we're a part. We have to keep on going, even when it seems like we're in the mire and getting no where. I think of Christian in John Bunyan's classic, The Pilgrim's Progress. He had plenty of help along the way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, but it was far from easy. There were points along the way where discouragement could have set in easily, leading to despair, and as I recall, there are points in the story that come close to that. But then renewed hope from God through Christ makes itself known through one "means of grace" or another. And Christian continues on in his journey.

For me it's important, certain times especially, not to live in the moment or present struggle or despair I'm in. I must go on, looking ahead to what God has for me in Christ, through the word, through other Christians. Of course Jesus was the epitome of this, setting the trail of salvation out for us by his life and through his death, resurrection and ascension. Now we go on in him, in this same kind of journey, testifying to his completed salvation and seeking to live that out in our journey in this world. We do so well only together, not alone as Christian in Bunyan's story was much of the time. Though there is an element of being alone from that story which is important. We still have our part to do. But we should seek to do so only in fellowship with God through Jesus, and in fellowship with others in Jesus.

Keep on keeping on. There's always a light ahead in the dark places. Don't look back, and don't stop moving. It's a God-thing, this life we have in Jesus. Therefore it's a sure and good ending ahead, as well as unfolding for us on the way to more and more know and make known God's glory and beauty by the Spirit in Jesus.

What might you like to add to this?

too good to be true

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2

It's a wise axiom that if something seems too good to be true, than ordinarily it is!

Sometimes in certain settings, let's take a work setting, people may get certain notions, hyped up notions of a person. Sometimes I think some have gotten an idealized notion of me. Those on my team know better, I think. Though hopefully they see Jesus in me, or sense Jesus' working in my life, at least. And my wife knows better, though I'd be devastated if she didn't see Jesus in me, all a matter of grace for sure.

When any of these people with an idealized notion really get to know a person, they'll find out that they're ordinary in most any and every way, and that they struggle, too. Certainly true of me, I speak here of myself.

But wonderfully as seen in the passage above, someday what is too good to be true will happen in Jesus. Something beyond us now, something beyond our wildest imagination and dreams. We will be like him, but mystery lies in our becoming then, as well.

Back to the present. I think when we're freed up to simply be ourselves, we can then live in the freedom of the Lord. When I'm around people who I think look down on me, it's hard for me to be myself. Though of course I don't know what kind of masks I wear anytime, for that matter. But I really like to be just myself around people, no different than when I'm alone. I find one as binding and bondage making, as the other is liberating and freeing. So good to be around people who entirely accept one, in spite of their imperfections and faults.

It's so wonderful to know that we can just be ourselves before the Lord and before each other. And just accept each other and learn to love each other in Jesus, in spite of all our wrongs and areas of weakness. And so wonderful to see the change in Jesus setting in us now, both on a personal level as well as in each other. And we must be patient. What a wonderful day it will be at the wedding supper of the Lamb as we get to know Jesus there and each other and with the change that will be brought to maturity in Jesus!

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

quote for the week: Edward T. Welch on hope

While our culture elevates riches and health, hope is one of the most coveted spiritual possessions. You get it by asking for it and practicing it. You practice it by remembering and meditating on God's story.

Edward T. Welch, Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, p. 251

expectation

I am actually amazed at just how down I might be over something one day, or just exhausted, yet how a new day brings with it hope and expectation. I see this as part of God's ongoing faithfulness in our lives in Jesus.

Our hope and expectation in the Lord is not just something about the sweet by and by, but is for now. But an important key here is that we just have to remain open to God's will and working. In other words we can't know just what we're to expect, except in general terms as God gives us from his word. Like we find in the "Our Father" prayer.

If we keep our expectations grounded in God through Christ, we won't in the long run be disappointed, even if what we experience in this life would never meet our own expectations. We need to learn to see life more and more in terms of God's expectations and working for us in Christ.

But though this is beyond us, it's truly wonderful how God keeps putting this sense of expectation in us over and over again to help us keep going on in Jesus, through all the trials and life that comes our way.

What would you like to add to these thoughts?

disappointment

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my all time favorite theologians, as well as favorite reads. If you've never read Bonhoeffer, these are the three books I'd especially recommend (though any of his are good): Life Together, Letters and Papers from Prison, and The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer, while living a fulfilling life in important respects, did live through disappointments on a number of levels. Bonhoeffer's work to awaken the church in Germany to the dangers and evil of Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich, generally failed. Even the confessing church he helped start did not stand through the long haul as a witness for Christ against the evils being done. And on a personal level, his love for Maria von Wedemeyer was never realized in marriage because of his imprisonment by the Nazis, and then his eventual execution.

"Hope does not disappoint." (Romans 5:5a). How does this apply quoted in the chapter of this book? Bonhoeffer gladly received all good as from God and did not try to deny human longings and aspirations. He rather saw all created as good, while at the same time necessarily under the cross of Christ. So that all is subject to God in Christ. But there's no doubt Dietrich was terribly disappointed over the church's failure to see through the evil happening in his day, and on a personal level was terribly disappointed that he and Maria could not live out their love together.

But Bonhoeffer refused to give up his high hopes. His passion had become to keep seeking to find and live out the will of God in this life. He seems to have seen each new day as a new enterprise and adventure in doing so, not that it was easy for him, because it wasn't. But God seems to have kept his life full, even in prison with his continued reading of books, writing and contact with the other prisoners. Bonhoeffer believed that each hope that was in his heart and a part of his life, would somehow reach fulfillment. He looked for that in his present existence, not in the sweet by and by.

"The day after the main plot to kill Hitler failed he wrote to console his friend [Eberhard Bethge]: 'By this-worldliness I mean to live unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world - watching with Christ in Gethsemane.'" (p. 121, quoted from Letters and Papers, p. 370)

Bonhoeffer seemed to live in hope, not of everything turning out as he planned, though he certainly felt strongly about his love for Maria and was much concerned for her. And he was hopeful that the plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler, of which he was the moral, theological support in spite of his Christian pacifism, would succeed. But he refused to live life, no matter how bleak it appeared, as not having hope. Bonhoeffer surely found his hope always in the Lord and never in his circumstances. He hoped for better circumstances and good outcomes from God, but in the end when he knew his end had come, his testimony of peace and calm was striking to those who witnessed it, and were able to pass it on later. His last words: "This is the end - for me, the beginning of life."

This is probably my favorite chapter in the book and draws alot from Bonhoeffer's writings. It speaks to me in my life in helping me to seek God's will in Jesus for each day above all, while seeking to live the life God gives now to the full.

What words would you like to add about disappointment and hope?

(From reading from The Consolations of Theology, edited by Brian S. Rosner, the chapter, entitled, "Bonhoeffer on Disappointment", by Brian S. Rosner.)

being taken over

I like the thought that the new life in Christ is not something we must live out by doing this and not doing that, even though properly understood there's truth in that thought. But it's something which more and more in Jesus, takes us over. This means more of what the Spirit puts in us, and less of our old selves.

I can see this in myself more and more in a growing love for God and for others, as well as a renewed desire to be more thankful. We still live in our unredeemed bodies, and God's good work in us in Jesus is not yet complete. Therefore I still struggle at times with anxiety, and at times still respond to people who I think are wrong, or have wronged me, in something less than love, even if that response is bottled up in me. And my wife can tell you and knows first hand, I've been known to look at as well as dwell on the dark side of things. Though usually every day now I don't live there for long, and even a good number of days it seems like that's gone, with maybe just remnants hanging on at times.

But it's good to be taken over by the resurrection life of Jesus even in this world. The new creation in Jesus breaking into the old. And anticipating in hope as well as actually realizing (see last verse of passage in its context) in some sort of way in all kinds of works done in God, the day when God makes all things new and all creation shares in that newness in Jesus.

What thoughts might you like to share here?

from hopelessness to hope

There have been certain times in my life when I felt hopeless in overcoming a problem. I can't recall the exact nature of all such occasions, except to say that they were matters relating to the faith and my walk in it. Some had to do with the mind and ridding myself of either false or inadequate teaching, teaching perhaps undermining the truth as it is in Jesus. Other had to do with overcoming what was sinful in my heart. Of course there are many matters we face which threaten us in some way or another. Usually not in your face kind of stuff, often subversive, undermining our faith in God through Christ.

Recently I had become weakened in my hope of getting over a problem in me, and I just could see no way out. But I was reminded again that our hope is never in ourselves, but in God in Christ, and in the promises of God to us in Jesus. I always use "in Jesus", or "in Christ", because this is the one locus, or place in which we can be assured of God's salvation and blessing.

I finally thought it wise to simply pray to God and ask him to change it, to intervene, really to change me. I knew the needed change was not in me at all; I couldn't do it, myself. It was something God wanted me to recognize and acknowledge as wrong in me, not according to his will. I confessed it to God and asked him to change me. Well, I believe he is. It's a walk of faith and is taking time, involving a process of change. One that has some ups and downs, on an upward trajectory towards "the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3). But one in which I'm amazed at the working of God. And am called to work out this salvation with fear and trembling, knowing it is God himself at work in me, so that I can choose and do his good will, what pleases him (Philippians 2).

This is very encouraging to me. And I hope it might be encouraging to a reader out there, in need of hope in what seems hopeless in your life.

Anyone like to share anything on this from your own life?

hilarity

Yesterday at a table in the breakroom a number of us guys had some good laughs. It was a good release for me, the hilarity, as life and the stress that comes with it, has been a little heavier lately.

I'm a believer in good humor and some downright good laughter, and it's especially nice when something seems genuinely hilarious, as was the case especially for me, today. Some were laughing in part, surely, from the genuine release of hilarity that was pouring out of me.

If we believe God is sovereign over all, then we can afford some laughter. Life doesn't depend on us, and we don't have to carry the world, not even our own world on our shoulders.

Ecclesiastes telling us that sorrow is better than laughter is in its context making the point that we need to empathize with others. Proverbs tells us a merry heart does good to us, like medicine. I know for myself today, it was a good release of pent up inward pressure, and the heaviness left me.

Life is a serious matter. Levity and constant lightheartedness can be the symptom of an inward emptiness or frustration towards life. It can be symptomatic of throwing in the towel as in, "What's the use?"

But at the same time having some consistent laughter and even some occasions of hilarity can indicate a faith and trust in a sovereign God, who himself made laughter. In Jesus we can know that while we live in difficult times, there is a good ending. And that God can take the burden we cannot carry- that in faith we can laugh, knowing he is God.

What would you like to add to this?

carried

Newness in Jesus includes being carried by God, or coming to know more and more that rest in him that carries us through those inevitably difficult places in life. This reminds us of the promise in Isaiah that those who wait in hope on the Lord will renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles, running and not becoming weary, walking and not fainting.

There are numerous reasons why we need this. For all kinds of reasons we can become discouraged. The passage referred to in Isaiah says that the young themselves can lose their strength and fall. This is an occasion to look to the Lord, to wait on him in the hope and assurance of faith. When we do, we find the faithful God, and we find the rest in him that we need. To carry us through, and at times even over, the low and sometimes gloomy or gray parts of life in this world.

Carried. I like that. I have my part, but it's one of learning more and more how to be carried in God. How to wait on him for that new strength and posture in faith, to live above and beyond so that we can run and walk through this life as those pleasing to the Lord.

What thoughts might you like to share on this? Or is there a metaphor in Scripture about our lives in God related to newness, that has been helpful to you?

newness

Though I can't say I'm excited about a "new" year, I am rather taken with the newness we experience together in Jesus. And because of that alone, I can look forward to the new year.

Moltmann, who I want to read sooner than later has written something like: The hope we have in Jesus is a hope that is related to all we experience in this life now- not merely about the future. I don't have the exact words nor can I get to the source at the moment. But this seems to me to be related to the words in 1 Peter that we have a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It looks forward, but even more it lives in a forward mode, an already though not yet finished mode. It's a hope that gives us certainty, by faith, of what we look forward to. But it is alive in that we experience by the Spirit something of that future hope now.

Newness is not just about us, but it's about what God is doing in Jesus in the bringing in of the new creation for all the world, which by judgment and grace is beginning to touch the world now, and will make all things new. Our lives individually and together are a sign and indication to the world of this new creation in Jesus, and actually, along with the gospel, the primary means God uses in Jesus in beginning this now. So we should not be surprised to find this newness spring from areas that have been dead, and even under God's judgment, and this should encourage us in our lives and witness.

Scattered thoughts here, but I'm simply thankful to God for this ongoing newness to us in Jesus that despite the wearing on us of this life, gives us a sense of knowing this is the path of life, ongoing life, as opposed to the death of all else.

What thought might you like to share here?