Month: March 2018

Digging in Deeper: Matthew 6:25

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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Jesus tells us not to worry and instead to trust in Him.  He presents worrying about even basic life necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing as a sinful mistrust in the Lord.  I remember still the first time I read these words and truly understood them.  They had a profound impact on me.  With only a few exceptions, I have largely purged worry from my own life because of them.  Sometimes, though, I have let this intention to not worry drift too far in the other direction which is laziness.  This prompts and interesting (at least to me!) question in my mind: What does it look like to live free from worry in such a way that honors Christ? Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Genesis 33:4

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“But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of the interesting things about this story is that while it appears that Esau forgives Jacob, the rest of the history of the relationship between the descendants of the brothers (the nations of Israel and Edom) reveals that it either didn’t really take, was only skin deep, or more likely that the two had already passed enough bitterness toward each other along to their children that the well was poisoned.  Israel and Edom were bitter enemies and the latter was usually the aggressor. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Matthew 6:30

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“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of the things I have told my congregations many times over the years is that we have to get God’s character right.  If we don’t get the character of God right, much of the rest of our lives will be incredibly more difficult than they would otherwise be. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: John 4:11

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“The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Put yourself in the shoes of the woman at the well for a moment.  Jesus was offering her something which sounded way too good to be true.  Even thinking literally, this was the case.  She thought Jesus was talking about a literal kind of water that you could drink and never be thirsty again.  Spiritually, it sounds even better.  But, as good as it sounded–or rather, because it sounded so very good–she did not believe it was really something He could do.  How often have we been in the same kind of place? Read the rest…

Reaching Further

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In this third part of our conversation about who God made us to be as a church, we talked about the fact that connecting and growing, while necessary, are not sufficient in and of themselves.  Thank you for taking part in this conversation with us and reflecting on God’s design for your own community.  Don’t miss next week as we put everything together and celebrate the thing that gives it all substance: The resurrection.

 

Reaching Further

Have you ever had a secret that was simply too good to keep to yourself?  It was news that you just weren’t going to be able not to share; you were just going to have to deal with the consequences later?  Or perhaps make this more personal: Have you ever gotten a bit of good news that you couldn’t possibly have not shared with the world?  In our social media-crazed world, some days it seems like most folks think everything is worth sharing.  “I got a promotion!”  “I ran a marathon!”  “My kid is on the honor roll!”  “My dog really like its new bed!”  “I woke up this morning!”  “I’m asleep now (my fingers are set on auto-post)!”  What starts to happen is that as everything gets shared, it can begin to seem like really, nothing is worth sharing.  I submit to you, though, that some things really are worth sharing.  What’s more, some places are designed to help us do that.  And I’m not talking about Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Read the rest…