January 2019 – Page 2

Morning Musing: Ephesians 4:31-32 Part 3

January 25, 2019January 24, 2019Leave a comment

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
– ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:31-32‬‬ (ESV – Read the chapter)

We have so far covered the fact that we need some kind of a foundation for our efforts to be good beyond simple convenience, and that as Christians, citing the Bible as that source is problematic. It hurts both our walk and our witness. It hurts our walk by making us legalistic since a text doesn’t love you, it just tells you what to do. It hurts our witness by leaving us in a position of having to rigorously defend every single part of the Bible or risk losing all of it. Incidentally, the defense of the Bible is a big industry in Christian circles even as looking at it critically is a big industry in skeptical ones. We need—and have—a better foundation than this. Fortunately, we do have one: Jesus.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 4:31-32 Part 2

January 23, 2019January 25, 2019Leave a comment

In the first part of this reflection I asked the important question: Why be good? After thinking about it for a bit, I landed on the idea that we need a better foundation for our efforts to be and do good toward the people around us than most of the ones we encounter in our culture. As Christians we have one, but we sometimes forget it and trade it out for one that’s better than average, but still not the best there is. Namely, we often rely on the Bible to serve as our justification for being good. Jesus is better. Let’s talk about why.

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Morning Musing: Ephesians 4:31-32 Part 1

January 23, 2019January 23, 2019Leave a comment

Why be good? Why do something kind for another person who may not be able to return the favor? That’s a question that seems more relevant than ever in our increasingly polarized culture. More and more today people who are different from one another don’t actually know each other at all and are more likely to think of “the other” as the enemy rather than as a fellow human being who happens to believe differently about someone issue than we do. Little good is coming of that. But, if we are going to make any progress toward changing it, we’ve got to have an answer to this question: Why be good?

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Planting Seeds

January 21, 2019January 18, 2019Leave a comment

God designed you to grow. And, when you’re growing like you should, you’ll be producing seeds that can be planted in other people that will affect the way they see and interact with and think about the world around them. The question is: Are these Gospel seeds, or are they seeds for something less savory. As a community, God designed us to be a place where people grow in Christ. Read on to see what this means for us, what it can mean for you, and what we should to about it.

Planting Seeds

I don’t have any corn growing in my front yard. You can drive by my house any day of the week, any time of the day, and you won’t ever see any there. It’s the weirdest thing. It just isn’t there. I like corn. I love eating it. I love it when we buy a whole bunch at the store, strip it off the cob, freeze it, and pull it out months later to enjoy. Lisa is a wizard with those goodie freezer bags. But there just isn’t any in my front yard. There aren’t any green beans either. That’s really too bad too, because it’s the one vegetable we’ve managed to be able to get all three boys to eat without much in the way of complaint. I can’t tell you how convenient it would be to simply go out the front door and pick what we need rather than having to go to the store all the time for them. Alas, though, the yard is bereft of beans. And greens. Now, I’m not much of one for greens myself, but Lisa likes cabbage. You won’t find the first leaf of it in my front yard.

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Morning Musing: Acts 17:25

January 21, 2019January 15, 2019Leave a comment

“nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
– ‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:25‬‬ (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever done someone else a favor? I suspect so. That’s not an uncommon thing to do. It’s a basic cultural courtesy in most human cultures. Someone needs something, we are able to do it for them without cost, and so we do. And, while we don’t often cash in on this right away, there’s usually an unspoken understanding that once this favor has been given, a favor is now deserved. In most cases, this whole system keeps society running smoothly. But, what about the times when it doesn’t work? Paul touches on one here.

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