Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Romans 14:10-12

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“But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Christians have often been accused of being judgmental. Sometimes this label has been well-earned. Other times it results simply from our inviting people to live in God’s kingdom with its ethic of righteousness instead of the world. The teachings of the New Testament on judgment can be confusing. Sometimes we’re told to judge, sometimes we’re told not to judge. Let’s explore what Paul has to say here and talk about how to get judgment right as followers of Jesus.

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Morning Musing: Romans 14:2-3

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“One person believes he may eat anything, while one who is weak eats only vegetables. One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Yesterday we introduced the idea of struggles to get along in the body of Christ because of differences of opinion over non-essential matters of the faith. Well, that wasn’t exactly the language we used, but that was the issue all the same. Paul’s counsel then was that we should receive one another as we are, weaknesses and all, without getting into needless and unhelpful arguments about issues on which differences of opinion are okay to have. The freedom we have available to us in Christ is vast, and if we are going to get along well in the church, we have to learn to respect that freedom. As Paul continues into chapter 14, he gets a little more specific about the particular shape of this issue in the Roman church. Let’s take a look.

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Morning Musing: James 2:19

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“You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Today is Halloween. It’s the night when ghosts and ghouls come out to play. The macabre takes over and everyone feels just a bit freer to lean into mischief and mayhem than away from it like normal. Evil is stronger than it is on other days of the year. Those who belong to Jesus need to lean extra hard into prayer and righteousness to stand against this rising tide in order that the world isn’t wiped away by it; in order that the judgment of God doesn’t come to bear on us all. And do you know what the worst part of all is? Too many people believe that kind of nonsense. Don’t get me wrong: I very much believe that evil is real, but this kind of pop cultural understanding of evil I do not. C.S. Lewis mockingly observed it is a ploy of the Devil to keep us unwittingly immersed in real evil, blissfully unaware that it is slowly poisoning our souls, all the way back in the 1940s in his classic, The Screwtape Letters. Evil does exist, but it doesn’t often look like we might expect. The horror genre was classically a way for us to explore evil through the fairly nonthreatening vehicle of a story. Today it is more often little more than an excuse for lazy filmmakers to splash lots of guts and gore and nudity on the screen. A fairly recent entry into the genre, though, leans back into its roots in really powerful ways. Let’s talk for just a few minutes about Nefarious.

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Morning Musing: Romans 13:6-7

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***Well, this piece should have gone live yesterday. In the busyness of the morning, although I managed to get it written, I forgot to actually make it live. So, today, you get a two-for-one deal. Enjoy!***

“And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. He was a regular Da Vinci of his age. One of the statements he immortalized is that nothing is certain except death and taxes. If you are operating from a basically secular worldview framework, he’s not wrong in his assessment, which isn’t all that encouraging because we’re generally not all that much a fan of either. Death we can’t do much about. But taxes seem like we should. We can at least rebel against them. Paul, though, rather irritatingly says we shouldn’t. In fact, we should pay all of our obligations. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 13:5

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“Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, ‘I will never leave you or abandon you.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I have never been to Vegas. I’d like to go someday for the spectacle alone, and to see some fun shows, but that’s honestly about it. Gambling just isn’t something that appeals to me. I’ve only ever been in a casino once, and that was to eat. I’ve never bet on a sport either. I do play some fantasy sports (badly) with my family, but that’s about it. I recognize that I’m in reasonably small company in that especially given my age and sex. In spite of my own distaste for the practice, sport betting in particular has become a big business in the United States thanks to a Supreme Court ruling a couple of years ago that removed all the roadblocks to its nationwide legalization. There have been many voices along the way warning that this isn’t a good path for our country to be walking down. Some news broke yesterday offering up a perfect demonstration of why. Let’s talk about it.

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