Category: Morning Musings

Happy Anniversary

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“You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride. You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

About 15 years and two months ago, my life changed forever. The event? I got off a plane in Louisville, KY. The plan? I was going to spend the summer teaching sixth- through twelfth-graders how to listen to God’s call in their lives. Six weeks were going to be spent on the campus of Spaulding University there in Louisville, and two weeks were going to happen at Camp Windermere in southern Missouri. And while I still remember a remarkable amount from that summer, that’s not what’s on my mind this morning. What I’m talking about came a year and two months later. Today is my anniversary.

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Morning Musing: James 4:15

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“Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

What are your plans for tomorrow? Do you have any? I do. How firm are those plans? How much are you depending on those plans? The fact is, we all make plans. Even the most free-spirited person still has some vision of what tomorrow ought to bring. And when we make plans, we generally hold to them fairly tightly. In fact, we’re sometimes tempted to stake our hope on them. That’s a problem. 

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Morning Musing: James 4:4

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“You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

One of the most famous theologians of the 20th century was Reinhold Niebuhr. He was a giant in a number of respects. His equally influential, but less culturally famous younger brother was H. Richard Niebuhr. The younger Niebuhr wrote a famous book I had to read in seminary called, Christ and Culture. In it, he worked through several different approaches to thinking about how Jesus—and by virtue of necessity, His followers—got along with the world around them. His was an important contribution to what has been a much larger question on the minds of thinking Christians for most of 2,000 years. 

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Morning Musing: James 3:13

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“Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Our littlest graduated from preschool last year and is all geared up for big school this fall. One of the things he always looked forward to most in his preschool program was show and tell. He loved picking out just the right toy to show all his buddies. He would even occasionally stress over it like a teenager choosing his outfit for a first date. Telling about what we have is okay, but there’s just something extra special about showing it. James agrees. 

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Morning Musing: Romans 12:2

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“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
— ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

We’ve talked recently about how to counter bad religion with the help of some things James, Jesus’ brother, wrote. Christians often have a reputation that we’ve unfortunately worked hard to earn that all we are concerned about is policing the behavior of the people around us. If we really put into practice what Paul says here, we will go a long ways toward fixing both the perception of ourselves and of our religion. 

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