Digging in Deeper: Romans 15:1-3

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“Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Welcome back! After a lovely break to spend some time reflecting on the season of Advent together, and couple of weeks off from writing entirely, it’s time to turn our attention back to Romans and finish our journey there. Let’s get going! There is a personality type that is driven to please others. These folks think often about what the people around them might need, and are willing to bend over backwards in order to help them get it. Now, when these folks are out of balance, they can become doormats who let the world just walk all over them, but when their value is properly rooted in Christ, they can be powerful servants, extending the blessings of the love of Christ to those around them with near boundless energy and care. As much as this is a personality type, though, as followers of Jesus, all of us are called to this to a certain extent. Let’s talk about pleasing others and the example of Jesus.

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God Knows

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Happy New Year! We’re finally back and will pick back up our Romans journey tomorrow morning, Lord willing. For today, here is the first part of a quick New Year’s series reflecting on the extent of God’s knowledge of us and how we should react to that knowledge. Today as we dive into Psalm 139, we will marvel with David at God’s intimate knowledge of us and talk about some tools for remaining in that knowledge. Enjoy!

God Knows

A paradox is when two ideas which seem contradictory of one another are nonetheless simultaneously true, and we live in a world that’s full of them. Consider one particularly glaring one. We live in a world full of people screaming to be known. Depression and anxiety are off the charts these days in part because so many people feel isolated and alone, like no one really knows who they are. In response to this, and with the help of social media, many will invite the world into their most intimate spaces and times just so they can feel like somebody, somewhere, knows them. Of course, just because you show someone something intimate or personal about yourself doesn’t mean they really know you at all. Really knowing another person and being known by them takes relational investment over time. Without that, the presumed knowledge is merely a mirage. It may be a mildly comforting one (which is why so many people clamber for it), but when we are forced to face the truth, the shock of the cold water of reality can be debilitatingly intense. 

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The Miracle of Mundane Moments

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We look to stories in the Bible as incredible tales of amazing people doing utterly remarkable things. The truth, though, is that most of them lived most of their lives in moments that were utterly mundane. That wasn’t just the case for characters in the Scriptures. It’s the case with our lives today too. And yet, as ordinary as most of our lives are, we long to experience the extraordinary. We want to be special, to know that we are more than we seem. This is where the wonder of the Christmas story comes racing to center stage. As extraordinary as we imagine that story to be, most of it was very, very ordinary. What made the difference in these ordinary moments was the movement of God in their midst. Today, as we wrap up our series, When Heaven Met Earth, we are talking about the ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary people, and how things can become entirely more extraordinary than that. Let’s get started.

The Miracle of Mundane Moments

Sometimes the most extraordinary things can happen out of the most ordinary circumstances. Consider something that every single person in the room has in their kitchen, and which most of us have used at least once in the last 24 hours. In 1945, Percy Spencer was working as a radar researcher at Raytheon Labs. Raised as an orphan who never finished elementary school, Spencer taught himself physics and advanced mathematics, joined the Navy, and through that discovered his penchant for science. One day, Spencer was working in the lab with a radar magnetron. That’s basically a tube that converts electrical signals into electromagnetic radiation. It had been invented a few years before and was essential to the invention of modern radar. As Spencer worked with this magnetron, he noticed that a bar of chocolate in his pocket had melted. 

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Christmas Eve 2025

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Today’s the day! For weeks we have been waiting and preparing for this day to arrive. It’s Christmas Eve! In just a few more hours we will all close our eyes and open them on the day of our Savior’s birth. Each year at my church we gather together on this special evening in order to celebrate the reason for the season as a body. We don’t make it long or terribly fancy. But it is memorable and meaningful. This year I’m involving the kids in the message in a way I haven’t before. They’ll be right up on stage with me, and I’ll share some fun things about the Christmas story with them while the adults get to listen in. Hopefully it’s going to be a good time. With this in mind, for today’s post (the last, with the exception of next Monday, until after the New Year) I thought that I would give you a sneak peek at what I will be sharing with them. May today be a day of joyfulness and rejoicing for you. Merry Christmas!

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Advent Reflections: John 1:14

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“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The theological word for Jesus’ coming to earth is incarnation. That’s from the Latin word for flesh which is the direct source of our word carnal. The idea is that God didn’t just put on a costume in Jesus. He became fully human and lived right here on earth as one of us. While Luke and Matthew tell the story of His arrival, John tells us the truth of who He actually was and what His coming meant. Let’s talk about this glorious truth today with John’s help.

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