Morning Musing: 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

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“So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In my neck of the woods, school starts Monday. The students—and for that matter, teachers—aren’t terribly excited, but parents across the county are thrilled. As someone put it when we were talking about it at Bible study Wednesday night, she’s not so much excited about school itself as she is about the consistent schedule and structure. With the start of school comes the start of school sports. Accordingly, last night we had our first high school cross country meet. The whole affair has me feeling a bit reflective this morning, so let’s dive in together.

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Morning Musing: Romans 10:14-17

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“How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’ But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things that irks critics of Christianity more than many other things we do is our constantly trying to share our faith. Why are Christians so pushy with their beliefs? Why can’t they just leave other people to believe what they want rather than going around telling them they’re wrong all the time? What arrogance to think they know better than everybody else what’s right. What’s the big deal? What Paul says here has a lot to do with it. Let’s take a look at what he has to say.

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Morning Musing: Romans 10:11-13

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“For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame,’ since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek,  because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Who can be saved? Yesterday we joined Paul in a conversation about how salvation happens. But who is it for? It’s not at all uncommon for someone under conviction from the Holy Spirit to declare something like, “There’s no way God could accept me.” It’s also not nearly as uncommon as it should be for folks from a tribe with a strong Christian tradition to look at folks from another tribe—especially an enemy tribe—and declare something like, “Salvation is surely not for them.” Paul disagrees. Let’s talk about just who salvation in Christ is for.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 10:8b-10

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“This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How does salvation work? Every single worldview has an answer to that question. That’s one of those fundamental questions people have always asked that worldviews are designed (albeit not necessarily intentionally so) to address. And most worldviews answer the question in roughly the same way. Yes, the details are different, but in the big picture, they’re all the same. There’s one exception to this. Let’s talk about why all the others are the same and why Christianity is different.

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The Owner’s Kid

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Having a bunch of stuff is nice. Being able to afford basically whatever you want to do is convenient. But not many have access to that kind of wealth, to those kinds of resources. Thankfully, there’s another way to be rich. This other way doesn’t come with quite as much stuff as the first way, but the benefits are still pretty great. As we continue our conversation about living in God’s big world, this week we are talking about another way we can be sure to do just that. Let’s dig into it together.

The Owner’s Kid

Have you ever been to one of those trampoline parks like Urban Air? Those places are great. We don’t get to them very often, but the kids always have a ball when we do. But they tend to require large places to be able to set up, they’re pretty expensive to visit, and they are usually pretty far away from the country. Several years ago, there was a brief flash of businesses designed to be an answer to this problem: Bouncy House places. They weren’t as big or elaborate, and they tended to be focused on slightly younger, smaller kids, but they could operate much more inexpensively than their bigger cousins, they didn’t need as much space—a simple storefront is fine—and what kid doesn’t love a bouncy house? And if one is good, a whole building full of them is obviously better. 

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