Light to Live By

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In part two of our Christmas series, God Moved into the Neighborhood, we begin looking at how the process of transformation unfolds.  Initially, it’s not very comfortable.  In order to fix the system, we first have to see where and how it’s broken.  Keep reading to see how this works and how to overcome the biggest challenge to it happening.

 

Light to Live By

Have you ever gotten unwanted advice before?  Now, probably there are some folks out there who are far more gracious than I am, but usually when I get unwanted advice my first thought is, “Buzz off, Mr. Busy-Body!”  Who’s with me?  There’s just something a little cynical in most of us that thinks, “You know, they probably mess up at this just as much as I do.  They are in no position to be giving me advice.”  But, there is an exception to this rule.  We as a culture are slavishly reliant on the advice of experts.  If we think someone is an expert, we will listen to just about anything they say.  This phenomenon explains how we got shows like Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz.  They were both regular “experts” on Oprah who became popular enough to get their own shows.  And perhaps you’re sitting there thinking, “Well I certainly don’t listen to those quacks!  You can’t really trust anything you see on TV anyway.” Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Jeremiah 17:5-8

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“Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is really a marked contrast by the prophet here.  Our temptation in this life is to trust in ourselves or another person.  In other words, we are most inclined to trust in what we can see, not in what we can’t.  And, from the perspective of the world, this makes perfect sense.  Why would I place my trust in what I cannot see when there is something or someone in front of me promising me help and who has a good record of following through on his promises? Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 119:9, 11

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“How can a young man keep his way pure?  By guarding it according to your word. . .I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One day when a group of Pharisees were following Jesus and the disciples around in hopes of catching them doing something wrong so they could discredit them, they noticed that the group was not performing the special washing rituals prior to eating that were prescribed in the Talmud.  They pounced. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Colossians 3:17

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“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the God the Father through him.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever wondered what it is you need to do in order to honor Christ?  Here Paul gives us a very simple test to know whether or not we’re on track.  Is it done in the name of Jesus out of a grateful heart?  If so, it is going to be honoring of Him.  If not, it won’t be.  Simple, right? Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 6:5-9

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“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.  Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Passages like this one often get the Bible criticized for being pro-slavery, or at least not sufficiently condemnatory of it.  Why wouldn’t Paul just come out here and declare it to be the evil it obviously is?  There are two reasons, I think.  One helps us understand the culture into which Paul was writing better, the other points to how God has nearly always moved people forward toward the ethic of His kingdom. Read the rest…