Morning Musings: Ephesians 2:8-10

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For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship; created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  (ESV – Read the chapter)

For anyone who would argue that our salvation has in even the tiniest of ways to do with our good works, this verse puts the lie to their position.  Any individual, church, or even whole faith tradition that says otherwise is mistaken.  That’s a pretty strong way to put it, but there really isn’t any other way around what Paul says here.  Salvation comes by grace through faith and not by works.  Period.  We didn’t have anything to do with it being given to us beyond receiving the gift by faith. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Galatians 3:28

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“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is one of the great verses in Galatians, and really in the whole of the Scriptures, establishing the absolute equality of value of all people before God.  Before the throne of God everyone is on an equal footing.  No one has more of a claim to be there than anyone else.  No one has any advantage over anyone else because of who they are or what their particular heritage is.  The ground at the foot of the cross is level. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Ephesians 2:4

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“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever wondered how and why our God could be such a merciful God?  Perhaps not.  Perhaps you’ve wondered more often why God seems like such an angry God.  If that’s the case, you haven’t been taught very well about the character of God.  That’s not your fault.  It’s a symptom of our culture. Read the rest…

The “All’s Fair” Dilemma

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In this third part of our series, Marriage Myths, we take a look at the cultural myth that the perfect marriage is one in which the husband and wife are perfectly equal in every way.  While there is no difference in their value to the relationship, the husband and wife are not the same, nor were they designed to be.  Marriage isn’t about equality at all, as it turns out.  To see what it will do, keep reading…

 

The “All’s Fair” Dilemma

I brought a little something for show-and-tell this morning.  Who knows what this is?  Good.  It’s a mousetrap.  Okay, next question: Who knows what it’s for?  Close: It’s for breaking the spine or neck of a furry little woodland creature that is only a fraction of our size and was just out for an evening snack.  Its wife and 5,000 kids are probably going to starve to death now.  (Anybody feel guilty yet?) Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Isaiah 53:5-6

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“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Here, some 700 years before it would happen, Isaiah declares what is perhaps the deepest wonder of the cross.  On the cross, Jesus bore our sins.  All the things we have done wrong were placed on His shoulders.  He took the punishment that should have been ours.  And by ours, I mean everybody’s.  The sins of the whole world living at the time, of those who had died before He did, and of those who have lived in the years of human history since were credited to His account. Read the rest…