Tag: Christian living

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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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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Morning Musing: Romans 10:4

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“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s hard to know what something is unless you know what it’s for. But if you get what it is for wrong, you’ll get what it is wrong too. Perhaps the best illustration of this comes from Scuttle the seagull in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. When Ariel brings him a fork, he identifies it as a “dinglehopper,” used by humans for doing their hair. Among followers of Jesus there is an occasionally robust debate about the purpose of the Law of Moses in light of Christ and His ministry. Paul gives us an important clue here. Let’s talk about it.

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Living in a Big World

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Sometimes the world feels small. Everywhere we go, things feel crowded and cramped. We know vastly more about the world and what’s happening in it than we did a generation ago. In fact, sometimes we know what’s happening on the far side of the world than we do with our own neighbors. Sometimes we know more about the former than we do about what’s happening in our own house. We want space. We want to be able to stretch and spread our wings and live to our full potential. King Solomon offers us a way to do that. As we begin our new teaching series, How Big Is Your World, let’s talk about the key to living in as big a world as possible.

Living in a Big World

How big is your world? When we lived in Colorado, we made several trips to the top of Pike’s Peak. It was always a beautiful drive on the way up there, and the view was stunning. There was one picture I took on the way up that is still framed and sitting in my office that really captures the experience for me. Standing at the top of the mountain in the early fall, there is an uneven sea of green stretching out in front of you. Punctuating the green landscape in the background are pops of brilliant yellow where the Aspen trees are at the peak of their color change. There is also a clear, mountain lake in the distance, beautifully reflecting the crystal blue sky. From the picture itself, it looks like it was taken from the top of the world. I can tell you that standing there the sense was even more humbling. I remember feeling tiny in a huge world. 

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 22:3

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“A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever wanted something really badly, but couldn’t seem to get there for some reason? Maybe you didn’t have the resources to achieve it. Perhaps there was something physical holding you back. It could be that culture simply wasn’t allowing for it. Whatever the reason, you were feeling denied something you really wanted or even felt like should be yours by right. What did you do then? Did you give up and go in another direction, or did you keep right on going, pressing on until you got it no matter what the cost happened to be? The newest Marvel offering from Disney+ is about just such a character. She couldn’t get what she wanted on her own, so she just kept pushing until she got it. And that’s the problem. Let’s talk today about Ironheart.

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