Tag: Christian living

Morning Musing: Romans 12:16

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“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A friend of mine pastors a church that’s hard. The congregation has a reputation for being a church that chews up pastors and spits them out. There constantly seems to be discord among the members. Someone is always upset about something. My friend spends a fair bit of his time putting out fires. From the outside looking in, the people there do no live in harmony with one another. It makes accomplishing effective ministry a great deal more difficult than it might otherwise be. A church wracked by disharmony is going to have a much harder time proclaiming and advancing the Gospel than one that isn’t. This is why Paul gave us this next series of commands for living the Christian life well. Let’s continue our exploration of his practical list of how what it looks like to follow Jesus.

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Digging in Deeper: Galatians 6:1

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“Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve been talking more and more often about the church lately, and today is going to follow in that pattern. I was reminded just last night while watching one of the shows my bride and I enjoy together of yet another reason the church matters so very much. This time, though, the reason is hard. It’s hard on both sides of the equation too. Yet in spite of the difficulty of this reason and its expression, its significance to our lives and to the life of the church more generally is hard to overstate. Let’s talk this morning about birthing babies, nearly missed affairs, and why the church is so important.

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Morning Musing: Romans 12:15

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“Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I heard a commentary the other day reflecting on the number of adults who are going to summer camp. They aren’t going to summer camp as chaperons for their children’s summer camp. They are going to their own summer camp. Adults – and especially women – in their 20s and early 30s are increasingly looking for week long summer camps they can attend like perhaps they did when they were kids. And while they are doing it for reasons of nostalgia, they are doing it even more for reasons of loneliness. They don’t have many – or any – friends in real life, and they are so online that they struggle making them. So they go to camp in hopes of building the kind of life-giving relationships they are hungering for. What they really need, though, is not a summer camp experience; they need the church. They need the church where they can find real community and build genuine relationships; where they will find people who will follow Paul’s next command here with them. As we continue our walk through some of the basics of kingdom ethics, let’s talk about the power of real community.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 12:14

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“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Another house of worship was attacked this past weekend. A man drove his truck into the building, and once he came to a stop, he started firing. He was eventually taken down after a brief shootout with police, but before that time he managed to kill or wound several members and set fire to the building, causing extensive damage and potentially killing even more. The church in America may not be the recipient of the extent of persecution as the church in places like Nigeria where scores are being brutally murdered each year by Islamic terrorists while the government looks on with apathy, but there is an evil force that is motivating more and more persecution of it. This is in spite of the current administration’s intentional efforts to put a stop to any federally sanctioned forms of persecution the previous administration quietly implemented. What are we supposed to do in the face of all of this? Paul tells us right here. Let’s talk about it as we continue our walk through his list of instructions that give some practical contours for living the life of Christ well.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 12:12

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“Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As a longtime fan of the Kansas City Royals, I know what wishful thinking is. A decade ago now, all the metaphorical baseball planets aligned, and we were genuinely really good. Since then? And for most of the thirty years before then? Not so much. In just the last 25 years alone they’ve lost more than 100 games seven times, and gotten close to that grim marker of a truly terrible season another four times. And yet in almost every season there’s a stretch when they actually look like they’re going to be a real baseball team. The fans start getting excited. And you let yourself think, “This is finally the season they’re going to turn it around.” But they almost never do. Instead, we have learned to be patient in affliction and persistent in prayer. Real hope, though, has not given us much reason for rejoicing. As it turns out, all three of these ideas are commands Paul issues next in his list of lifestyle characteristics of a follower of Jesus. Let’s keep rolling with him.

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