Tag: Christian living

Morning Musing: Exodus 33:12-14

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***As a housekeeping note, this is the last post until at least Monday. Have a good weekend, and if you are in the path of either of the major hurricanes hitting the Pacific coast of Mexico or the Gulf coast of Florida today, stay safe.

“Moses said to the Lord, ‘Look, you have told me, “Lead this people up,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.” Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.’ And he replied, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever listened to someone else pray not primarily to hear what they said, but for how they pray so you can learn from them? That’s a different thing than just listening to pray with them in your heart and mind. Listening to and reading other prayers is a great way to learn how to pray. Fortunately, the Scriptures contain many examples of people praying for us to learn from. In some cases, they even include God’s answer to the prayer. Over the next handful of posts, we are going to look at some prayers Moses prayed as he interacted with God to see what we can learn from him. Let’s listen in closely.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 14:1-2

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“At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus. ‘This is John the Baptist,’ he told his servants. “He has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever read something in the Scriptures and wondered how on earth the author could have come to know that particular detail? We don’t encounter this much in the Old Testament, but the Gospel authors all have places where there are details reported they were present to have observed or experienced for themselves. Sometimes they report the conversations that happened in gatherings of priests that included none of Jesus’s followers when they happened. Matthew reports a private conversation between Pilate and his wife. Here he reports what was apparently a private conversation between Herod and his servants. How did they come by this knowledge? Let’s explore that briefly this morning through the lens of an interesting little connection that’s easy to miss.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 32:30-32

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“The following day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.’ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves. Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When I was growing up, one of my sister’s friends lived in the single most confusing neighborhood in the world. Once you drove in, if you didn’t know where you were going, the odds were high that you were going to wind up lost. There was basically one way in without going to the opposite side of town, but once you got in there were about a thousand turns available to you. If you took a wrong turn along the way, it felt like the only way to get out was to retrace your steps turn-by-turn, going the exact opposite direction as you were going before. This idea of going back the way you came in life has a name. It’s called repentance, and that’s what we see happening here as we near the end of this tragically hilarious chapter.

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Morning Musing: Colossians 3:12-13

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“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been stuck? There are all kinds of ways to be stuck. We can be stuck in traffic. We can be stuck on a math problem. We can be stuck on a vehicle repair. We can be stuck on a writing assignment. We can be stuck on a word puzzle. Being stuck isn’t much fun, especially when we can’t immediately see how to get ourselves unstuck. As frustrating as all of those different forms of being stuck can be, there’s another that can be even harder to experience. We can be relationally stuck. Getting stuck in the context of a relationship can feel like it puts our entire life on hold. Even being relationally stuck, though, can come from a number of different sources such that getting unstuck can feel almost impossible. Today, let’s talk about a way to help us move forward when we’re relationally stuck that works in almost every situation.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 6:12-13

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“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A few months ago, several college campuses were roiled by protest movements that were anti-Israel, pro-Palestine, and sometimes even pro-Hamas. While the subject of the protests was undoubtedly a serious matter, one of the most humorous and frustrating things about these movements was that a number of the people who got caught up in them didn’t really know what they were protesting about. Somebody just said, “We’re protesting,” and they cluelessly showed up. In not really understanding the objective of the protest, they didn’t understand who their enemy was supposed to be. This left them vulnerable to all kinds of deserved mocking from folks who didn’t support them. If we don’t know who our real enemy is, it’s easy to get all caught up in fighting and lose sight of what our reason was in the first place. For the last several months I have slowly been watching through the series, Star Wars: Clone War. The series has been immensely enjoyable. Along the way, one theme has risen to the top in terms of a Gospel connection in the story. Let’s talk about Clone Wars, the Gospel, and fighting the right enemies.

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