Tag: Christian living

Digging in Deeper: Romans 3:23-24

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“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the bits of hope more seasoned parents often give to parents who are busy navigating their way through the teenage years (count me in on that journey) is that there will come a day when your kids say to you, “Dad, you were right.” That statement will pretty much always be framed in the past tense because in the present they’re never going to admit that anymore than we would have done when we were their age. But someday – or so they keep telling me – they’ll finally reach the place of agreeing with us. Getting to that place, though, isn’t easy for either party. In a similar kind of way, one of the hardest parts of the Gospel is having to get to the point that we agree with God. Let’s talk today about what that means and what makes it so hard.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 22:5-6

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“When a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed in, and then allows his animals to go and graze in someone else’s field, he must repay with the best of his own field or vineyard. When a fire gets out of control, spreads to thornbushes, and consumes stacks of cut grain, standing grain, or a field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution for what was burned.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s no fun being held accountable for your actions. It’s awful having to be responsible for the choices you have made. This is true when we are young. Believe me. I know. I have kids. It’s not any less true when we are old. We’ll look for just about every way imaginable to get out of having to pay the piper when we’ve done something that carries negative consequences. The God we serve, though, is just. That means our choices have consequences. Sometimes the various laws Moses gave were complex or even profound. Other times, they simply espoused what should have been common sense. Let’s talk about one of those here.

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Faithfulness in the Face of Unfairness

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This week we take another step forward in our journey to the cross with Mark. In this next part of the story, things begin really heating up. The plot to arrest Jesus and put Him to death is beginning to take shape. Yet in the midst of all of these things, Jesus is patiently, steadily moving forward to bring God’s plans to completion. There’s a lesson there for us. Let’s dig in together and see what it is.

Faithfulness in the Face of Unfairness

I want you to think about a time when something happened to you that you knew in your bones wasn’t right. Whatever this was completely justified every thought you’ve ever had that the world really is out to get you. You were just minding your own business, not bothering anybody, and from out of nowhere, your whole world blew up. What did you say in that moment? My guess is that it was some version of, “That’s not fair!” 

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Morning Musing: 1 John 1:5-7

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“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely not darkness in him. If we say, ‘We have fellowship with him,’ and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Light is pretty powerful stuff. The list of things it can do runs far longer than a single blog post could handle. It is necessary for life. Without light there is no life. There would be no beauty. Everything would be dark. There’s a reason light was the first thing God spoke into existence. Light is also a revealer of what’s true. Our youngest dressed up like a detective for school yesterday. To complete the ensemble, he made sure to bring his trusty invisible ink pen along with him. When you write with the pen you can’t see any evidence that you’ve made a mark until you use your trusty UV light pen to reveal what’s really there. What’s true on paper physically, is also true in our lives more metaphorically. Just because it is a metaphor, though, doesn’t make it any less real. Let’s talk today about God’s light and seeing what’s really there.

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Humility > Greatness

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As we continue our journey to the cross with Mark this week, we are taking a look at a series of debate Jesus had with the religious leaders of the Jews. These guys were convinced of their own self-importance and were doing everything they could to catch Jesus in a trap. Unfortunately for them, Jesus was smarter than they were. He was never impressed with greatness anyway. What really got His attention was something else entirely. Let’s talk about what that is today and what it means for us.

Humility > Greatness

When I was growing up, one of my family’s favorite places to eat was a pizza place around the corner from our house called Pizza Shoppe. We were there often enough that the owner knew who we were. I loved the place because it was close, it was familiar, and it had two tabletop arcade games that I got to play while we waited for the food and while the adults were visiting after dinner when we went with friends. Oh yeah, and the pizza was really good. I remember one time when the owner came out and was talking with us. I’m not sure what prompted the conversation, but I remember his talking about the process of making pizza and making sure that it looked as good as it tasted. He said that people eat with their eyes first. If he was to make a pizza that looked like a bunch of slop on a plate, even if it was the best-tasting pizza that had ever been created, no one was going to be interested in eating it. 

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