Ephesians 4:31-32 – The Nexus

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 4:31-32

January 17, 2025Leave a comment

“Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I remember a day when cartoons were just for kids and they were mostly silly. In the early 90s, though, cartoons began to mature some. They were still designed for kids, but they started telling more nuanced and complex stories. Actually, they started telling stories period. No longer could you just watch one episode and not wonder or worry about anything else. They became episodic. And they were good. Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series which later combined to become The Justice League and eventually Justice League: Unlimited, Spider-Man, X-Men, Gargoyles, and more like them changed the way a whole generation of kids – including me – watched and thought about cartoons. Today animation has become a vehicle for mature and in-depth storytelling that takes viewers on a grand adventure while exploring large and important themes. And I’m not just talking about anime which I have just never taken to liking. One of the more recent entries into the genre is the Netflix series, Arcane. Let’s talk about what works, what doesn’t, and why, once again, the Gospel lies at its heart.

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Morning Musing: Ephesians 4:31-32 Part 3

January 25, 2019January 24, 2019Leave a comment

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
– ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:31-32‬‬ (ESV – Read the chapter)

We have so far covered the fact that we need some kind of a foundation for our efforts to be good beyond simple convenience, and that as Christians, citing the Bible as that source is problematic. It hurts both our walk and our witness. It hurts our walk by making us legalistic since a text doesn’t love you, it just tells you what to do. It hurts our witness by leaving us in a position of having to rigorously defend every single part of the Bible or risk losing all of it. Incidentally, the defense of the Bible is a big industry in Christian circles even as looking at it critically is a big industry in skeptical ones. We need—and have—a better foundation than this. Fortunately, we do have one: Jesus.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 4:31-32 Part 2

January 23, 2019January 25, 2019Leave a comment

In the first part of this reflection I asked the important question: Why be good? After thinking about it for a bit, I landed on the idea that we need a better foundation for our efforts to be and do good toward the people around us than most of the ones we encounter in our culture. As Christians we have one, but we sometimes forget it and trade it out for one that’s better than average, but still not the best there is. Namely, we often rely on the Bible to serve as our justification for being good. Jesus is better. Let’s talk about why.

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Morning Musing: Ephesians 4:31-32 Part 1

January 23, 2019January 23, 2019Leave a comment

Why be good? Why do something kind for another person who may not be able to return the favor? That’s a question that seems more relevant than ever in our increasingly polarized culture. More and more today people who are different from one another don’t actually know each other at all and are more likely to think of “the other” as the enemy rather than as a fellow human being who happens to believe differently about someone issue than we do. Little good is coming of that. But, if we are going to make any progress toward changing it, we’ve got to have an answer to this question: Why be good?

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