Tag: Following Jesus

Morning Musing: Exodus 22:25-27

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“If you lend silver to my people, to the poor person among you, you must not be like a creditor to him; you must not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him before sunset. For it is his only covering; it is the clothing for his body. What will he sleep in? And if he cries out to me, I will listen because I am gracious.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A huge portion of our economy is built on interest. Everybody changes interest for everything. The only reason a business might not charge interest is if they are running a special sale in hopes that enough extra people will buy something to make up for the interest they are losing from a small number buying. The practice of charging interest on loans has been around for a long time. For much of that, though, one group of people in particular considered it a bad thing. This verse has a whole lot to do with why. Let’s think through what we see here, what it means, and what we should do with it today.

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Contagious Holiness

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So, Jesus rose from the dead. What does this mean for us? Let’s reflect on that today with a story about Jesus’ calling the last part anyone ever imagined He would to be His disciple, and the party that happened afterward. Along the way, we’ll get a good reminder about just what our job is now that Jesus is alive.

Contagious Holiness

A story for you this morning. We typically define our world by what we can see. It may not always seem that way today because we spend so much time as a culture thinking about things we can’t see, but for most people in most situations, what we can see has a great deal to do with how we think about and interact with the world around us. Before the invention of the microscope, this was most definitely the case. In the 1860s, most people generally couldn’t imagine a world smaller than what their eyes could perceive. Then a French chemist and microbiologist named Louis Pasteur did some experiments that proved the existence of these tiny creatures called microorganisms that were apparently everywhere. Not only did some of these organisms do helpful things like allowing for the production of bread or cheese, but they were also responsible for less helpful things like spoiling food and making us sick. What scientists soon figured out was that passing these tiny organisms from person to person may be responsible for one person’s illness getting passed to another person. 

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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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