The Good News

The great thing about God’s story, is that it doesn’t end after the second act.  In this third part of our series, The Big Story, we finally get to relish the joy of the third act: Redemption.  God’s efforts since the fall have been focused on this one goal.  Read on to see how this played out…

 

The Good News

Let’s start this morning with some trivia.  What do Return of the Jedi, Rocky Balboa, Antwone Fisher, Les Misérables, and Iron Man 3 all have in common?  They are all stories of redemption.  In Return of the Jedi the exciting climax of the movie comes when Anakin Skywalker—Darth Vader—returns from the “dark side,” saves the life of his son, Luke, and puts an end to the evil of The Emperor.  In Rocky Balboa, the washed-up, old fighter proves to himself and the world that he still has what it takes when he comes out of retirement and goes toe-to-toe with the reigning heavyweight champ, Mason “the Line” Dixon.  In Antwone Fisher a young, emotionally broken soldier finds healing and wholeness through the help of a committed counselor, his girlfriend, and the family he never knew he had.  In Les Misérables, the thief, Jean Valjean, is given a second chance at life by a gracious Catholic priest and commits the rest of his life to serving and saving those who were in the same dire straits in which he once found himself.  Finally, in Iron Man 3, Tony Stark at last discovers what’s most important in life and commits himself to using his genius and resources to make the world better. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Isaiah 14:3-4

“When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: ‘How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

At first blush here, it feels a little odd that God would call Israel to taunt Babylon when they are brought low in judgment from the Lord.  Isn’t that just cruel?  Why kick someone when they are down?  This Old Testament god here must be the vengeful, gleeful-in-wrath god we’ve always heard about from our critics. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

If we let them, the troubles of this world will completely overwhelm us and leave us unable to pursue the path of Jesus with anything resembling the commitment we need in order to gain the benefits from it.  Problems in our marriages, problems with our kids, troubles at work, hardships at school, financial challenges, family issues, interpersonal doubts, and so on can fill our field of view until we don’t see anything else.  They become the lens through which we see everything else.  Depression (not clinical), discouragement, and malaise become our constant companions. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 2 Corinthians 1:9

“Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.  But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of the questions that has haunted humans since sin entered into the world is why bad things happen.  How do we reconcile the presence of evil in the world with our innate sense that the world was designed to be good?  For those who have heard the Christian claims of a God who is perfectly loving and all-powerful at one and the same time this challenge becomes even more acute.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Psalm 102:12

“But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

In last Friday’s Morning Musing we saw the psalmist here pouring out his heart to God from out of a place of utter desperation.  His world was falling to pieces and it felt like even God Himself had abandoned him.  Now, while there are a couple of psalms that end there in the darkness, most of them make a turn at some point.  Here we find the turn for this one.  Everything was falling apart and it seemed life itself might be ending, but…   Read the rest…