Tag: Hope

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 4:1-6

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“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope at your calling – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the ideas I have set before you fairly often over the years of our doing this together is that the Gospel lies at the heart of all of our stories. That one story is so powerful that we just can’t get away from it. In just nearly every story we tell, you can find echoes of the Gospel in some form or fashion. Sometimes you have to look pretty carefully for it, but it is just nearly always there. That’s why I can keep coming back here on most Fridays to offer a review of something I’ve watched recently and talk about its Gospel implications with you. Well, I finally finished watching through something new this week (really new this time, not just new to me but a year and a half old for everyone else), and today we’re going to talk for just a few minutes about its Gospel implications. This series is based on a video game franchise set in a post-apocalyptic future. And while video game franchises set in a post-apocalyptic future are about a dime a dozen, this one has been around for a pretty long time and has remained pretty popular for most of that time. Let’s talk today about the Amazon Prime series, Fallout.

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Morning Musing: 1 John 4:13

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“This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do we know we are in a relationship with God? That’s a pretty important question. It’s a better question than its more common cousin: How do I know I’m going to Heaven? The ability – or not – to answer that question has had a profound impact on human history. For those who manage to convince others that they have the answer, these folks are able to accumulate enormous power for themselves of just about whatever type they want. Financial? Have you seen the net worth of the Prosperity Gospel preachers? Political? Of course. Cultural? Easy. Religious? Immense. But the ultimate answer to that question is a personal one. Let’s talk for just a few minutes this morning about how we can know.

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Reflection on a Life Well Lived

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“For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 – CSB – Read the chapter)

This life doesn’t last forever. That is one of those truths about which everyone is supremely confident. There’s a reason we have the saying that the only two sure things in life are death and taxes. Now, yes, there are some folks who are theorizing about things like transhumanism and the notion that we can somehow achieve immortality, but even they will wind up facing the veil at some point. These efforts toward immortality remind us that the sheer finitude of life really does bother us. It bothers us because something deep in our bones screams that this is not how things are supposed to be. Well, what we know as followers of Jesus is that this sense is right. It is right because we were made in the image of a God who is eternal. And when we accept by faith that the things Jesus said about this world and the next are true, the fear and loathing death often brings all but vanish. I recently said goodbye to my friend Joyce. She knew all of this very well. As a result, her transition from this life to the start of the next was different from most. Let me tell you about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 7:15

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“For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

October 7 changed this nation. It rocked the nation of Israel to its core, of course, but it made a change in this nation whose impact will ripple out for a long time. This is because it revealed a fundamental brokenness in our culture that many folks didn’t understand or believe was there. It seems appropriate, then, that not long after this, a movie was released, based on a book, both of which (although the book did a better job of it) explored this tension between the good we know we should do and the evil we actually do. Let’s spend a few minutes today wrestling with this ugly tension through the lens of the latest Hunger Games saga installment, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

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Grace Upon Grace

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Merry Christmas to you! Blessings to you and your family as you celebrate this special day together. We’ve been talking all this season about Jesus’ coming and the difference it makes in our lives and in our world. There’s one last wonder to marvel over together today: God sent Jesus to save us when we were still in our sins. We weren’t worthy of it. We didn’t deserve it. We hadn’t earned it. But He did it anyway as an act of pure grace. Let’s bask in the glory of that grace as we reflect together this morning on just how good this greatest of all gifts is. As one last note, this will be the only post this week. We’ll get back on our journey through Exodus starting in the new year. I’ll see you then!

Grace Upon Grace

This is a fun day, isn’t it? I mean, it’s Christmas Eve. Who wouldn’t be happy on a day like this? So, on this happy and joyous occasion, I thought we would take a little mental field trip. Doesn’t that sound exciting? Where are we going on this great and special day? Close your eyes for a moment, climb in the mental church van with me (the fun thing about mental field trips is that we can all fit in the same van together without anyone having to worry about being squished in the back), and let’s take a little drive over to one of yours and my favorite places to visit: the DMV. 

Anybody’s eyes pop back open in shock there? 

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