Tag: The character of Christ

Digging in Deeper: Romans 12:13

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“Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things the church offers the world that really isn’t found anywhere else in the same way or at the same level is community. The community available in the church is good. Really good. In a world where multiple governments have declared loneliness an epidemic, the church offers a real solution to this problem. But as good as community in the church is (or at least can be), it’s not easy. It’s not easy for a variety of reasons, mostly connected to sin. We need help to get it right. As Paul continues offering bullet point commands for kingdom living, these next several commands all speak to getting community right. Let’s take a look.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 1:26-27

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“For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Hot topics tend to be faddish and cyclical. An issue that is absolutely crucial to have an opinion on in one season doesn’t even register on the radar in another. The issue of the morality of homosexual practice is not the issue in our culture that it once was not all that long ago. This is mostly because as a culture we have decided it’s fine. And as the church has continued losing cultural power and position, most people just don’t care what the church thinks about it anymore. But this doesn’t mean the position of the Scriptures has changed. And it doesn’t mean the culture doesn’t dislike the position any less. These two verses aren’t terribly comfortable to talk about, but here they are, so let’s do it.

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Advent Reflections: Philippians 2:5-11

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“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow  — in heaven and on earth and under the earth  — and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love babies. That’s just a fun season of life as a parent. Oh, it’s plenty hard as well. It’s exhausting and stressful and frustrating and the like. But every time that little one looks at you and smiles, you pretty well forget about all the rest of that and just bask in the love and trust inherent in that little face. But babies are helpless little things. They can’t do anything for themselves. At all. A baby left alone will die. A human baby is about as humble a creature as exists in the world. Well, the Advent season is about celebrating that humble creature. It is about celebrating one particular of those humble creatures who was also God. Let’s talk about it

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A Slice of Pie

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Getting through conflict is always tricky, especially family conflict. One of the best navigational tools to help us in this effort is something we see put on display in the life of Jacob just before his reunion with his estranged brother, Esau in their story in Genesis. While Jacob’s approach is rooted in having a correct understanding of who God is and who we are, we often talk about it in terms of dessert. Let’s talk about resolving conflict, pie, and how to get relationships right.

A Slice of Pie

I grew up in Independence, MO. My hometown has several claims to fame, but the most recent and well-known is that it was the hometown of President Truman. Truman still looms large over the medium-sized city that still feels like a small town in many ways. The First Baptist Church I grew up attending has an address on Truman Road. It is just a couple of blocks up from the Truman Home where he lived before becoming President and afterwards until his death in 1972. If you look down another street that goes out from the church you can see the Truman Library about a mile up the road. My high school and undergraduate institutions were both named for him. Reading about half of his classic biography by David McCullough was required in my college history class. It was pretty much all Truman all the time for me. 

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Morning Musing: Colossians 3:12-13

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“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been stuck? There are all kinds of ways to be stuck. We can be stuck in traffic. We can be stuck on a math problem. We can be stuck on a vehicle repair. We can be stuck on a writing assignment. We can be stuck on a word puzzle. Being stuck isn’t much fun, especially when we can’t immediately see how to get ourselves unstuck. As frustrating as all of those different forms of being stuck can be, there’s another that can be even harder to experience. We can be relationally stuck. Getting stuck in the context of a relationship can feel like it puts our entire life on hold. Even being relationally stuck, though, can come from a number of different sources such that getting unstuck can feel almost impossible. Today, let’s talk about a way to help us move forward when we’re relationally stuck that works in almost every situation.

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