Tag: The Gospel

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 34:5-7

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“The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, ‘the Lord.’ The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord – the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the gifts that is often given to expectant parents is a book of names. It’s basically a dictionary for names. There are hundreds of pages of names with their approximate meaning. They range from mundane to bizarre. The weight of naming a new human can be a heavy one. Today, many parents try to be creative with their name selections. While I can appreciate the desire to not pick the same name everybody else is choosing, leaving a child with a name that will be forever misspelled or mispronounced isn’t exactly a gift. Used to be, names were chosen because they were traditional in a family or because of the character they were understood to convey. When God came down to reveal Himself to Moses as the latter requested, this revelation primarily involved proclaiming His name…which was all about His character. Let’s talk about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 17:28

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“Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent – discerning, when he seals his lips.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a day when social media dominates the cultural landscape. It has become our public square in all sorts of ways. None of this has served to make us necessarily more social – in fact, a growing body of evidence suggests that it is isolating us more and more from one another and feeding into what multiple public health experts have described as a loneliness epidemic across the developed world. What it has done, though, is given everyone the ability to contribute their voice to public discussions. The trouble is that while all of us have opinions about the goings on in the world around us, being able to share those opinions with the world don’t make them well-informed or necessarily worth sharing. Still, many people seem to feel the pressure (whether actual or only imagined) to share their thoughts on everything. Sometimes this is helpful and beneficial to the people around them. Sometimes it falls somewhat short of that. So then, how do we know whether to share or not? Let’s spend a few minutes thinking that today.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 33:7-11

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“Now Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a distance from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the Lord would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand up, each one at the door of his tent, and they would watch Moses until he entered the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance to the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. As all the people saw the pillar of cloud remaining at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up, then bow in worship, each one at the door of his tent. The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend, then Moses would return to the camp. His assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the tent.” (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

The best relationships are our closest ones. That’s not the same thing as saying they are the easiest. The easiest ones are the most distant because those require the least of us. The closest relationships are often the hardest because when we get close we can see—and experience—each other’s faults and flaws in ways that cause inconvenience, frustration, and pain. But closer is better. Broken relationships are often distant. In this next part of the story, we see Israel experiencing distance from God. Let’s talk about judgment, relational distance, and why what we have in Jesus is so much better.

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Morning Musing: 1 Peter 2:21-25

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“For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the more interesting things Jesus said was that if someone wants to follow Him, they must first develop the faith of a child. Only those with that kind of faith will find their way into His kingdom. What He meant by this was likely (there a pretty healthy debate on the matter) that we need the kind of innocent faith children have in their parents in order to be acceptable to Him. Giving Him this kind of trust is an incredible gift. In doing this, though, we aren’t initiating the gift giving process with Him. He gave first. On day 2 of camp, we talked about what God has given us and why they are such great gifts.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 13:1

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“Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We don’t know what’s coming next. We can’t. Technically speaking, everything that happens is a surprise. Some of it is less surprising than others; some falls more in line with our predictions, but none of it we can say we knew with absolute certainty because, again, we don’t know what’s coming next. The result of this is that sometimes a moment occurs that changes everything. Sometimes a moment occurs that, rather than passing unremarkably by us like so many other moments do, will instantly become fixed in our minds such that we will always know where we were when it happened. The country experienced such a moment this past Saturday, and we were millimeters away from its being an even more transformative moment than it was. Somebody took a shot at former President, Donald Trump, and managed to graze his ear. In doing so, we experienced a moment that likely and perhaps permanently impacted the outcome of the presidential race, the next four years of history, and possibly much more than that. Let’s reflect on what we experienced, what some of the reactions have been, and what all of this might mean for followers of Jesus.

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