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- The Blame Game. AGAIN? - The Blame Game. AGAIN? YES, again. I don’t like the idea of writing about the blame game…it's so negative, yet, there is more to say. The way to avoid responsibility for your own behavior doesn’t make any sense at all in the walk of a Christian. But, it has been going on since Adam and Eve, and some of the critical moments in our history featured that same mentality that says, I am not responsible. The blame game doesn’t fit the Christian. Yet, it pops up in even the best of churches. Continue reading
- The Blame Game - The Blame Game: “It was his fault.” “She made me do it.” “The devil made me do it.” “Don’t look at me, I know nothing of it.” “Those two are responsible, my hands are clean.” “I am not responsible.” “Don’t blame it on me if God made you become a farmer.” The blame game is the longest running sport in the world. We easily track it back to Genesis 3 and that poor serpent that, apparently, was at the root of all evil in the world. Poor little snake. Should we call it the “sin-maker”? Or was it something other than the serpent? Continue reading
- Nailed It! - Nailed it! Colossians 2:14. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, Jesus set all of that aside, nailing it to the cross. He nailed it for us! Our sins, right there on the cross of Calvary. We tend to think of the scene on Calvary as an unthinkable occurrence, a travesty, the end of a dream, the death of our hero. We tend to miss two things: Jesus is the one doing the nailing on the cross. While it is true that he allowed the Roman soldiers to pin him down and nail his body to the wooden frame cross, it is also true that ultimately Jesus was in control of the entire situation. Continue reading
- Water-Walking - Water-Walking: The little girl with an adventurous spirit, climbed down the face of the bluff onto the beach. She was there for a while, so much fun playing in the surf, but now the tide was coming in. She searched in vain for the foot and hand-holds that had helped her climb down; they were nowhere to be found. As the water rose, in panic she cried out, "Someone, help me!" Somewhere above her head, the hand of a fisherman reached down, and she is rescued. The men in the boat were experienced fishermen, and yet the change in the wind, and the waves caused great concern. Then they saw Jesus walking toward them, on the rough water. Continue reading
- He Is Truth - He Is Truth: We know that passage from John 14, and the quote from Jesus, I am the way, the truth, and the life.. We have discussed it in so many different forums and tried to slant it one way or another, applying secular morality or inclusionism (is that even a word?) to what Jesus said. But, Jesus did not say he would show the truth or teach the truth or model the truth. He said I am the truth. He is the source of truth. You and I can discover truth, but we cannot create truth. Continue reading
- The Enemy Within - The Enemy Within: The scene is a locked room in a house, far from the marketplace in Jerusalem. The location is shared in secret among the followers and disciples of Jesus, for they are afraid of the Romans and the Pharisees. Jesus came and stood among them, saying, “do not be afraid”. He walked around the room, showing the wounds He had suffered. Then Jesus spoke to those disciples, and to us, saying, “Go and forgive each other, love your enemies, pray for those who insult you, come as a child, trusting, forgiving.” Continue reading
- From Word to Spirit - From Word to Spirit: Recently our men’s group has been studying Philippians. We've had lively discussions, some on point, others not so much. Mostly reverent, some based on the trust within the group. Over all, we had an enriching time, learned a few things, and, because of the bond between us, openly shared. That is the beauty of such groups. We all need that kind of support as we do our very best to walk with Jesus through this life. We can study the Bible inside and out, memorize chapter and verse, but the relevance of our study and our faith rests in the way and manner in which it is reflected in our lives. Continue reading
- Surely the Presence - Surely the Presence: On Friday, October 20, 1983, my friend Mac and I walked into an old school in Columbus Ohio and began a weekend which deepened our relationship with Jesus Christ. By the time we walked out on Sunday afternoon we had had an experience so profound it shaped our Christian walk the rest of our lives. Cursillo, Via Di Christo, Brethren Way of Christ, Emmas Walk, the name you give the three-day retreat matters little, it’s the content that is so powerful: An uninterrupted, focused time with Jesus. One of my persisting and vivid memories of that weekend was being introduced to a song I now frequently sing early in the morning, in the shower, almost anytime, anywhere -- "Surely The Presence of the Lord" Continue reading
- Being Renewed - Being Renewed: Our lives are marked by change. We grow up - that's a change. We fall in love - that's a change. We get married - that's a change.We start a career - that's a change. We have a baby! That brings a lot of changes. As we live our lives, every obstacle we encounter carries with it change. Change by it's very nature requires renewal, often introducing to us a 'New Normal'. New Normal: I have come to dread and to embrace that condition. As we encounter these changes, we tend to want to just push ahead on our own limited strength, and only when our reserves are exhausted will we trust God. Continue reading
- Slow Down and Listen - Slow Down and Listen: There are times, within my long standing Bible study group when I am surprised by how some of us read meanings into scripture passages that seems to run counter to how I would interpret the passage. When we dig into the meaning of certain passages, even to the point of researching Hebrew, or Greek or Latin, we are confronted with multiple definitions of the same word. Just between you and me, I don’t want to get lost in semantics, or the multiple meanings of words in different languages, or within a parable story. I want the message to be clear, not encumbered with extraneous sidebars. When we spend 30 minutes in our Bible group discussing whether this occurred at 900 BC, or 450 BC, I begin to have unChristian-like thoughts. Continue reading
- Cost of Discipleship, Part 3 - Cost of Discipleship, Part 3: In the early years of Christianity, the cross was a symbol of discipleship. In reality, the cross was an implement of slow torturous death, and becoming a disciple means that our daily walk with Jesus was a process of daily death to selfish desires and of the willingness to bear reproach for His name’s sake. If people revile us for being Christians, we, in turn, must bless them. You know this state of discipleship does not come over us, in a flash of a ‘born-again’ emotion, or an altar call. It is a process in which we all must grow. If we blow it, and we do, we must confess it to the Lord and seek to be obedient next time we have an opportunity to suffer for him. Continue reading
- Cost of Discipleship, Part 2 - Cost of Discipleship, Part 2: Let’s put the Savior verse Lord question on hold for a moment. I’m in the process of writing a story, based on the man in the above passage of Luke. So, I have the rich young man, I called him Caleb, walking away from his encounter with Jesus. He is sad and has this conversation with Rachel, his wife or girlfriend (yet to be determined). May this story bring some understanding to this Luke 18 passage. Continue reading
- Cost of Discipleship, Part 1 - Cost of Discipleship, Part 1: Being a disciple of Jesus can be hard. Salvation is both absolutely free and yet it costs you your very life. You receive it freely at no expense to you, but once you receive it, you have just committed everything you are to Jesus Christ. Absolutely free? Can you imagine the large crowds that were following Jesus, hearing him say that to be his disciples you had to hate your mother and father, your wife and all those other loved ones? It is amazing that there wasn’t a stampede for the exit. Let me get out of here, hate my wife? She’d kill me! Besides, I don’t own a cross! Continue reading
- There Are No Little Things # - There Are No Little Things: Do you remember the song from the 1950’s, “Little Things Mean a Lot”? A sweet, little love song, maybe a little sappy and romantic, but loaded with truth. Do we realize that when we do what could be considered small acts of kindness for others, in the name of Jesus, we are glorifying his Holy Name? You express genuine concern for hurting people. You give to worthy causes. Your generosity and compassion are seen by the All-Seeing: “You did it unto me.” Continue reading
- Cherish Your Gifts* - Cherish Your Gifts: Think about the gifts or talents given to each of us. Every person has the task of releasing angels by shaping and transfiguring all those raw materials that lie within into our life, artistic works, careers, etc. We chip, and scratch, and file away at our raw material to discover our gifts, and the transformational process begins. Beneath this shell of hard-headedness, stubbornness, self-importance, low self-esteem, etc., waits the angel of our worth. Because our gifts carry us into the world and makes us participants in life, the uncovering of them is one of the most important tasks confronting any one of us. Continue reading
- Pride # - Pride: We all struggle with pride! The seeds of pride are planted very early in life. One of the first words we learn is "Mine!" Who among us has never said, “That’s mine!!” We grow out of some of that childish possessiveness, but little threads of pride remain in each of us. These are two concepts - the danger of pride and the need for positive self-image - are always in a state of tension. There needs to be balance. While we want self-love, self-confidence, and a positive self-image, yet, there is always the danger of going overboard in these areas, and the result is a kind of arrogance. Continue reading
- God’s Watchword - God's Watchword: God‘s word, peace. God‘s peace is the focal point throughout our reading of the word. To Mary at the tomb, the message from Jesus was ‘peace’. To the disciples on their way to a Emmaus, the message was peace. To those gathered in the upper room, confused and not knowing what to do, Jesus stood in their midst, and his message was peace. The message from Jesus when sending out the disciples was peace, be with you, as a Father has sent me. I am sending you. Continue reading
- Love Never Dies - Love Never Dies: I hope you have discovered over the course of your life, that our true love relationships have not changed. Maybe you observe that absence makes the heart grow fonder, in many cases. I can’t disagree with that, but, then, I also believe that love is an absolute. An absolute? Well, yes. I’m one of those romantics who believes that love never dies. Even death does not diminish it. Nor does it dim because of conflict, arguments and disagreements. I don’t believe there are differing shades love. Continue reading
- Cheap Grace - Cheap Grace: In Tim Keller’s book, The Prodigal God, he reminds us of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, being appalled at how many in the German church gave in to Hitler in the early 1930s, that he took it upon himself to write his great work, The Cost of Discipleship. In that book, Bonhoeffer warns about the dangers of what he referred to as “cheap grace”, the idea that stresses only that God’s grace is free, so that it doesn’t really matter how we live. I have read and reread The Cost of Discipleship, and tried to understand Bonhoeffer’s thesis. I believe his point is that if we subscribe to cheap grace then we ignore how seriously God takes our sinful lives Continue reading
- The Presence of God - The Presence of God: It seems to me that we hear a lot of words, many of them, born out of an advanced course in theology, some of which truly do have practical meanings for us if we but understood. The reference to Genesis and Jonah are just two of many instances throughout the Bible of the Presence of God in lives. We practice the Presence of the Lord in our lives through our readings, through our prayer-life and through our ministry. What is the difference between ‘Manifest Presence of God’, and ‘Omni Presence of God’? Does it matter to us who are trying to maintain our understanding of our faith? I think it is helpful and reassuring to know the difference because it reflects the fullness of God’s Presence. Continue reading
