Suffering and Christ
The “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 53, until Messiah arrived, was understood to be Israel as a whole. Christians saw that the Christ and the Suffering Servant were one and the same Person. God did not sit above the suffering of humanity, but entered it by incarnation. By suffering, He sanctified suffering. We are invited
Keep Your Focus
“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1 NIV). Human nature is such that we can focus on minor things while neglecting major things. We chase shiny objects; we pursue popular discussions. We can neglect truth for trivia. We can find
The Flexible Jesus
Jesus did not get in a hurry. He healed` a 12 year hemorrhage on the way to heal a 12 year old child (Luke 8:40-48). He healed someone when He was on the way to heal someone. The interruption was an opportunity. We can plan our day while the day has plans of its
Self-Focused
We can be so self focused that we can enter a room and see and hear very little except ourselves. We are so hungry to express our opinions, we cannot even hear the opinions of others that may be much better than ours. We are not good listeners. We have not progressed enough in
Dwelling With Trinity
The Holy Spirit, a member of the Holy Trinity, indwells us. He does so in order: To cure us from our hunger for power and control. To cure us from our love of praise and attention. To cure us of our love of the chief seats; To cure us from this selfishness by sanctification.
Escapism or Incarnational Living
Believers are called to live the Christ-life in the world in incarnational ways, that is, like their Lord did. This means identification with the ones to whom we minister; it includes suffering with them, loving them and unselfishly serving them. A desire to escape the world and living in incarnational ways is not compatible.
Reaching for God
Much of our activity is a veiled reaching for God. Our hunger for God can express itself in life’s excesses. Realizing this will make a difference in how we view people’s sins. Substitute idols cannot take the place of the true and living God. Our devotional lives are to see and acknowledge the source
Practice Self-control
The self has no desire for self-control. The self’s desires can be insatiable. It longs for more and self-control insists on less. Self-control involves controlling our bodies, our thoughts, and our actions. It keeps watch over desires, drives, ambitions, attitudes, and temperament. It has to do with what we say and how we say
Cleansed to Love
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Romans 8:8–9 (NASB) “And those who belong to Christ
Indwelling Love
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in
Partakers of Glory
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Then amazingly we read later that Jesus prayed, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as
The Business of Righteousness
Righteousness Is living right as God defines right. Righteousness is treating others as we would like to be treated. Righteousness Is treating others as God has treated us. We have a duty to our fellow humans to be as generous with each other as our Father has been to us. To show the same
Sanctification and Servitude
Some have reduced holiness to a private religious experience that occurs in the solitude of one’s own soul. The Romans’ letter may help us here. “For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in
Work to Do
Stop waiting for God to give you special leadership to do something that His word has already told you to do. Our egos may long for a special revelation, just for us; we are important, you know. Our Father’s word is calling us to work in His vineyard; the harvest itself calls us. The
Growing Deeper
There are two ways that churches grow. One is growth in numbers and the other is growth in spiritual depth. The second requires good teaching and living out what is taught. Jesus never sought for large crowds; His call for self-denial and cross bearing often thinned out the crowds. The goal of individual and
Go on to Perfection
“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” (Hebrews 6:1–2 NKJV). We
Sickness Unto Death
When death comes to a friend or loved one, we seem surprised by it. Parting with someone we love is a shock; denial is our first reaction. As we get older, we become more aware of death’s inevitability. We still pray for the sick, as we should. We pray to be rescued from death's
Sanctified Humility
When we have put to death self-centeredness, allowing the Holy Spirit to deal with our inward pride, then humility is the true end result. We become like the humble God who rode a donkey; we become like the Messiah who washed feet. We stop seeking the chief seats and settle for footstools; we stop
The True Treasure
The Bible was written over hundreds and hundreds of years, written to cultures that no longer exist. When biblical texts seem to be at odds or variance with other texts, readers have different reactions. Some abandon the Bible as a result. Others latch on to their preferred texts while closing their ears to any
Inexpressible
We have experiences that we can’t explain. I heard a minister say, “We believe things that we cannot comprehend.” We put our feet in the ocean with little thought that someone on another shore, a thousand miles or more away is doing the same thing. Then between the two of us there are battle
Co-Suffering
We get through our tough times better when we remember our solidarity with Christ and His solidarity with us. We suffer with and for the One who suffered with and for us. When He came in the flesh, it was more than to merely identify with us. He entered into all the pain of
Saving Solidarity
Salvation is found in being in solidarity with Christ Jesus. By incarnation He entered into solidarity with all of humanity. By baptism we enter into solidarity with Him. Paul’s words, “in Christ” and “in Him” are ways of speaking of this solidarity. Let’s see if we can think of some ways to bring it
Soul Health
Any violation of the Ten Commandments is at heart a failure to love. The first four are about loving God and the last six are about loving our neighbor. If I hate my neighbor, which Jesus called murder, then I poison my own soul. To fail to love will make you sick mentally, emotionally,
Credibility Gap (2)
This gap can be brought on by a lack of self-knowledge. It can be very painful to take a deep look at our own heart and mind; it requires a level of honesty that is disarming and can be downright frightening. Others are likely to see our duplicity before we do. Those who were