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Showing posts from January, 2021

1/29/21 - Mark 9:35 [NIV]

  1/29/21 - Mark 9:35 [NIV] Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” - I know Jesus is absolutely serious here, but I can’t help imagining a Monty Python scenario: people desperate for power scrambling among themselves trying to put themselves last… Our self-loving natures simply cannot grasp what Jesus is really saying to his disciples. This is why even though we know and assent to this verse, we still try to ‘advance’ ourselves, sometimes by any means necessary. We certainly express our disapproval of politicians, co-workers, and others who are too obvious about their ambitions. Seeing the humor here might help us laugh at ourselves and be more forgiving of ourselves and others. - More seriously, we rob ourselves of joy when we fail to understand and be what Jesus is, and is trying to raise us to be. It is painful when we fail to advance, and a source of bitterness that defiles those aro...

Harsh words spoken in love

1/21/021  Matthew 7:21-23  [NIV]   “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”   These harsh words by Jesus were meant to scare the Hell out of anyone who thinks they are a good person.  These imagined followers of Jesus may have missed the memo: All of our own goodness is nothing more than filthy rags in the sight of God.  They will stand in the Day of Judgment imagining themselves dressed up in incredible works of their own goodness, only to discover the awful truth: they have dressed themselves in smelly rags, attempting to bring their own selfish nature into heaven.    Only those who understan...

1/14/21 Luke 14:26 [NIV]

  1/14/21 Luke 14:26 [NIV] "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple. --What? Jesus contradicts himself here, and offends us and our own best understanding of his teachings. How can we obey his command to love our neighbor as ourselves? John heard Jesus teach this statement, yet wrote in his first letter that “…whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” --I now realize he often shakes us up in order to force us to grasp our own contradictions. Unless I truly love God…and Jesus is God… with *all* my heart, soul, and mind, I am simply unable to truly love. In truth, it is impossible for our selfish natures to ever truly love anyone or anything. The abusive husband or father who claims to love his wife or children is no worse than me at my selfish best. As much as I want to truly love God, I will ...

When Jesus comes...

  1/8/2021 - 1 Peter 1:3 [NIV] Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.   - What we fear most about the coming of Jesus is that we won’t really be ready to meet him. We are born separated from God and if we are honest, are under no illusion we are good. We have a selfish nature that just won’t let go, no matter how much we try to subdue it or pray to God to take it from us. It is hellishly persistent in getting its own way.   - Isn’t God who created us to blame for that? No He isn’t, but that did not keep Him from taking responsibility for it. That is the confusing truth about our redemption where he paid the price we could not pay to free us from what we could not escape on our own. We cannot be redeemed until we acknowledge our own responsibility for our selfish nature. We didn’t ask for it, but we couldn’t let it go. In the end, it will prove to be so powerfully to...