Tag Archives: Christ

A House Without Foundation

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Shifting from foundation, Whittier

Shifting from foundation, Whittier (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A House without Foundation

Everyone knows that a house with a faulty foundation is a house in serious trouble. In the midst of a storm or a trembling of the ground there is great danger to the house. It may shake violently. What was once a small crack may dramatically increase in size. The house may shift in one direction or another. Any of these occurrences means danger for the residents. The house is no longer safe.

Is it the fault of the wind or the tremor that the house is in peril? Or is it the fault of whatever made the foundation faulty to begin with? This is a question worth considering when we look at conflict within our lives and that within the church. Our human tendency is to shake our fist and curse the wind when the house falters. But the real issue at hand is what lead to the faulty foundation in the first place?

When we as individuals or we corporately as part of the church, turn away from Christ our foundation becomes weak and cracks. The tragedy is that most often this is insidious and we don’t even realize that it has happened. Those who can see the cracks in the foundation raise appeals for it to be fixed. Sadly, these are often ignored. No one wants to address the problems and issues which lead to the cracks forming in the first place. Fixing a foundation of a house is very difficult, expensive, and time consuming. It is easier to ignore the problem, hope that the weather will hold, or just deny that the cracks are serious enough to warrant fixing. This “head in the sand” approach does nothing to address the problems with the house and ignores the dangers to the residents. The risk, of course, is that the house will one day collapse and destroy the relationship or the institution. May we be humble enough and wise enough to acknowledge when our house has cracks in it’s foundation. May we earnestly seek the One who can repair all things and make them new again. Amen.

Wise Investment

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Gold Bar and Investment Jewelry

Gold Bar and Investment Jewelry (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Wise Investments

We know from experience that we must be careful in how we invest our money. There are people who are unwise in such things and will gladly spend our money for their foolish endeavors and come back again and again asking for more.

We know when it comes to our time and energy that here we have an even more precious investment. Whereas money can be replaced, a lost hour, a moment of opportunity, those years spent in a trivial pursuit; these things cannot be regained. Time, once squandered, is simply gone.

So then, when it comes to the time we spend with people we must also be wise. Unfortunately, there are some who have no desire to truly grow in Christ. Many who attend church, seek office or position in the church, or call on the phone with a need consume vast amounts of precious time and resources, but in fact have no intention of seeking to grown in Christ.

Herein we must seek discernment that we invest our time wisely with those who are really seeking Him. God knows whose heart is a fertile field, whose is a rocky field, and whose is a hard beaten path. God alone knows whose life is so full of weeds that nothing of His can grow. With so little of ourselves to invest in others let us be wise and discerning in the use of our time. At first glance this seems a harsh position. Shouldn’t we in the ministry be seeking to help everyone all the time?

The life of Christ is a good example of how to spend time wisely. If you look at the New Testament, you will find that the vast majority of Jesus’ time was spent with the twelve disciples. Yes, he also taught the masses and attempted to teach the Pharisees as well, but most of his three year ministry was spent teaching and developing those whom He had called. These men were where He invested His time. He did not waste time on those who did not hear His voice nor answer His call. This self same strategy would serve us well today. Our focus should be on the building and empowering or true disciples instead of watering down a message designed to appeal to the masses. Christ was uncompromising in his message which is exactly what lead to his crucifixion. This is clearly a difficult stance to take today, but it is, I believe, the correct one. We should be seeking to please Him not men. We should spend our time as He did. We should develop disciples as He did. After all, His ways are perfection! Why do we think we know better?

Truth

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bibles

bibles (Photo credit: fancycwabs)

Truth

“The Bible is not inerrant, but the eternal truths contained within it are”. If you are a student in either of my Bible study classes you have heard me say this before. What do I mean by this? There seems to be a lot of bickering among Christians and non-Christians alike about the Bible and whether or not we are to take it literally. We have a tendency to get hung up on wording. We labor over minute points. What I know for certain about the truth in scripture is this. The Bible, first and foremost, is the love story of an almighty and eternal God for His people. It begins when that dream is but a spark in His eye, a hope yet to be born. As the pages unfold, we find a story of astonishing depth and breadth- of incredible majestic heights and plunging depths of betrayal. Had these sacred truths never been recorded by his people in this endearing and enduring form it would be nonetheless The Truth in all it’s resplendent beauty.

However, it is this Truth contained within the pages which make the Bible a sacred text, not the way in which the story is particularly worded or told. Any time we as human readers of it attempt to change this revealed truth into browbeating legalism, we are guilty of destroying the sacred Truth in Love that the text is meant to reveal. Indeed, it is not the words on the pages themselves as they are written or expressed that are sacred, but rather the heart of God as revealed to the reader which comprises the holy and sacred. Just as Christ said of the Sabbath- man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. So the message of the Bible was not designed to make His children a slave to legalism and restricted interpretations of other men, but rather to free them in truth and love to live a life redeemed by His grace. May each of us remember as we search and study scripture that it is not the text itself that we should revere, but rather the heart, mind, and soul of Love who created The Word Eternal who is worthy of all our praise. Amen.

Iron Filings and Magnetic Forces

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English: Iron filings

English: Iron filings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Iron Filings and Magnetic Forces

Sometimes all of life seems to be a series of random, unrelated, and chaotic events. When you examine the whole of it- births, deaths, relationships forming, relationships dissolving, successes, failures, goals achieved, and stinging disappointments, it sometimes is difficult to see the meaning in any of it. There is no discernible pattern. Nothing seems to make sense. It can all seem so……random.

To use an illustration- life can sometimes seem like random iron filings scattered about on a piece of blank paper. What we see is scattered blots arranged with no particular rhyme or reason, forming no discernible pattern whatsoever. This remains the case until a strong magnet is applied and the filings begin to submit themselves to the strong pull of unseen forces and orient themselves accordingly. Such a powerful force is only evident by its effect.

This is the power of Christ in our lives. As His power is applied to our lives, all things reorient themselves in submission to His will. The magnetic force of His Spirit pulls the events of our lives together in a way that reveals order and intention. We see patterns instead of randomness. Reason instead of chaos. Purpose instead of confusion. Amazingly, this power effects not just the present and the future, but also how we view events of the past as well.

God, as a Spirit, is timeless and eternal. He is therefore never bound by time’s chains. He breaks the limitations of the past and our memory, understanding the way we see the past as surely as He makes the past come alive in his work. Whether over the eons it took to carve the Grand Canyon or in just the moment it took to form a flake of snow.

So then – it is Christ’s living presence applied to our lives that is the way by which we find wholeness out of brokenness, meaning out of suffering, order out of disorder, and purpose out of purposelessness. When we allow ourselves and our lives to be ordered by the power of His Spirit, we find that He does indeed, make all things new again. Amen.