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The Joy-filled Contentment Of Faithfulness

  I was in a music fraternity in college.   As I was working towards membership, I would regularly be asked questions about all kinds of things.   I was expected to know the answers, but if I didn’t, I was expected to say, “RNE”—results, not excuses.   I’ve always fancied myself a results guy.   When I set my mind to achieving something, I expect to achieve it.   Maybe it will take longer than I’d planned.   Maybe it won’t turn out exactly to the standards I’d set.   But I would follow through and accomplish the task, big or small.   Maybe it’s ambition.   Maybe it’s skill.   Maybe it’s the stubborn pride that refuses to fail.   But what happens when we bring this “RNE” determination and mindset into the Christian life?   It’s one thing to get results in the business world or with a house project.   But what about when we craft a results-driven faith?   To be sure, the Bible speaks of fruitfulness.   We are expected to bear fruit for God…fruit of righteousness, fruit of the Spirit, fru
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Love That Counts For Something

Let love be genuine [by] abhorring what is evil; [by] holding fast to what is good. Romans 12:9 Full disclosure up front.   I have adjusted the above verse from ESV to translate the participles following the [by] as two means of genuine love.   ESV reads: “Let love be genuine.   Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”   I wanted to translate to show a stronger connection between the three clauses than is translated in the ESV. Paul has rounded the final corner of his magnum opus to the church in Rome at the beginning of Ch. 12 when he appeals to the readers to present themselves to God as instruments of righteousness and to be transformed by the renewing of their minds.   He then goes on to describe how each member of the body of Christ is given a particular gift from the Spirit to serve the whole.   It’s no wonder then that he pivots from the various gifts (Romans 12:3-8) to the ethic of love in 12:9-21.   I understand him to have two groups in view as the objects of the Chris
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Justice And The Image Of God

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. James 2:1 Unless you live under a rock, you’re aware of the conclusion to the high-profile trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was accused of murdering two men and injuring a third in my backyard of Kenosha, WI last summer after protests and rioting broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha police officer.   Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts to the great delight of some and the great horror of others.   Some are convinced justice was served while others are convinced it wasn’t.   It’s safe to say that the verdict has done more to polarize than it has to unite. But there is something necessary for the Christian to hold unswervingly to regardless of whether or not he/she agrees with the verdict.   Kyle Rittenhouse.   Joseph Rosenbaum.   Anthony Huber.
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  “Where grace exists, it reigns.”   C. H. Spurgeon I’m scared of grace.   And this realization comes in the midst of a journey I’ve been on that has the fingerprints of God all over it.   If we were to gather 50 Christians in the same room and invite people to share adjectives that come to mind when trying to describe “grace,” I doubt “scary” would be anyone’s answer.   (It probably wouldn’t be mine either, in case anyone is thinking I’m exalting this term in some sort of holier-than-thou way.)   We’d hear things like amazing, undeserved, free, kind, love.   Of course, it’s inevitable that the crucifixion of Jesus is vocalized in some way.   Essentially, we’d have a huge list of very positive and affirming adjectives that rightly depict the wonderful activity and riches of God’s grace.   What if we asked a slightly different question?   How would we answer, “how does a person obtain grace?”   I’m guessing we’d start throwing out answers like, “confess your sins,” or “trust Jesus.”   B
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Humility Toward Self

  But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. Philippians 3:7 Not long ago, I wrote on humility being the chief Christian virtue and the fountain head of all the virtues.   I made my argument from the book of Philippians in which Paul uses Christ’s humble obedience at the cross as the supreme example of an attitude and action of sacrificial humility.   It’s interesting to consider humility with respect to/toward particular relationships.   My last writing was speaking of humility toward others…counting them more significant than oneself (Phil. 2:3-5).   Paul also addresses humility toward God, with whom we are to cooperate in sanctification with fear and trembling .   The one who is humble toward God is grateful, generous, prayerfully dependent, and repentant (among other things).   It’s worth spending more time reflecting on how humility ought to manifest itself in our relationship with God through Christ.   There’s gold to mine there. But i
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One Faith, One Mission

Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ…standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel…in humility consider others as more important than yourselves…Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus…   Philippians 1:27-2:11 Anyone who has read anything I’ve written or has talked to me for longer than 5 minutes knows how much I love the book of Philippians.   I think it is the most important document ever written as it pertains to Christian virtue (other than the Sermon on the Mount).   Many have spoken of Philippians as a letter that calls for joy in all circumstances, but at its heart, Philippians is a letter that exalts and commands humility for the Christian and for the Church.   If you miss how Paul showcases humility, you miss the melody of the letter.   There’s plenty of wonderful harmony still, but the book loses its zing.   I argue this with conviction because of the “Christ hymn” Paul puts
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