Always Reforming

"O Lord , what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow."     Man, in his sinful state, is now worthy of the consideration of God.  It is God's consideration, however, that gives him worth.  For some reason God has loved His people, and that is not to be ignored.  We were created in His image, but we fell.  God has restored that image in all those for whom Christ died.      A recent tragedy has brought this passage to my mind.  A 19 year old I knew was involved in a car wreck and was pronounced dead on the scene.  No one saw it coming--no one but God.  When a dead is preceded by months or even years of ill health, families tend to get some of the mourning out before the death has even occurred.   The death of a young, healthy person takes us all off guard, however.  It hits you like a brick.  It doesn't even se...

"Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God."     Too often we define prayer as as asking God for stuff.  While God does encourage us to make our requests known to Him, we must remember that that is only one aspect of prayer.  Prayer is talking to God, and if our prayer life is always about us then we're missing the point.  When we talk to God, when we worship Him, we ought not to use it as another opportunity to focus on us and what we're doing.  We ought to use our prayer time to focus on God and what He has done and what He is continuing to do.  Instead of singing about how God makes us feel, let's just sing about the w...

I'll be presenting this lesson tomorrow morning at Church.  We'll be reading the first 18 verses of Leviticus 13.  I would suggest you do that, but I know, since you're reading blogs, that you probably won't.  Mark 1:40-45: And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.     Though this is ceremonial law, and therefore ...

    I was raised a Sabbatarian.  Now, that word has shades of meaning, and I was at the darkest (almost)end of the spectrum.  Many people could be called Sabbatarian because they believe that in some sense the Lord's Day is the Christian Sabbath.  The actual implications of that concept are many.  For many in the Reformed Tradition that means abstaining from any work or recreation.  We were allowed to play sports and the like on Sunday, but work of all sorts was forbidden.  We had friends who wouldn't even toss a ball on Sunday.  Sunday, then, we believed, is a day of rest and worship, just like the Old Testament Sabbath.      My views are in a state of flux on this topic.  They have changed, and are probably not at their final stage of development.  I have begun to study the issue and to see the inadequacy of the explanations I was given as a child.  I will give a probably confusing synopsis of the t...

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things...

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”     I'm going to take an approach to this verse somewhat different than the one I normally do.  Normally I would harp on the lordship of Christ over all of life, especially politics (a most-worthy topic), but today I want to discuss another side of what this lordship really means.     Jesus tells his disciples that He has been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth.  I think we commonly focus on only one of these two factors.  Some people don't recognize the significance of Jesus's authority on Earth.  Some people overlook the impact of Christ's impact authority over He...

    The beginning of a new year generally encourages reflection on the previous year.  Today at church all the men of the congregation stood up and gave a general update of the state of the union, if you will, from the past year.  It was encouraging and divinely challenging.  We have been so blessed as children of God, and we need to live our lives in a manner that manifests our appreciation of this familial blessing.     I began my short time (that lasted longer than I planned) with these words from Luke 11:11-13: " What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  God is a powerful Father, but more significantly, He is a good Father who seeks our good.  As Romans 8 tells us, He ...