So, what’s with the Old Testament

It’s been one of those months. Everything I read, listen to and talk about seems to have a common theme.

I should be excited, because when that happens it’s almost always God trying to speak.

I guess it’s time to listen (c’mon McFly… McFly!).

Although there is a bit more depth to it than this, the nutshell idea from the Lord is simply this… it’s more about Jesus than you think.

Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

My first conversation with a CrossPointer back in the states (vacation in Costa Rica, awesome, by the way) was Continue reading “So, what’s with the Old Testament”

What does tertiary mean anyway?

After nine months of study and filling no less than six hand written journals, today I have completed a spiritual journey.

 

Long ago, I decided to study the book of Romans with more depth than I ever studied a single book. It’s been a blessed, frustrated, beautiful, agonizing endeavor (and, no, I am not being dramatic).

 

But, here, even on the last day as I pour through Paul’s concluding remarks, I am smacked in the face by a lesson I can’t wait to preach. So, let’s blog it!

 

In his 27 verse long conclusion (he sounds like some preachers, I know, I know, yuk yuk), Paul sends his greetings to 26 individuals, two families and three house churches. But, one greeting stands out in an amazing way!

 

Romans 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.

 

Tertius was a scribe (a secretary if you will) who wrote down the letter as Paul dictated it. For this one brief verse he breaks form and speaks in the first person, to say “Hi” to all the believers in Rome.

 

This is so amazing because Romans is so amazingly Continue reading “What does tertiary mean anyway?”

Osama Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

That’s not really meant to be a statement of fact, because by now it’s extremely old news. It’s really more of a measuring rod.

When you hear that phrase, what does it do inside of you?

I’ve been watching Facebook,Twitter, reading other blogs, and have stayed dialed into major network news for the last 24 hours.

It appears the responses to the worldwide obituary run the gamut of human emotion:

  • Predominately there’s an expression of glee, in exuberance and celebration.
  • To a lesser degree there is an expression of relief, with cautious optimism.
  • Yet others, in a much smaller minority from what I can tell, are actually conflicted.

By conflicted I do not mean there is an outpouring of sympathy toward Osama Bin Laden. Far from it!

But, in several expressions I have read and heard, there is a difficulty in reconciling the spontaneous joy over the news of another man’s death (undoubtedly evil though he was), and the “Christian” call to be a person of grace and mercy.

The emotions on both sides of the fence are very real, but seem to be contradictory. The only normal response is frustration, confusion, hurt and… well, being conflicted.

I have no desire to be a global psychologist, but I must admit I find myself in that minority of the conflicted.

Here is why:

  1. I believe the world is a better place without the leadership of a mass murderer who cloaks his “mission” under the veil of God. I believe he and his actions were evil, reprehensible and totally deserving of punishment afforded by the authorities that are over us (Romans 13). I do not weep for the life of this terrorist at all.
  2. I believe God cares, loves and pursues even the worst of us. I’ve preached it before, so I better stand on it today, that no one’s sin is worse than anyone else’s sin in the eyes of God. In our human economy it does not seem to make sense that my gluttony at the buffet after church on Sunday was just as much a sin as acts of terror and murder. But in God’s economy, sin is sin.
  3. I believe that justice should be carried out, future lives protected, and the world made safer by the absence of one of evil’s chief architects for the current generation.
  4. I believe God’s people should take on the character of Christ (Philippians 2:5), who was willing to empty Himself and make Himself nothing becoming obedient even to the point of death, offering forgiveness even to those who were crucifying Him in the moment.

My problem… everything I believe doesn’t seem to hold hands. So, I’m conflicted.

I’m sure I will wrestle with Continue reading “Osama Bin Laden”