Relationships

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:3-8

  • 70 Times 7

    “Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me; if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” Genesis 4:24 NASB

    Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV

    Some modern translations render “seventy times seven” in both cases as seventy-seven times. But if “sevenfold” means seven times, then “seventy-sevenfold” would mean seventy seven-times. The placement of that little hyphen changes the numeric value considerably. But it’s more important to see the correlation between these two passages, as Jesus was using the former hyperbole from Genesis to reinforce His point.

    Lamech considered his killing of another man, in an unknown way for an unknown reason, such a heinous act that he felt he deserved to die 500 deaths (70 x 7)! Such an exaggeration to emphasize what a terrible thing he felt he’d done.

    And it is this exact reason that Jesus uses it as an opposing example to explain the significant value of forgiveness. By virtually quoting the prior, He effectively reverses that principle of vengeance. To most of us, outside of the cultural context of Jewish teaching, Jesus’ words here don’t hold much meaning. We get it, but not really. Against the backdrop of the passage in Genesis, however, and knowing that Jesus’ hearers would have been quite familiar with the reference, we see the point in a new light.

  • Making the List

    Blessings or curses. Wrath or favor. Heaven or hell. Why did we all grow up believing that either God rewards or punishes us based on our behavior? Where did we hear about this God? Was it our parents, using God as a “threat” against us for misbehaving? Maybe somehow the threat of eternal damnation was good enough to keep us in line… So they hoped. But did they even believe it was true, or was it just a tactic their own parents may have tried?

    Santa Claus has become pretty much the same thing. Parents have latched onto the idea of Santa (as a God replacement) as some magical being who holds their children’s fate in his hands (or sack). Based solely on a child’s behavior, they can look forward to receiving that long-awaited gift… or the dreadful lump of coal. And because of this idea, kids the world over attempt to “win back favor” with Santa to stay on or get back on the “Nice” list during the last days before Santa shows up and their fate is decided. Christmas morning, they rush to the foot of the tree to discover whether or not they were “good enough” to be in the Christmas Club, praying they are not a tragic recipient of the dreaded Coal Award.

    Just like Santa, we’ve come to believe that we’re either in or out of God’s grace because of our deeds.

  • A Mistaken Identity

    Where do I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?

    These are the three questions that every human asks of the cosmos at one point or another. We need to understand our origins, our purpose, and whether there is hope for a future beyond this life.

    While we may ask these questions individually at different points in life, they are remarkably interconnected, and we cannot answer either of the second two without first understanding the first.

    And yet so many often start with the third question, wondering if its answer would some how bring resolution to the other two. Where am I going? This question is most often formed as “Is there life after death?” We all want to know whether or not an afterlife is hopeful, because the answer to that question allows us to reconcile the mysteries of the present. Our lives are chaos and can be pockmarked—if not filled—with tragedy and bad fortune. We can often feel we are victims of circumstance, unable to catch a break and unable to figure out why life is so difficult.

  • An Anchor (It’s Not a Square Peg)

    When I was a kid, I didn’t really understand any of the things shown to me in the Bible. I was too young, and I really just didn’t care to understand, to be honest. Let’s face it, I was a kid. Years later, however, after finally understanding and accepting Christ, I began to see Scripture for the truth it is, and time and again I could see God’s faithfulness shine through those powerful words, from beginning to end.

    Over time, I began to truly see Jesus in Scripture, learning the reality that Jesus is indeed the Word of God John 1:1-3, and statements such as “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” John 14:6 began to make more sense when I understood that no one can come to know God the Father except through “the Word of God.” And that the “Word of God” is the way, and the truth, and the life.

  • Merry Christmas!

    So I really have to admit, I just don’t understand this whole “political correctness” thing in regards to the traditional Christmas greeting.

    For 30 years I lived in a world of non-Christians who cheerfully celebrated this holiday with open arms. Nobody I knew really professed any great faith, but we all looked forward to this time of year, giving and accepting gifts, and enjoying the time off from school and from work.

  • Going Your Own Way

    We often wonder as kids that,  if I’m obedient to my parents, if I actually do what they tell me to do – if I take their advice, am I really leading my own life? Am I making my own decisions? And it’s a hard question. And ultimately we rebel because we want to be able to show that we can do our own thing. We believe that doing our own thing means just doing everything the hard way.

    Tragically though, when we get through it we find that our parents were right. We didn’t realize that our parents had already gone through those same things. They tried to tell us, but we didn’t want to hear it because we needed to carve our own way. And we rejected those things that we knew to be true. Because we just needed to test them ourselves, we needed to find out. And we went through those hardships; we made the wrong decisions; we did the things that seemed right or were at least in opposition to what we’d been told in order to find out if what we were taught was true.

    We ultimately come to find that “yep”, those things were true, and I made the wrong choices.

  • Convinced Our Words Can Change

    We so often believe that if we could only say the right thing, we could change others’ hearts,  minds, or attitudes. How arrogant we are!

    Did not Jesus walk the earth? Did he not speak the words of truth to everyone? If, then, his direct words of love and truth did not always affect a change, why are we so convinced that our words can do more?

    This is true for us whether we are sharing the gospel with a non-Christian or trying to convince a loved-one of our position, regardless of how “right” we believe we are, or what truth we are attempting to communicate.

    Today we are challenged with this question when engaged in a discussion with a loved one:

    Why am I trying to convince them? What is my motivation here?

  • The Truth About Independence

    Let me start by sharing an observation. And that’s that children seek not independence, but “the freedom to act according to emotion without fear of consequence.”

    As adults, given the gifts of increasing responsibility, we know that independence is a great responsibility. As adults, not as children in grown-up bodies, we understand that we have established “the responsibility to act in accordance with the law with fear and consequence.”

    Yay Independence! Some days, we’d really rather someone just told us what to do for awhile . . .

    Still, it is often difficult to understand that independence is not the requirement to handle all your problems on your own, or answer all the questions by yourself. Being independent does not mean you must act alone.

  • Ministry & Mission

    You know, it was recently suggested that the terms “ministry” and “mission” meant very specific things, and should be regarded in separate and specific ways. Ministry was deemed to be focused on service to Christians, while mission was focused on service to those outside the church (e.g. “the mission field”).

    And, while I may concede to this concept at its surface, based on the context of the original argument, I cannot accept this clear-cut definition in real-world application.

    A cursory examination of the use of the term minister reveals, beyond the instance of an official designated as “a person authorized to conduct religious worship; member of the clergy; pastor”, a minister is anyone “acting as the agent or instrument of another.”

  • Giving Us Space

    In reading some comments recently in Rick Warren’s re-tooled book, A Purpose Driven Life, I was pointed to a time in the prophet Hezekiah’s life when God withdrew from his presence so that Hezekiah was forced to contend with it on his own, to test his character and his faith.

    “He succeeded in everything he undertook. But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” Chronicles 32:30-31

    And once again, God highlights my own relationship with him, and shows me how it’s okay when I don’t feel close to God.  I so often battle with that disconnect, wondering what I’m not doing right to feel closer to him.  While at other times I feel so close that I don’t want to be anywhere else or doing anything else but worshiping him and enjoying his love.