Mission Faithwalk

                 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (I John 4:20-21) I felt the need to check an interlinear Bible, to look at the Greek as well as the word-for-word translation, centering on the words “a brother or sister.” First, of course, “or sister” wasn’t there because brother was understood in a universal sense that took in both male and female. But that wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted to know about the article. The NIV says “ a brother.” The interlinear says “ the brother of him. ” So, the NIV version is “his brother” made politically correct. And I’m not criticizing, just verifying. So, keeping in mind that the sibling language was used to indicate fellow Christians, it come...

                 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of  r econciliation: God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (II Corinthians 5:18-20)             Sometimes, I think we see evangelism as a contest, as if every person we “win” to Christ shows up as a point in our favor on some celestial scoreboard. Years ago, a Christian I know was approached at work by an evangelist. When she declined to follow his script, he and his friend basically shook the dust off their sandals and declared themselves free of blame for her fate. I suspect many who share their faith are...

            So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28)           Maybe it’s because I’m an Introvert. Maybe it’s because I’m of a certain political persuasion. Maybe it’s because I have been studying passages like today’s. It could even be because I was raised in the 60s and 70s. It could be something else entirely. Whatever it is, I tend to think that how a person thinks and what a person believes is ultimately more connected to who they are than one’s race, ethnicity, class, or gender/sexual preferences. And in a sense, those who disagree with me prove my point, because they believe that those things are more important than anything else.  ...

              But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. (Psalm 103:17)           What these verses, together with the verses from the last two days is that God is leaving a legacy. But the legacy God gives is not the sort of legacy given to Trust Fund Babies. It is not a legacy that produces people who are shallow, entitled, narcissistic, and nihilistic. Instead, it is meant to teach us to love God and other people properly. While some will disagree because they don’t understand what the idea entails, it is meant to make us more like God, not less.           And that may give us the clues we need. Leaving a legacy is about lovingkindness, not only to the immedia...

                 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too, is vanity and a great evil. (Ecclesiastes 2:21) This verse brings to mind a term we don’t hear as much as we used to: Trust Fund Baby. At one point, it referred to someone whose parents or grandparents set up a fund so that the child would never have to work. Generally speaking, these trust fund babies were depicted as shallow, entitled, narcissistic, and nihilistic. Unfortunately, I don’t think the trust fund babies disappeared. I think the malady spread to a larger chunk of the population, even among those whose parents and grandparents couldn’t afford to set up such a fund. And if the parents or grandparents can’t afford it, they expect the government to step in. And the man in the verse above refers to the parents or grandparents who labored with wisdom, knowledge, and sk...

             A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.  (Proverbs 13:22)             Legacy : 1) Money or property you receive from someone after they die; 2) Something that remains from part of your history or that remains from a previous time.             Originally, legacy was associated with a rank or position that was delegated. There might, or might not, be land or wealth involved, but the title or responsibility were. Today, it seems to have more to do with a contribution to the general good, or the basis on which one’s reputation after death is based. There doesn’t seem to be much in Scripture that speaks of a legacy. Tomorrow’s verse is the only one that uses the word. But there are a few references to “children’s children,” starting with today’s....