Mission Faithwalk

                 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (II Peter 2:9)                  I wonder how long it took Peter to understand this, or Paul, or Jerome, or Martin Luther, or you… I don’t think I get this yet – at least, not in a good way. It’d be easy if we were chosen because we’re special.  But life tends to show us that we’re not special in the way(s) we like to think we are. We aren’t even chosen because we have potential. Spoiler alert: in a lot of ways, we’re like Harry Potter. Everryone was so in awe of him. He was clearly the chosen one – the prophesied one. And when you get to the end of the last book, the boy that everyone ignored – the boy who was not Harry Potter, defeated the enemy and saved the day. And still, we...

                 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, (Ephesians 1:18)                  Over the past few years, the term “woke” has come to mean (to some) awareness of and sensitivity to social justice issues and discrimination. Basically, it means that one agrees with those who dictate what we should care about. But the idea of being awake, alive, and alert isn’t really new. It probably wasn’t new in Paul’s day. But it’s interesting that in recounting his prayer for the Ephesians, it’s not that they would see all the pain and suffering in the world. It’s that they would know the hope to which God has called us.                Curiously, hope was seen by the Greeks in the same way some people see the...

                 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (I Peter 5:8-9)                  As I read today’s passage, what leaped to mind was “Open your eyes!” Wake up, look around. The next thing that comes to mind is that sober would hardly describe me at the moment.  Hysterical? That might be a little excessive. Overwrought? Overwhelmed? Yes. It doesn’t help that it’s after midnight, and I can’t fall asleep.  Nope, let something be other than as I want it to be, and I’m throwing a massive pity party, whining and snapping at God – asking Him to reveal to me what’s so terribly wrong with me that all this must go wrong. Who needs “Job’s Friends” or even an...

                 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ep[hessians 2:8-9)                  This might be one of the most offensive passages in the Bible. It is the way Christianity differs from the other religions. Salvation is needed. We sense this if we have any wisdom. We run from the need because we resent that we have a need. Over the past few days, we’ve seen that we may presume we have salvation without faith in Him, and fool ourselves, but not Him. Oh, we may not say it. We may not even feel it all of the time, but when we least expect it, that niggling voice of irritations creeps in. If nothing else, it whispers that we should be better than we are, or that we are better than they are. Other times, it whispers, “work harder!”         ...

  When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (Matthew 8:1-4)   After reading Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage decades go, I just can’t get over “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.” Lepers weren’t to be touched. Doing so made one unclean, and a procedure had to be followed to be clean again. Scripture doesn’t say Jesus followed it, but there’s no real reason to think He didn’t. But the description of leprosy – as it existed at the time – is such that most people wouldn’t want to to...

                 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)                  Because Jesus said this, I think sometimes we try to make today’s passage all about some spiritual or Christian reality. That leads me back to a idea that  pops up now and then. People have insisted that religion is somehow different – magical thinking, but the reality is that religion and...

                 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)                  As scary as the passages from the past couple of days have been, today’s is worse. It’s not just that only a few will enter or false prophets are out there. No, the past two days have excluded the hypocrite, the CINO (Christian in Name Only), and the rich televangelist, but leave us safe. At least, we may tell ourselves that. In today’s passage, Jesus takes a tougher stand. People who refer to Him as “Lord” and who perform miracles in Hi...