An Offer We Can’t Refuse
It’s a funny saying from American crime family lore, but it also happens to be true in the case of our common salvation. The Bible is clear: we were chosen, predestined, and called from death to life by God’s infinite power expressed through the gospel message. Good News it is called and full of great joy for all who have ears to hear. We cannot refuse the offer of eternal life through the beauty and wonder of our Lord’s dying love for sinners like us who have no other hope. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). It’s as simple as that.
The Nazarene Gene
And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Matthew 2:23
Our Maker became a human being, just like us in all things, except sin. What’s more, he took a humble form of humanity as a despised outsider. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Why yes, in fact it can. Indeed it must, for that is where the God-Man grew up. And so it is with us, for whom he has died. We are God’s sons and daughters in lowly form. For now!
Longing for Spring
It’s that time of year again. Old Man Winter has been hanging around for a while and he won’t be going away anytime soon either. It seems what we need most of all is that springtime magic which fills the air when the sun beams and the flowers open and the birds sing merrily among the fresh green leaves, when the scent of lavender fills the warm evening air under a gentle crescent moon (not to mention the orchards being in blossom and the first of the strawberries with cream). But until then we wait. And thus it is for the church on earth, bearing as best we can the bleak winter of this fallen world, hastening as we may the certain Day of Spring to come when our Lord will resurrect all things and we will live in his happiness forevermore.
Numero Uno
You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:18
Like it or not, we are what’s happening in the world and we are what matters. The most important things in our lives are not things at all, they are people who bear God’s image. Things are important to us because we (and our happiness) are important to us. But everyone is a we just like us. Therefore, let’s treat each other accordingly and give thanks that Jesus died for us for all the times we haven’t.
The Reformed Doctrine of the Zoomies
You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Malachi 4:2
I had to look this one up. And lo! I saw that cows get zoomies too. Out they go, leaping from the barn doors into the sun and onto the wondrous springtime grass. If it was Charlotte’s Web, Templeton would serenade them with, “The field is a veritable smorgasbord…”
One day we too shall feel that joy, when our God brings us to the Springtime of the Universe. Then the happier ever after days shall begin. And in meantime, the King said we should get the party started early whenever we suffer for the sake of the Kingdom:
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.
Luke 6:23
Heeling
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea.
Zechariah 14:8
Here we have no lasting city but God has promised that one day he will bring healing to this world. He will heal the planet and he will heal the peoples, he will heal the plants and animals and he will heal the stars.
This gift of a new universe possessing eternal life is given freely to all who will take of it—to all who will look to Jesus Christ for salvation. He has won the keys by his skull-crushing death for sin. Now that’s Good News worth sharing.
Form in Chaos
Crazy times, eh? Tensions are heightened by our constant influx of news (usually bad) and our ability to weigh in and discuss (or more likely argue) with others around the world through the amazing tool of the Internet. All that to say, passions are running high. It is an hour for Christians to exhibit self-control, orderly thoughts, and above all, the beautiful truths of God. May the Holy Spirit empower us to be self-controlled and well-ordered in our thinking, feeling, speaking, and doing, both now and always.
The Reformed Doctrine of Cutting Rugs
William Tyndale was an English Reformer who was executed in 1536 for translating the Bible into his native tongue. In his preface to the illegal Volume, he had this to say about its main message (which may give some account of his bravery):
Evangelion (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word; and signifieth good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man's heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy: as when David had killed Goliath the giant, came glad tidings unto the Jews, that their fearful and cruel enemy was slain, and they delivered out of all danger: for gladness whereof, they sung, danced, and were joyful. In like manner is the Evangelion of God (which we call gospel; and the New Testament) joyful tidings; and, as some say, a good hearing published by the apostles throughout all the world, of Christ the right David; how that he hath fought with sin, with death, and the devil, and overcome them: whereby all men that were in bondage to sin, wounded with death, overcome of the devil, are, without their own merits or deservings, loosed, justified, restored to life and saved, brought to liberty and reconciled unto the favor of God, and set at one with him again: which tidings as many as believe laud, praise, and thank God; are glad, sing and dance for joy.
Triple Threat
Basketball was invented by a Christian in order to reach others for Christ, so it may come as no surprise that the wondrous game furnishes us with spiritual analogies. One of these is the classic triple threat position, where a player holding the ball is postured in such a way so as to shoot, dribble, or pass with equal ease. Well, the prophet Micah provides us with the true triple threat in his well-beloved words:
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
Faith-filled godliness is a posture of heart and mind which makes us ready at all times to work justice (do what is right), to love faithfulness (to God and others), and to walk mindfully of God’s greatness and our eternal dependance upon him. May he grant us to walk in this simple yet profound Way for his glory.
The Unity of Middle-Church
The Silmarillion is Tolkien’s mythological account of the forming, marring, and populating of Middle-Earth in the deeps of time. His evil one is Morgoth, an angelic spirit who asserts his own will over against the Creator’s. He possesses great power but his chief weapon against the righteous is the sewing of discord among them. Through his subtle lies, they begin to view one another with suspicion, leading to division and even bloodshed. Such are the devices of the real evil one. Let us therefore be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3), “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). In Christ we are truly strong together.