Friday, April 07, 2006
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Phillipians 3:10)To know Jesus Christ, is to know him in the fellowship of his sufferings. To experience the same things he did and be able to relate to him the way he relates to us. That is the basis of relationship. One common thread of Jesus' life is that he suffered. So, when people you care about reject you, then you know Him. When people turn their back on you, and cast you aside like garbage, then you know Him. When people judge your beliefs as heresy, you know Him. When you still love people after they have deeply wounded you, then you know that you know Him. When you forgive those who despitefully use you, then you are being made into his image.
As a lump of clay, we spin on the master potter's wheel as he weilds the tools of life's bitterness to make a perfect vessel out of our brokenness that he can pour his anointing from. Each time we are "wounded in the house of a friend," we know him in the fellowship of his sufferings. I hope this post is found by someone who is crying the bitter tears of rejection and that you realize that Jesus loves you and he's concerned about you today.
posted by Steve Stevens at
3:41 PM
1 comments
Thursday, April 06, 2006
The problem with rules based religion is that often, minor things are emphasized while the major issues of life are ignored. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were overly concerned with the wrong things."Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess." (Matthew 23:23-25)
Jesus did not say that observing customs and traditions was evil. Neither did he say that those things shouldn't be done. He said that we are in serious trouble when we begin to think that certain observances or our outward appearance makes us holy or acceptable to God. A modest appearance and pure life should be the result of wanting to be separate from the evil associations of worldliness, not born out of following the rules/traditions of men.
The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart as one preacher was fond of saying. When we reduce our walk with God to following a dress code or a set of moral rules, we run the risk of letting our guard down by thinking that we have "attained" some invisible level of spirituality that reduces our need to be repentant and humble.
Paul the Apostle, wrote "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." (Phillipians 3:12). One reason that God was able to use Paul so greatly is because the Apostle realized that whatever sins and temptations he was able to master in this life was only by God's grace. Paul realized the dangers of rules based religion when he wrote the following, "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?" (Col 2:20-22)
Paul asks us why, if we have renounced all hope of salvation from the dead works of observances, do we still insist on trusting in the observance of rules and codes for salvation?
WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH THE EDGES OF THIS POST!
posted by Steve Stevens at
5:54 AM
0 comments
