Month: March 2015

John wrote that “God is love” in order to make an ethical point, “Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). Could an observer learn from the quality and degree of love that I show to others — my wife? my husband? my family? my neighbors? people at church? people at work? — anything at all about the greatness of God’s love to me?
–J. I. Packer

God’s love to me should impact how I treat everyone else.
How well have you treated your spouse this past week?
Your kids?
Your co-workers, employees, and boss?

They should all be able to see and experience Jesus’ love flowing through me.

Ironically, if the United States is truly sliding down a slippery moral slope, that may better allow the church —as it did in Rome and also in China— to set up “a new sign…which is full of promise.” I would prefer, I must admit, to live in a country where the majority of people follow the Ten Commandments, act with civility toward each other, and bow their heads once a day for a bland, nonpartisan prayer. I feel a certain nostalgia for the social climate of the 1950s in which I grew up. But if that environment does not return, I will not lose any sleep. As America slides, I will work and pray for the kingdom of God to advance. If the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, the contemporary political scene hardly offers much threat.
–Philip Yancey

A great reminder to us regarding the state of our nation.

The Bible promises that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, and so no matter the state of this nation, we know that God will walk with us as we keep working for and praying for His Kingdom to advance. Let us remember where our hope lies – not in governments, not in the strength of people – but in the power of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Do not lose hope, keeping working for His Kingdom!

Ministry is messy because life is messy, and nobody is excluded from the mess. If it is not okay not to be okay in a church, then what are we doing? Where is the gospel? The hope we have in Christ is that it is okay not to be okay, but He is leading us to greater levels of health and maturity.
–Matt Chandler

Amen.
It should be okay to be a mess and come into church, where we can find the One who offers healing and cleansing. Jesus is the only One who can completely clean up our messes!

(this goes right along with what I wrote about yesterday from the quote by Becky Pippert and also from a few days ago from the quote by Stetzer and Rainer!)

I believe one of the critical issues that the church faces is how to not shrink from naming sin and still be the bearers of grace. Christians have tended to deal with the subject of sin in one of two ways: either by being silent or by being judgmental. Either we skip over the uncomfortable bits and wind up conveying a gospel of warm feelings and cheap, sentimental grace or we behave and speak in ways that appear condescending, judgmental and critical.
–Rebecca Pippert

What an interesting (and accurate) statement. We decide we shouldn’t judge so we remain silent. Or we decide we must judge and that we must do so with the hammer condemnation. And so there is no grace to help a person be told the truth so that he will be offered the chance to escape his sin, or there is no grace to allow the person to understand the sweet offer of forgiveness even in the midst of terrible mistakes. That wasn’t the way of Jesus.

Jesus held a strong view of sin and a strong view of grace. He was not silent about sin, but he spoke about the availability of forgiveness in a loving way. The Samaritan woman at the well was treated with dignity and love, even during Jesus pointing out her relationship sin. He told people over and over to Repent, and to sin no more (judging sin), but people still loved being around Him (because He offered love and grace).

When will we learn to do the same? We don’t want to offer cheap grace, nor should we want to condemn. We should love all people to the point of wanting them to know Jesus!

I want to prefer God above everything else — including recognition — and live my life in such a way that it wouldn’t make sense if there were no resurrection.
–Anonymous, from Embracing Obscurity

Me too.
You too?