I'm studying the Gospel right now. Actually, I'd better clarify, I'm studying what the Gospel has to say about the Gospel. My first thoughts. The Gospel that Jesus preached was "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." I'm reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell right now. He's talking about how Jesus's preaching was for a life now that extended into eternity. His Kingdom is here right now.
Jesus died for our sins, Everyone's, and we are all forgiven. The question is whether or not we will realize it and live accordingly. I don't see any way you can realize what Jesus has done for you and not respond graciously. Grace was given and the proper response is gratefulness, gratuitity, and grace toward others. In other words, Loving the Lord your God with every ounce of your being and loving your fellow humans as you would yourself. Jesus used the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate how to love someone but also to illustrate that everyone is your neighbor.
I think we need to start preaching the Gospel again. That the kingdom of Heaven is near, has come in Jesus. As St. Augustine is credited with saying we need to, "go and preach the Gospel, and if you have to, use words." Augustine was saying what Jesus once said that they will know we are his followers by our love. Christians today have done a great job of being known by their intolerance and even sometimes their hatred. I don't think Jesus would claim them. We must love everyone, and I'm talking about a love that comes out in our actions. We need to bring the kingdom of Heaven to the sick.
I may have already said this in a past blog, but I've heard people say that Christianity is a crutch for the weak. My response to them is that in a sense this is dead right. The problem is they don't realize how weak they are and they don't realize that instead of a crutch to lean on it's like a whole new leg. We are all fallen and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus died so we could all walk again. We've never known what running was like till we've ran head on into Jesus. Now the world begs for redemption and we are the workers who must carry out our masters plan to bring this world to fruition and ready to be harvested. I've went on a bit of a tangent and must stop.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Life and the lack thereof
True life. What is it? Is there a way to determine that a life is more true than another? I have to say there is because I've lived it. I love the way the Bible answers this question. Jesus claims to be the way, the truth, and the life. I like to combine them since they are all ands. Jesus is the way to true life.
Jesus is full of all kinds of weird thoughts about life. He says, "He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." I look at his thoughts this way: He who seeks out his own life will have passed up true life, but he who gives up his own life for my life will find true life. Because we've already established that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, this makes perfect sense. Moving on to that life, the life Jesus calls us to is difficult. The good news is there is a wonderful life for each person out there that continues on into eternity. There's a failsafe built in ,though. The next part of the verse we've looked at adds, "No one comes to the Father but through me." You see, true life, is a life spent in connection with the one that created you. Only the one who built you knows all that you're capable of. Therefore, your true life, the purpose for which you were built, is known only to the Father.
So, if we give up our own life to live Jesus's life we come to the Father. We must give up anything we are about. Paul said he died daily. Jesus called it picking up your cross and following him. This life of Jesus held much suffering and sorrow. If we are to follow him we must also trudge through suffering and sorrow. Our awareness of our surroundings depends on how close we are to God. We may walk through these things and barely see them because of the strength of our focus on the loving God. Or we can lose our focus on God and instead focus on our surroundings. We tend to drown when that's the case.
Jesus is full of all kinds of weird thoughts about life. He says, "He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." I look at his thoughts this way: He who seeks out his own life will have passed up true life, but he who gives up his own life for my life will find true life. Because we've already established that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, this makes perfect sense. Moving on to that life, the life Jesus calls us to is difficult. The good news is there is a wonderful life for each person out there that continues on into eternity. There's a failsafe built in ,though. The next part of the verse we've looked at adds, "No one comes to the Father but through me." You see, true life, is a life spent in connection with the one that created you. Only the one who built you knows all that you're capable of. Therefore, your true life, the purpose for which you were built, is known only to the Father.
So, if we give up our own life to live Jesus's life we come to the Father. We must give up anything we are about. Paul said he died daily. Jesus called it picking up your cross and following him. This life of Jesus held much suffering and sorrow. If we are to follow him we must also trudge through suffering and sorrow. Our awareness of our surroundings depends on how close we are to God. We may walk through these things and barely see them because of the strength of our focus on the loving God. Or we can lose our focus on God and instead focus on our surroundings. We tend to drown when that's the case.
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