Eager Longing

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

Romans 8:18-25 The Message

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

For Reflection

God has created all things. All plants, animals (including us) and elements of the Earth are the same stuff.  All of the Creation is moving forward.  Humans it seems, are slowing the progress.  We mature more slowly through the pangs of evolution perhaps because, made in the image of God, we enjoy great freedom to choose how to respond to our yearning for deliverance from the bonds of our human condition.

Choose the path that God wills.  Follow the example of Jesus the Christ.  Answer the desires of the Holy Spirit that resides within you.

 Pray

Pray and be filled by the desires of the Holy Spirit.

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Seeing Others through Christ

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 The Message

16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

For Reflection

Seeing with Christ in our souls, gives us X-ray vision that permits us to look beyond  outward appearances and into God's spark of life that resides in all of us.  This point in our souls is the ultimate divine common ground that unites us.
When you see with Christ's eyes the whole Creation becomes visible. "You vs. me"  disappears and in its place is humility. This is the first step toward righteousness and reconciliation.

Pray

Pray so that you may walk humbly with Christ and find rest in God.

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Spirit of Christ in Our Hearts

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

Galatians 4:1-7 The Message

4 1-3 Let me show you the implications of this. As long as the heir is a minor, he has no advantage over the slave. Though legally he owns the entire inheritance, he is subject to tutors and administrators until whatever date the father has set for emancipation. That is the way it is with us: When we were minors, we were just like slaves ordered around by simple instructions (the tutors and administrators of this world), with no say in the conduct of our own lives.
4-7 But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

For Reflection

The spirit of the son, the Christ, has entered this world and is active. God has placed the spark of true living in our souls and to satisfy the desire of that spark all we have to do is ask and believe that Christ the Holy Spirit, will guide us, to develop the will and skill to live righteously. We will die to the life of a slave to our human condition and be resurrected into a life full of love, joy, compassion, justice, and peace.  


Believe it!

Act on It!

Pray

Pray so that you open that point in your soul that invites Christ to drive your entire being into righteousness and grace.

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Believers Have Eternal Life

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

John 5:19-24 The Message

What the Father Does, the Son Does

19-20 So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.
20-23 “But you haven’t seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honor.
24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

For Reflection

Because he sees through God's eyes the Father and the Son are inseparable. What the Father is capable of accomplishing so is the Son.  

Conversely, what the Son sees the Father also sees.  What the Son accomplishes, the Father also accomplishes.  Honoring the Father honors the Son.

Imitation is the highest honor.  We are called to imitate the life of Jesus. In doing so, you will unlock the key to living the life God has intended you to live, full of hope and joy.

Pray

Pray so that you will develop the will and skill to enhance your desire to be like Jesus.

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Jesus Brings True Justice

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Romans 3:9-20 The Message

We’re All in the Same Sinking Boat

9-20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:
There’s nobody living right, not even one,
    nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
    they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right;
    I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
    their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
    They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
    litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don’t know the first thing about living with others.
    They never give God the time of day.
This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.

For Reflection

In the Kingdom of God no one has preference over another; not Christian over Jew, not Christian over Christian, or for that matter, believer over unbeliever. All of God's Creation is advancing toward the full realization of God's vision. All of God's people are moving toward reconciliation, some at a far slower pace than others. We all have to resist the desire to be favored. Remember the Disciples asked who would have rank above the others. Jesus' remarks indicated that they missed the point.

Pray

Pray so that you will see in all others as the Christ that dwells within you enables you to see and having seen to understand. We are all in the same boat, traveling in the same direction.

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God is Faithful and Fair

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Romans 3:1-6 The Message

3 1-2 So what difference does it make who’s a Jew and who isn’t, who has been trained in God’s ways and who hasn’t? As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference—but not the difference so many have assumed.
2-6 First, there’s the matter of being put in charge of writing down and caring for God’s revelation, these Holy Scriptures. So, what if, in the course of doing that, some of those Jews abandoned their post? God didn’t abandon them. Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same:
Your words stand fast and true;
Rejection doesn’t faze you.
But if our wrongdoing only underlines and confirms God’s rightdoing, shouldn’t we be commended for helping out? Since our bad words don’t even make a dent in his good words, isn’t it wrong of God to back us to the wall and hold us to our word? These questions come up. The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening?

For Reflection

If God did not abandon the Jews when they were unfaithful to the scriptures, then why would you think God would abandon us in our sin or abandon others in their unbelief. God declared that all things in God's Creation were good, including humans.  We all have that holy  point in our souls that when triggered by suffering and despair will invite God to enter with healing Grace.
Suffering leads us in a path toward sacred wholeness.  It is a path littered with obstacles through which we progress into Grace.

Pray

Pray so that you will become a reflection of the loving God you worship through the Son whom you strive to imitate.


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The Purpose of the Law

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

 Romans 3:1-8 The Message

3 1-2 So what difference does it make who’s a Jew and who isn’t, who has been trained in God’s ways and who hasn’t? As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference—but not the difference so many have assumed.
2-6 First, there’s the matter of being put in charge of writing down and caring for God’s revelation, these Holy Scriptures. So, what if, in the course of doing that, some of those Jews abandoned their post? God didn’t abandon them. Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same:
Your words stand fast and true;
Rejection doesn’t faze you.
But if our wrongdoing only underlines and confirms God’s right-doing, shouldn’t we be commended for helping out? Since our bad words don’t even make a dent in his good words, isn’t it wrong of God to back us to the wall and hold us to our word? These questions come up. The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening?
7-8 It’s simply perverse to say, “If my lies serve to show off God’s truth all the more gloriously, why blame me? I’m doing God a favor.” Some people are actually trying to put such words in our mouths, claiming that we go around saying, “The more evil we do, the more good God does, so let’s just do it!” That’s pure slander, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

For Reflection

So, let's leave the Hebrew setting and apply these passages to modern times.  We are Christians in many different forms and styles. Many of us have different opinions about how to worship God and to follow Christ.  We also have ideas, as did the early church, about those who do not believe as we and follow different spiritual paths.

Paul says that God does not reject Jewish non-Christian believers. So why should we today speak in condemnation of nonbelievers? Let those kinds of judgments up to God.  It may be presumptuous of us to assume we possess the infinite wisdom of God.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to play the role of a loving, compassionate God-collaborator.  Pray that your actions will reflect the humility and mercy of Christ.

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