Jesus

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Taken Up with Jesus

rapture 2Our pastor said something the other day that really shocked me. We were in the middle of a sermon series on the book of Mark and we had reached chapter 13, about the second coming of Christ. As usual, Brady’s excellent sermon focused on the Biblical text. But before he began, he mentioned his personal position on the rapture—He doesn’t believe in it.

I was astonished. The vast majority of evangelical Christians side with authors Jim Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, and their Left Behind series, and believe that at any moment the faithful here on earth will be suddenly caught up to heaven. I’ve always felt like a bit of an apostate, since I’m not so sure I agree. I usually tell people who ask that I’m preparing to to still be here during the hard times to come, but I’d be more than happy to be excused.

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Go Ahead, Bother God!

  • “No, I haven’t prayed about this—it isn’t that important, after all.”
  • “I don’t want to bother God.”
  • “I’m sure God has more important things to take care of than my little problem.”

Have you ever heard someone say any of these things? Have you?

As finite human beings, it is difficult for us to conceive of an all-powerful, omniscient God. We get overwhelmed—people constantly make demands on us, our calendars are full, and we just don’t have the time or energy to deal with every little issue that comes up. Moreover, when we’re so swamped ourselves, we have a hard time caring about the minutia of other peoples’ lives. Let them deal with their own problems—we have enough of our own.

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Another Bait & Switch

One of my good friends read my “Bait and Switch” article and wrote me a thoughtful email about another kind of bait and switch that has become a significant issue in the church. She gave me permission to fill out her thoughts; the resulting collaboration is today’s post.
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There is another bait and switch—not pulled off by God, but by the church—that is weakening the Body and causing dissatisfied “customers.” We, the evangelical church, are “selling” the gospel as merely therapeutic, rather than as the Good News it truly is.

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Sowing a Seed, Being a Blip

Lettuce seedling_LAH_9671I love to plant seeds. It’s my favorite part of gardening, and I love to garden. I’m constantly amazed that such a small, seemingly lifeless bit of matter can grow into broccoli, marigolds, or zinnias. A quick trip to the garden center would give me instant gratification. I can buy seedlings already well on their way to maturity. I prefer to exercise faith that the seeds will germinate and grow, and eventually produce a crop. And it takes a lot of faith to garden in Colorado.

I’m also a seed planter when it comes to sharing my faith. It’s not as glamorous as harvesting—I can’t name a single person I’ve actually prayed with to receive Jesus. But I can name a number of those who eventually believed, after I was privileged to plant some seeds of faith in the soil of their lives.

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What about the Other Guy?

Do you know the story about Jesus healing the paralytic? (You can find it in Mark 2:1-12.) It goes something like this. Jesus is teaching. He’s in a building, perhaps someone’s home. It’s a full house—packed with eager listeners, along with the usual contingent of Pharisees, trying to trip Him up. It’s so crowded that, when a group of friends arrive, they can’t get in the door.

It’s important for them to get inside because they’ve brought another friend who has been paralyzed for years and years. Everyone had given up hope. Then Jesus comes onto the scene, healing folks. Clearly, this is the big chance. If anyone can heal this man, Jesus can. So they scoop him up and bring him to Jesus. And now they’re reached a dead end. They can’t get inside!

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Red Cups, Seasons Greetings, and Jesus

Starbucks-Red-Cup

(I was going to post something about microenterprise, but I wanted to get this up while it was still timely. You’ll have to wait a few weeks for the microenterprise post.)

Here we go again. Christmas is coming. And in the spirit of the season, Christians are getting angry.

  • We’re angry when someone says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
  • We’re angry that our kids are on winter break instead of Christmas vacation.
  • We’re angry that Starbucks has plain red cups.

Seriously? Do we have nothing better on which to spend our time and energy?

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But What About Us?

As I continue to read through Jeremiah, I’m constantly struck by the similarity between the moral state of their nation and of ours. The Israelites were intentionally ignoring God while sacrificing even their children to idols. Instead of seeking holiness through obedience to the Lord who loved them, they were focused on feeding their appetite for power and wealth. Over and over God decried the lack of justice in the land. He sent prophets to warn them, and they mocked God’s word.

Sound familiar?

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A Special Call to Prayer

You know when Memorial Day is, and the Fourth of July. Everyone knows that Christmas falls on December 25. But do you know when Ramadan starts? Unless you’re a Muslim, you probably have no idea.

Observing Ramadan, a month-long time of fasting and seeking God, is one of the five pillars of Islam. Just as Passover and Easter move around depending on the lunar calendar, so does Ramadan. The Islamic calendar is also based on the moon.

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Stop. Listen.

christ-on-the-cross-001I tend to lay low on Good Friday. I want time to think, time to spend with God, time to consider the price Jesus paid so that we could be in God’s presence without condemnation.

I appreciate the time you spend reading my blog posts, as I share my thoughts with you.

Today, please spend that time with God. Listen to His thoughts.

I’ll be doing the same.