Snapshots and Synapses

There’s a story in the Book of Acts about an Ethiopian man who is reading from the Book of Isaiah. The man was a court official, representing Queen Candace, so he would have been both intelligent and educated, considered competent to represent his kingdom, but he was unable to understand the Scripture until God sent Philip to explain it to him. Phillip, led by the Holy Spirit, approached the man and asked: “Do you understand what you are reading?”. The man replied: “How can I, unless someone guides me?” We can often feel that way, and people can blindly accept the teachings of a so-called Bible expert, looking for someone like Philip to explain things to them. In the process, we can lose sight of Who should be our Teacher. Now I’m not saying to disregard what others have to teach us; Proverbs tells us to seek many counselors  in the pursuit of wisdome. However, I’ve spoken with more than one person who sounded like that Ethiopian man, not knowing how to understand because they hea...

 My highest value is Truth & Love. It's not my highest two values; it is my highest value because I don't believe the two can be separated. A partial truth is the most powerful lie. The gap in the full truth leaves an opening for so many different, wrong understandings, but the full truth cannot be separate from love.  Sadly, as John 1 points out, men prefer darkness to light; mankind prefers the lie or half truth to the full truth that can set us free. The full truth can't be spoken without love. Christians are commanded to speak the truth in love, but sadly, we can sometimes only speak the half-truth, focused on sinful behavior without love for the person caught in that sin. When we do that, it comes out as an accusation rather than an affirmation, and in the process we resemble the Accuser of Men (a.k.a. - Satan) rather than the One True God, Whose image we bear as ambassadors to this world.  When we sin, the Accuser speaks half-truths about who we are and what we ...

I would never dispute that Jesus said: “make disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to do everything I have commanded you.” ( Matthew 28:19-20 God’s Word). It’s come to be known as the Great Commission, and its pretty clear what Jesus wants us to do, but what does that look like?  Let me start by saying what it’s not: It’s not to treat people as a means to an end, even if it’s arguably a good end. The philosopher Immanuel Kant described it as this:  Every man is to be respected as an absolute end in himself; and it is a crime against the dignity that belongs to him as a human being, to use him as a mere means for some external purpose. Just going back to the book of Genesis, we see that God created men and women in His image. We are His Image-Bearers, and as such everyone is invaluable. Every person regardless of background or decisions has that in common. We are worthy of love if for no other reaso...

  "So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come!"  2 Corinthians 5:17 Is our Christian walk a single “one and done sinners prayer“, or is it a journey? I believe acknowledging our sinful nature is a part of that journey, and it happens on a daily basis. Sure, we need to accept the free gift of God‘s grace, and there is no salvation that we can work out on our own independent from Him. But it doesn’t end with a single acknowledgment, and we can look at how the original Christians were labeled as the pattern to follow. They were called: “followers of the Way.“ Our life as a new creation begins as we hand the keys of our life over daily to the God of creation. So I have no resolution this year other than this: to hand over my life’s goals to Him daily and trust Him to lead me to green pastures.  With His help, I will follow well and lead others well, using whatever influence I have to represent His Kingdom we...

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed and carried about by all kinds of teachings that change like the wind. We will no longer be influenced by people who use cunning and clever strategies to lead us astray. Instead, as we lovingly speak the truth, we will grow up completely in our relationship to Christ, who is the head. ~ Ephesians 4:14-15   Speaking the truth in love sounds easy, but in practice it can be really hard. It can be hard to speak truth, fearful of how it will be received, and it can be hard to speak in a loving fashion when the truth can seem so obvious or when it’s being casually disregarded. But God made us to live in truth and love, to speak truth to others with love in our hearts. As I wrote this, I felt concern that my words could hurt people I care about: friends, colleagues and relatives. I don’t want to bludgeon anyone with the truth, but I don’t want to be unclear about the whole truth, explained if you read through to the end . There are many mo...

Wake Up Prayer Warriors! The battle for the heart of Indiana continues! Faith, Hope and Love has started again, beginning with the prayer walk yesterday at the Circle. Who will stand in the gap? Who will pray for renewed Hope in this area? Who will choose to Hope ? J.R.R. Tolkien had an interesting perspective on Hope ... as a young boy he lost both his parents. Later, as a young Oxford graduate, he saw the awful destruction of World War I, watching many of his friends and colleagues perish in the "war to end all wars". And even after that horror, he lived through the Second World War... and a cold war... so much death, destruction and despair. However, Tolkien saw Hope as refusing to despair. I admit to moments of despair since last summer. This world, this culture, revolves around Eros and not Agape. The first question many of us ask when challenged to serve is: "What's in it for me?" (Or "How does my church benefit?") We live more in Eros (a d...