"Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
CAN YOU GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON FOR WHY I SHOULD OBSERVE LENT?
Before I went to college, I had a cloudy understanding of Lent. I knew it involved giving something up. Usually chocolate. Not my idea of a good time. But beyond believing that it was legalistic—and maybe even a little masochistic — I didn't know much.
My Lenten ignorance ceased my sophomore year when I started attending a church that observed Lent. So in the name of "taking one for the team," I decided to give up—you guessed it—chocolate. I, with my penchant for melodrama, braced myself for a stark and thorny 40-day journey. I survived.
My faith was not profoundly altered during that Lenten season. I didn't experience moments of sublime communion with Christ. But something small emerged from my heart. Weakness.
When searching for big ideas, a Hollywood screenwriter can't dig much deeper than "The Epic of Gilgamesh." This collection of Sumerian legends is at least 4,000 years old and is among the world's earliest known stories. Yet this Urak king wrestles with questions that haunt heroes today: Am I free? Am I doomed? Can I fight my fate?
At a key moment, the "woman of the vine" tells the king: "You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh ... cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man."
"Come follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Mark 1:17. Of all the mysterious moments, he seems most approachable at this particular moment, most inviting, most available, most human. We imagine the would-be disciples looking up from their nets and fish, smiling at his creative figure of speech. It is a warm Galilee spring day. It is silent, not even the sound of a bird. The sand is warm between their toes. It is an inviting moment, almost cozy. We have imagined this scene during 100 sermons. The excitement of the disciples' hearts resonates in ours. If we had been there on that 29 A.D. morning, we would have left everything too. If, like me, this is how you first imagined that long-ago moment, like me . . . you would have been completely wrong.
We "imagine . . ." What do you mean when you say those words? More importantly, what are you really doing when you "imagine"? As created beings, one of our greatest treasures, perhaps the dearest fingerprint of God in us, is our ability to imagine. But inevitably, whenever I speak about the "biblical imagination" someone will object, "Isn't the imagination a bad thing? Doesn't the Bible say our imaginations are "evil"?
I try not to comment too often on politics in this space, but aruling last week by two High Court judges in London strikes so deeply at the heart of Christian parents that I have to discuss it.
Owen and Eunice Johns live in Derby City, England, and are active members of a charismatic congregation there. In the 1990s, they served as foster parents for children until they took a break to start a business. In 2007, they applied to start opening their home to foster children again, but this time their application was denied. The Derby City Council stated that their views on homosexuality were in disagreement with the 2007 Equalities and Sexual Orientation regulations.
For evangelical author John MacArthur, the best way to explain a Christian's relationship to Jesus is what appears to be a simple metaphor — one often used by the Apostle Paul himself.
"To be a Christian is to be a slave of Christ," writes MacArthur, the pastor of a nondenominational church in Sun Valley, Calif.
His new book, "Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ," explores the varied practices of Bible translators regarding the controversial term. It's also drawing mixed reactions among African-American Christians whose ancestors were slaves in 19th-century America.
MacArthur views the issue in almost conspiratorial terms: While biblical texts use the word "slave" to describe actual slave-master relationships in biblical times, English translators often opt for the word "servant" when describing a believer's relationship to God.
"The Lamb of God is also the Lion of Judah ... [and] he triumphed (see Revelation 5:5). How did he triumph? He has been raised from the dead, he has conquered death, and now the Lamb-Who-Is-Lion is on the throne of God. The cross is not the final word; the final word is Life, the God.Life that raised Jesus from the dead to sit on the throne as the Lion. Amazingly, that Lion's job, this grand finale of books in the Bible tells us, is to install Jesus' followers as a "kingdom and priests" and our task is to "reign on the earth" in God's kingdom.
"Do you hear the roar? The Lamb-Who-Is-Lion roars from the distant horizon. The Lion has been inside the grave and down into the depths of death, but God raised him from the dead and is now roaring. He came back to life and he ascended into the throne room of God, where he reigns. From that distant horizon, the Raised One now roars. He roars to let us know he is Lord. He roars to let us know that Caesar is not Lord, he is. He roars to let us know he's sent the Spirit to make us one and to empower us to live as God's beloved community. He roars to let us know we are gifted to serve in that community. He roars to let us know God loves us. He roars to let us know that justice, love, wisdom, and peace matter to him. He roars to inform us that he's watching. He roars to let us know that he's coming again. He roars to let us know that Death is not the final word.
Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, and his son Jess Rainer have teamed up to write "The Millennials: Connecting to America's Largest Generation" (B&H Publishing Group).
The book unpacks the results of an extensive August 2009 LifeWay Research project that surveyed a national sample of 1,200 Millennials. Millennials are categorized as individuals born between 1980 and 2000, but for research purposes, only older Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1991, were surveyed.
For Star Trek fans, the idea of finding dozens of planets capable of supporting advanced life forms is a thrilling possibility.
NASA's Kepler mission recently discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the "habitable zone," a region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface.
"The fact that we've found so many planet candidates in such a tiny fraction of the sky suggests there are countless planets orbiting sun-like stars in our galaxy," said William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center. "We went from zero to 68 Earth-sized planet candidates and zero to 54 candidates in the habitable zone, some of which could have moons with liquid water."
"Second, you cannot convince anyone of a truth you're not living. If you want to talk about the forgiveness of God, you'll have to model forgiving others. If you want to discuss the love of God, then faithfully love your wife or husband as Christ loved the church. People notice inconsistencies quickly, but they're just as quick to see godly character. They're also smart enough to know that if you really believe something, you'll have no trouble living it.
During Pope Benedict XVI's trip to London this past September, Cardinal Walter Kasper noted two things about London: it's secular and parts of it resemble a Third World country. While the politically correct were quick to condemn Kasper and the Vatican was even quicker to exhibit its pro-Third World, anti-racism bona fides, Kasper's two statements taken together are noteworthy in that they demonstrate two antagonistic aspects of the modern world. The First World is secular; the Third World is religious.
How can London be both? What happens when you mix First World secularism and Third World religion? In particular, what happens when you import the Third World to the First – as in London? Often, the Third World tries to convert the First, regardless if the evangelizers are Christian or Muslim. While Westerns may be more shocked by Third World Muslims because they expect them to be different, they often are more disoriented by Third World Christians because they are so different from what they expect. The Christianity that the Third World brings to the West is unlike anything ever seen before – just as alien as Islam.
"Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'"
I never heard of C. S. Lewis until I was in high school. He was too "liberal" for the conservative church tradition into which I was born. So I was in my junior year of high school when I first encountered Lewis. I was visiting a friend—a girl, but not a girlfriend, although up until this visit, I was kind of hoping. She had a copy of The Screwtape Letters on her desk. The title sounded intriguing. I picked it up, leafed through it, and to my horror saw that these were letters to and from demons. I quickly put the book down, saying to myself, "What? This guy is channeling demons! What's this girl doing reading an occult book?!" Thus my first impression of C. S. Lewis wasn't terribly positive, and I'm sad to say it soured me on this young lady.
"Everybody has something that he or she doesn't like to do. They get around having to do those things either by getting someone else to do them or by letting them remain undone. The problem is, many of these things we don't like to do are often the very things that are essential to someone else's success or joy.
"At the root of the problem is this: for most of humanity, pleasing the self is Plan A. Almost always, it's a plan that is at the direct expense of other people we should love more. I'd like to suggest that you abandon that plan ... [The "what's in it for me" mindset] doesn't hold a candle to a "what's in it for them?" mindset [see Matthew 20:26-28].
... Noah didn't say, "I don't do floods."
... Joshua didn't say, "I don't do Jerichos."
... David didn't say, "I don't do poems."
... Daniel didn't say, "I don't do lions' dens."
... Joseph didn't say, "I don't do adoptions."
... Paul didn't say, "I don't do mission trips."
Dr. Tim Kimmel in the book In Praise of Plan B: Moving from "What Is" to "What Can Be"
What if a quiet walk around a neighborhood could help solve one of the world's biggest poverty issues?
According to a news release from Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity, the group has put together the first ever walk to help alleviate the deficiency of appropriate footwear around the world. The charity's One Walk is connecting thousands of individuals around the country on one day this spring.
On May 14 2011, individuals across the country can walk, run, or crawl for those in need. Participants can walk solo or form a team. Event organizers say 100 percent of net revenue from the One Walk registration fee will be used for helping give shoes to some of the more than 300 million children and untold adults in the US and around the world who lack footwear.
"The One Walk is an opportunity for individuals to join a national one day initiative to make a change," said Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls, speaking in a news release.
He added, "Individuals can feel the importance of the need by putting footsteps to their support. Join us on May 14th and let your steps change a life."
Individuals decide where and for how long they walk. Participants can invite friends and start a team, get co-workers together or just hit the road on their own.
Membership in ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) has risen to 1,500, a milestone that reflects unprecedented growth for the organization.
Each of the past three years ECFA has accredited 100-plus members, growth that continues with the latest membership of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, a McLean, Va.-based nonprofit involved in orphan care, advocacy and adoption.
"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."
THIS WEEK'S HYMN: WERE YOU THERE?