Luke 15
Stories we can recall so familiarly that we may easily fail to see and internalize the deep meaning, the deep grace, the deep challenge to our own lives...
Lost chapter. Lost coin. Lost sheep. Lost son.
"By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently." Jesus trusted the power of the message and the Holy Spirit to bring changes in these persons' lives, and he knew that proximity was a big part of the picture. Real proximity. Genuine present proximity...not distant judgment, or alienation, or separation...love, relationship, proximity.
Is that one sheep valued over the 99? Just as much? Worthy of pursuit to bring it into the fold? So why do those in the fold get so upset? Why can we get so upset when an outsider is sought after? Can we confess that we are still "in" the human condition, that we are not all that cleaned up inside yet, despite what the outside looks like? Can we pray the bold prayer that may lead us to chase that one, "Lord, break my heart with the things that break your heart?"
Lost coin...looking in every nook and cranny...doesn't God do that around us and within us?
How do you love? Like an older brother? Or like a loving father? Are you happy where you are? How can you love like the one you want to emulate in this story? Of what do you need to let go?
When have you been part of party-throwing for one who was lost and now is found? Can we be grateful with the abundance of gifts we've been given where we are? Or do we begrudge when similar lavish gifts are poured upon those we deem as undeserving?
Does it make a difference how things or people become lost? Does that affect our response? Does it matter to God?
The story of God's search to find us begins in Genesis. Jesus is the culmination of the search-he comes to find and restore the lost.
What is the picture of God you carry with you to every dinner party, every theater, every business meeting, everywhere? How do you view the "sinners" gathered there? Is your attitude one of seeking the lost, the way Jesus did, or of standing apart from the lost and casting a disparaging glance, the way the religious leaders did?
Help me to live so that my life is a picture of love instead of indifference; a picture of grace instead of judgment, a picture of kindness instead of criticism.
1 Thessalonians 1-3
How's your sense of the future? Do you live in hope? Do you believe Christ is coming back? If so, how does that affect your view of each day, each moment? Do you live infused with hope? Paul tries to prod the Thessalonian community to live forward in joyful expectancy for what God will do next in Jesus.
Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. When God brings someone through your mind, do you momentarily say, "Thank you?" Certainly one way to pray without ceasing, to infuse life with prayer and God communication.
Taking trouble with joy and joy with trouble...Your lives are echoing the Master's Word. You are the message. Hopeful waiting...we are always waiting...how are we waiting? With anxiety? With hope. This morning, Sarah awaited the weather, which she knows always changes in central Ohio. She is frightened of storms. She saw 75% chance of scattered thunderstorms. Her anxious waiting stirred up trouble in her stomach, chest and throat...she had to be calmed to go to school...coaxed to wait differently (aided by the always changing forecast). I am trying to teach her to wait hopefully...that even if it's bad weather, it'll change...
Refusal to wait is a refusal to trust. Paul didn't counsel passivity or quietism. He did commend hopeful waiting.
When we speak we're after God approval, not crowd approval.
An artesian well of thanks. Thessaloinians beat the odds, believed in spite of opposition.
EP: "Maturity in the Christian life involves the steady conviction that God loves me, that my future is with God. At the same time, there must be a steady conviction that other believers love me, hope for me, delight in me. That I'm a pride and joy to others is every bit a part of Christian belief as knowing I'm that to God. Otherwise, I can never live freely and openly in a Christian community. God's acceptance of me paves the way for "accepting my acceptance" by others. But it's no substitute for it. Paul tirelessly tried to share with the Thessalonians-who were feeling inferior, rejected, and abandoned-the human sense of acceptance; namely, that he loved them, admired them, boasted about them, and got pleasure from them."
When unable to come himself, Paul sent Timothy to be an encourager. Trouble ahead for those who follow Christ.
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