Luke 16
"Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way-but for what is right-using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior." Closest to understanding I have ever come on that parable. Still requires more digging, and more soaking into my spirit.
"What society sees and calls monumental, God sees behind and calls monstrous...now it's all kingdom of God-the glad news and compelling invitation to every man and woman." Every man and woman. Who's left out then?
"Using the legalities of divorce as a cover for lust is adultery; using the legalities of marriage as a cover for lust is adultery." Doesn't Paul say something other than this? Like, if you can't keep your hands off him/her, get married...make it legal. Interesting paradox in the presentations...
Lazarus and Dives, the rich man. Uncrossable chasm between heaven and hell. What's that do to our thinking? I do believe in heaven or hell on earth, and trust God to redeem and bring justice...though I don't like what that means, as I've lived a pretty heavenly life...am I bringing heaven on earth to those on earth in hell? Or am I ignoring them? They won't be convinced by someone who comes back from the dead.
EP: "Life on earth fashions an eternal destiny. Why should we call any day commonplace? Every time the rich man walked past Lazarus, he was building hell; and every time Lazarus refused to be embittered by the bread of poverty, he was building a home in heaven. Every step is destiny. Eternity doesn't begin when we die. It's woven into every word and action of our daily lives. What the rich man was doing was giving all of his attention to himself. All self-indulgence, all the time. The misery of the rich man is that he had no relationship with anything eternal; he was exiled from the Source of life. Hell--the place where God is not; the state in which man/woman is utterly separated from his Creator by a great chasm."
1 Thessalonians 4-5
"Keep doing what we told you to do to please God in a living, spirited dance."
Just love one another. Keep it up and get better at it.
Someone in the community died. What happens now, to him and to us? Grave isn't the last word. Image of the second coming, of the final reconciliation, of Jesus coming back for us. One huge family reunion with the Master.
Living by faith isn't escaping the world; it's engaging the world and the ultimate realities behind it. We should be hopeful, not fearful. God's coming to us in Jesus demonstrated that his coming is good for everyone. So we should be filled with hope and anticipation. The person who is afraid, feels doomed, hasn't listened closely to what God is saying. God has plans, hopes, and a future fo us.
Who knows when this will happen? Or when? Why waste time worrying? You are sons and daughters of Light and Day. Dress in faith, love and the hope of salvation.
"God didn't set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we're awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we're alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind."
5:13-15--caring for the community of faith
"Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other's nerves you don't snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out. Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." How am I doing? How are you doing?
God is active and moving. God comes to us. We are God's destination. God came and will come again. So how should we live? "Be alive!"
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