Luke 17
"Be alert. If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it's personal agains you and repeated seven times, through the day, and seven times, he says, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again, forgive him."
One of the passages where we find justification (whether right or wrong) for correcting/judging those around us, whether it's a disagreement in thought, word, or behavior/deed. But the point of the passage is faith. Disciples ask for more faith. Jesus says there is no more or less faith. There is faith.
Healing 10 lepers. Go to the priest. Made clean on the way. One came back to thank Jesus. Others were physically healed. This one more so--spiritually...by giving thanks to God-"your faith has healed and saved you." He received more because he gave thanks and recognized the giver?
When is the kingdom of God. Now is the kingdom of God, if we choose to live in it today. It is already among us. The Son of Man simply comes.
It will be the same as the time of Noah: surprise, surprise. But...God put the rainbow in the sky to say never more will I wipe everything/everyone out. "Never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the earth. " Pretty specific. Floodwaters. Doesn't say other means won't destroy (like allowing us to destroy one another with nuclear weapons, or something else).
If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.
2 Thessalonians 1-3
"Thanking God for you over and over isn't just a pleasure; it's a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally, and your love for each other is developing wonderfully."
Paul as a priest of praise. I want to be a priest of praise!
"Eternal exile from the presence of the Master and his splendid power is their sentence." No doubt where theologies of eternal damnation come from. Have to check my Paul parallel to see where else he speaks this way. Much end times/left behind play here. Had forgotten that. Know that the big struggle of the Thessalonian community was because someone died before Christ came back. So what happens to them? Don't we ask the same thing today? Was asked in NTC discussion group.
EP: "Signs and wonders, miracles and mighty works are certainly part of the biblical story and part of the story of the Christian life, but taken out of context, apart from God's revelation of himself in Jesus, they're simply commodities that are traded at inflated values on the religious stock exchange."
Pray for us. And Obey God's Word. Notes for Obedience message on November 7 in commentary section at the end of 2 Thessalonians.
How do you come to the Scriptures when you read? Do you try to take control of the Bible or do you allow the Bible to take control of you?
"Dear Lord, help me to walk through your Word with humility, for it is sacred ground over which I travel. So many others have gone before me over that ground. Help me to learn from them, both from the steps of their faith and from the stumblings of their unbelief, from their obedience and their obstinateness, from their steadfastness and their waywardness. Give me eyes to see that the landscape of your Word is so much more vast and grand than the small parcel of ground that is my life. And grate me the grace to travel over that majestic landscape slowly, imaginatively, prayerfully, and obediently."
No comments:
Post a Comment