Arise, Shine

Picture by Richard Lyall: http://craftycurate.blogs.com/   An entry from my journal dated 9/1/12 Praying tonight: I was meditating on the glory of the Lord being seen in His temple.  Thinking about the state of the church—full of lukewarmness, full of failure and weakness, seemingly divided.  I wondered if we are at all, in any measure, the…

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Change Clothes!

We have this affection for ourselves, for our old life.  We do not really want it to die.  We want to help it, to change it, to rehabilitate it, and we want God to share our sympathy with self.  This is as when Abram prayed that God would bless Ishmael, the fruit of his flesh…

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Put to Death…

Sketch by Patrick Murphy: http://inspiredsketch.blogspot.com/ When Paul says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature,” he assumes that “you died,” and also, “you died with Christ” (Col. 2:20; 3:3, 5).  We cannot put to death unless we are already dead.  Paul is not giving a command with the expectation that we fulfill it. …

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The Dead Know Nothing…but Christ

d “For you died” (Col. 3:3).  Ecclesiastes expounds what it means to be dead with Christ: “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward and even the memory of them is forgotten.  Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they…

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Broken Roots

“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Not only is our life hidden with Christ, but the life spoken of here is zoe, divine life, the life Christ is.  “Your life” is not you.  The life that is ours is of another kind.  Genesis chapter one tells us…

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Blessed Are the Dead

“For you died” (Col. 3:3).  What blessed rest there is for a dead man.  Nothing is required of him.  “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.  ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘They will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.’” (Rev. 14:13).  At a man’s funeral, his employer…

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From Christ to the Cat Box

The following is an entry from my journal in 2009. *** This morning, I was lamenting all the things that impinge on my being with God—responsibilities related to family or church, people that need ministry, home or auto maintenance, and 1,000 other things right down to my cat who, when I have a second of…

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The Aramaic Civil Liberties Union…?

Recently, I attended anti-harassment training for work.  As in years past, I left feeling conflicted.  On the one hand, I see the need to legally protect people, especially those who are weak or socially disadvantaged.  This is biblical (James 1:27; 2:5-7).  On the other hand, I am concerned that 1) we are an increasingly offended…

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Give Hate a Chance

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Here’s how I’ve often heard this verse: “If you don’t live up…

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If You’re Not Angry, You’re Not Paying Attention

I remember it clearly: I told God I hated Him.  I was in my second year at a discipleship/ministry training school.  Leading up to this, the Spirit was showing me Christ’s self-giving nature in a depth I had never known.  (These words— “Christ’s self-giving nature”—seem like stupid, clumsy props when it comes to conveying their…

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