Doing and Disbelief

Looking at some of the "supporting actors" in the drama of the Incarnation, in Matthew's and Luke's accounts, we see how they responded to the unique and surprising situations they lived in. Might there be some application in our lives? Perhaps. Let's

How Are Your Toes Getting Wet?

I have seen God challenge me, many times in the last 50 years or so, far beyond my own willingness to perform. Many situations in life have made me dig deeper than I wanted to, into my own motivations, subtle ways of twisted thinking, and broken ways of

The NT Scriptures Are Reliable

Tuesday night some of us viewed a film called "Fragments of Truth" by Faithlife ministries on the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts. Scriptures have come under attack again the last couple of decades, from supposedly scholarly sources as well as from popular fiction like the

The Fake Snake, or the Real Deal?

If one day you realized you had been living in a fantasy world that you had constructed for yourself, a world that let you be in control but that was going to end badly, would you

Confronting Ourselves

Do you ever get somewhat depressed, troubled, disturbed or just off kilter but aren't really sure what started it? Maybe you feel like you get upset with others for no good reason that you can name, but you say something you shouldn't, or retreat and hide, and it hurts relationships. Well, we should realize that emotions don't

Lent: Beginning the Journey

Today (March 1, 2017) is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent as we journey together toward Holy Week and Easter. The early church started looking at the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness before defeating Satan (Matt. 4) as a template for taking time as an opportunity for fasting, extra prayer and contemplation, and repentance. But, some might ask, doesn't the Bible say God doesn't remember my sins? So why should

"I Didn't Vote for Him"

Today was the inauguration ceremony of our 45th President, Mr. Donald Trump, and his Vice-President, Mr. Michael Pence. Like always, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance. Like always, there were people deciding not to attend, in protest of the event, and others attending in order

The Opposite of Sin Is...

Last time I wrote, I speculated that the root cause of sin is selfishness:  putting ourselves and our own self-interest, as we perceive it, before everything else. I could be wrong, of course, and you're free to give me another view of it, but that's how it seems to me. We watch constantly for some threat

In the Boat with You

The three-hour trip to the other side of the lake started out peacefully enough. The sun was shining and in the warm afternoon sun, several fell asleep including Jesus. Then the wind and waves came up, and the boat took on a lot of water. But Jesus was

To Tame the Monster

Nessie. Bigfoot/Sasquatch. Grendel.  Cancer, AIDS, Zika and many other diseases. Nuclear threats, climate change and the presidential election. A thousand more named and unnamed spooks like vampires and werewolves, that make us

Epiphany and Risk

Today, January 6, is the celebration of "Epiphany" on the Christian calendar, and it's celebrating something awesome: the first 'public appearance' of the baby Jesus, the Son of God now in human form. What's that about? And what

Grief and Grieving, Part 2: Why Grief Is Important

Suffering a loss of some kind has been part of human life since we first got here. There's something almost foreign about death, though, because it betrays our friendships by ending them, and it takes away our best-loved family members. The 'viewing' at a funeral is painful:  looking at the face of

Where Do We Go from Here?

The Lovely Joanne and I just got back from a day at a summer camp, where some of the campers and staff were baptized. Hooray and hallelujah! For those newly-baptized persons, I know one of their next questions is "now, how do I follow Jesus?" So here are a few words that may help. Should we seek a 'balance' between grace and

Inside, Outside, Rightside Up

It's easy to envy the rich and famous. They don't seem to worry about paying the bills, or the daily grind like the rest of us. Sounds pretty attractive, right? Except it can be catastrophic to our spiritual life. Jesus met a rich young man in Mark 10:17-25, who showed us just how strong the hold of riches can be on us. This man was so attached to his physical stuff, that he turned down a chance to

Fruit? No Fruit? No Control

Last year the fruit trees my neighbor and I have in our yards produced a very large crop. We used all we could, froze a lot and still watched a lot fall to the ground. This year, all the blossoms got frozen in our Mother's Day snowstorm, and we won't get any fruit at all. That points out a couple of truths of gardening and life in general: You can't guarantee a crop, no matter how hard you try. All you can do

Plants and People Grow

It's planting season in our part of Colorado, but even if you start seeds indoors under lights, it's a slow process. If you've ever gardened with children, you've seen them put

Ashes and Dust, You and Me, and the World

Today (February 18) is Ash Wednesday in the Christian tradition. It springs from a desire to spend 40 days of contemplation, self-examination, repentance of our sins and humbling ourselves before God, in order to accept in a humble spirit his

"Justified by Faith"?

Does your own faith save you?  Maybe we should ask, faith in what? And what kind of faith?

Note how T.F. Torrance explained Jesus’ faithfulness:

Jesus Christ stood in our place, taking our cause upon him, also as Believer, as the Obedient One who was himself justified before God as his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased. He offered to God . . . a perfect faith and response which we are unable to offer, and he appropriated all God’s blessings which we are unable to appropriate. Through union with him we share in his faith, in his obedience, in his trust and appropriation of the Father’s blessing; we share in his justification before God. Therefore when we are justified by faith, this does not mean that it is our faith that justifies us, far from it—It is the faith of Christ alone that justifies us, but we in faith flee from our own acts even of repentance, confession, trust and response, and take refuge in the obedience and faithfulness of Christ—“Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” That is what it means to be justified by faith. (“Justification: Its Radical Nature and Place in Reformed Doctrine and Life,” Scottish Journal of Theology, vol 13, no 3. pp. 225-246.)

As Joseph Tkach explains in this article, our faith is both active and passive. We trust in Christ, and we trust in Jesus' perfect faith on our behalf, not on our own imperfect (and sometimes missing!) faith.

"God Is" Equals "God Does"

Why did God send his Son into the world? John 3:17 answers that "God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him."  But why did God become

Mary's Vision, Joseph's Dream

I've been wondering again -- in the wonder of the whole Incarnation story that keeps leaving me with my mouth open in amazement -- about the stories of Mary, in Luke's gospel, and Joseph in Matthew's account.  The idea that God would become one of us is just beyond me. It was beyond Joseph and Mary too. That's why the angel appeared to them. But my question is,