Tag Archive: Jesus

If Jesus doesn’t show up.

February 3, 2017 0 Comments

Photo Credit: Todd Diemer

Reluctance to lead can infect any of us at sudden notice causing us to loose our nerve. Crossing the threshold into leadership by showing up, speaking up, remaining warm but firm and pursuing righteousness and the Kingdom of God, takes us outside the comfort of our couch and screen. Jesus has called His disciples to be salt and light. We are on the King’s Mission in all our circles of influence. We are called to participate in a mission of grace and truth for the redemption of people. Impossible situations abound and God calls leaders into them.

 

Deborah, the prophet and judge in Judges 4 and 5, issued God’s call to Barak to summon an army from the tribes of Israel so they could throw off the oppressive regime of King Jaban and his army commander, Sisera. The odds were against them. Israel was living scared, avoiding the roads for fear. They had no standing unified army. They did not have sufficient defence against 900 chariots. If they showed up by the Kishon river in front of Sisera’s army, surly they would be routed. Unless… the Lord showed up.

 

Barak said he would go if Deborah came with him. We are like that sometimes so find someone to go with you if you are loosing your nerve. Some in Israel stayed away without a second thought. Some had much searching of heart, but stayed away too. Others volunteered willingly and joined Barak and Deborah in their stand against Jaban.

 

It rained. God sent the rain and the chariots sank and slowed in the mire and muck. The situation changed because God showed up.

 

What are you doing that won’t get done unless God shows? What are you aiming at that requires grace? What are you trusting Jesus for? Into what relationships, what circles of influence will you bring hope, forgiveness, kindness, conscientious and quality work, and the Gospel? Are you trusting Jesus to do something there, at work, in your neighbourhood, in your family, in a friend, that can’t be done without Him?

 

“Our Father in heaven, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Discipleship, Leadership

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You thought it was irreducible

February 2, 2017 0 Comments

Complexity.

Once upon a time you came to the point where you were sure a matter could not be reduced or simplified any further. But then a child showed up with a question and you had to explain it to them —

God

Taxes

Government

Race

Death —

and then you were at a loss for words.

Good news. Explanation does not have to abandon mystery. But explanation and teaching must lay a foundation for complexity that grants the reader and interpreter certain sophistication. Those foundations are often simple — complexity is reduced. But the building and the living of life on that foundation creates complexity. An archway built on a foundation is both simple and complex. For learners, the ability to hold what seem to be opposite or opposing thoughts in tension requires maturity. Not just maturity of age, but maturity of thought and emotion in relationship to the subject.

For example, Christians, explaining how they handle the Old Testament have to negotiate many complexities. However, we can take hold of explanations that allow us to synthesize the history, the prayers, and sometimes terrible beauties of the text even as we move toward the revelation of Jesus Christ. These simplified pictures (like the one below) create a framework for theological work and for adding other disciplines such as archeology, history, textual analysis and sociology to our readings of the text. The task of building on foundations is taken up not as an end in and of itself, but as a step in the process of becoming like Christ and participating in His mission.

 

Change

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