Limits and Unlimited Curation - You Need a Place for the Good Stuff - That Is Enough Reason to Blog - Now, Your Turn

We place limits on the work of Jesus among us, but when you look at the last line you see that those are not limits on his outreach. He will find belief and He will enter an arena of reception because people are "buying" what He is offering. Our streets are filled with people waiting to see and hear an authentic representation of Jesus, His Kingdom call, and His love.

The question is whether our home-town churches will be willing to embrace Him and get in His program or if He will have to look and work elsewhere.

" He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?

” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. "

"And he went about among the villages teaching."

(Mark 6:1-6 ESV) 

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Having wisdom and sharing wisdom is sometimes different from having to apply it to your own life. We may have helped others but, in our own time of crisis, discover that our words to them are inadequate to our own suffering. In fact, all words are inadequate. they may be good words, but they do not sink in. If we were to replay our own speeches, they would be resisted. It may be good advice, but we are not ready to receive it.

The book of Job has some pretty good insights for both the care giver and the care receiver - how we give and how we receive help.

"Behold, you have instructed many,

and you have strengthened the weak hands.

Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,

and you have made firm the feeble knees.

But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

it touches you, and you are dismayed.

Is not your fear of God your confidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?"

(Job 4:3-6 ESV)

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"Jesus hits the essential and always the essential. His was the sifted mind. He was never misled by a subordinate issue, never took a bypath, and never missed the point."-- From "The Christ of the Mount" by E. Stanley Jones

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"When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human powers of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift from God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God's work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God; it is a grace that is given." - Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline)

"God tears us from that which we love wrongly, unreasonably or excessively, that which hinders his love.... We cry loudly in our despair and murmur against God.... But he lets us cry and saves us nevertheless... The things for which we weep would have caused us eternal woe." - François Fénelon (1651-1715)

We need to review frequently the truth that our performance and our acceptance by other people has nothing to do with our dignity and value, since this is determined by God and not by the world. When we suffer rejection and indifference, the pain will be real, but it need not destroy us, since we have made the radical decision to look to God and his resources alone for our true and unchanging identity and worth. - Kenneth Boa (Conformed to His Image)

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton

It is National Waffle Day.

Let us all change our minds about something.

But keep in mind that the centered waffle is the best waffle.

 

 

“'Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,

I will now arise,” says the LORD;

“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.'

The words of the LORD are pure words,

like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,

purified seven times."

(Psalm 12:5-6 ESV)

We love to take scripture out of context to proof-text our own points. It is no different with the equation of the fool and the man who says in his heart there is no God. We do it as if the psalmist is referring to intellectual fools who struggle with issues of faith. Rather, he is talking about moral fools, people of power who plunder the poor and helpless as if there were no God of justice and truth to whom they must give account.

The proof of reverence for God is, in this context, dealing justly, fairly, and righteously with people - especially, the poor.

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good."

"The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God."

"They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one."

"Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?"

"There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is his refuge."

"Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad."

(Psalm 14 ESV)