18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool
I could write multiple thoughts around Isaiah 1:18, but while reading this verse today, one word sticks out to me the most; reason. Reasoning is the art of drawing conclusions based on facts. In fact, Reasoning is defined on Dictionary.com as; 2: the process of forming conclusions, judgements, or inferences from facts or premises.
One of the most successful reasoners in our Christian faith, besides Jesus Christ, would be Paul. Paul by far is one of our most influential Christian missionary's. His success was built largely in part on his ability to reason with those he spoke to.
I have often heard from those that know me, I like to "debate". That I seek out opportunities to debate with others. I have always struggled with this perception. I tend to cling to today's verse, knowing that my love for Christ increases my will to want to reason with God, myself, AND others. The thoughts and knowledge I use during my reasoning is not built on just questioning the reasoning of fellow brothers and sisters, but continuously questioning my reasoning and seeking the answer through God's word and prayer. Only then do I feel that my reasoning is sound and that when I speak with others, I am either affective in helping them fill gaps in their reasoning or they may help fill gaps in my own reasoning, thinking, or my Theological views.
Where I can get in trouble is, and I've spoken with my wife about this, is, I rise and fall to how the mood is set by my following conversationalist. That is when I become a debater, and reason at a much louder volume of voice. For those of you that have been caught up in the unthoughtful way of reasoning I have instigated, I do apologize.
As Christians, we owe it to ourselves to be great reasoners of our faith. We are asked to go out and make disciples of all nations, and in a time and place where logic and reasoning is very powerful, to hone your skill set in reasoning not only strengthens your faith, but it maybe the deciding factor on how affective you are as a disciple.
As a Christian, how many times have you reasoned with yourself the words of other Christians? How many times have you been in a conversation you felt uncomfortable, because you could not reason yourself out of a question asked by a non-Christian. We must own our faith. We must build our arsenal of truth by reasoning with God, other Christians, ourselves, and non-Christians.
God's Peace Love and Understanding to all of you.
Colossians 3:17 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Head to Heart
18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
The saying, "Christians talk the talk, but do not walk the walk", comes to mind when I read from 1 John 3:18. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen Christians only love in word or talk. I cannot tell you how many people I know that provide a lot of lip service to our Lord and Savior.
A synopsis of James 2:14-26, which my pastor speaks of as the "Coming to Jesus" book of the Bible, and I whole hearted agree, states that what does it profit us if we say we have faith but we do not have works. Some may argue that we are not saved by works. That being saved by works is SO Old Testament. Well, they are right, BUT...works that are driven by faith in Christ are not works of our own accord. They are a bi-product of letting the Spirit into our heart. It is not by those works that we are saved my dear friends.
All can agree that as an individual, you mature as you get older. Same holds true in our faith. Hopefully, they are one in the same. Personally, I see faith growing in understanding, knowledge, and then back to understanding. As a child, for those that have grown up in a Christian household, faith was so simple, it made its way from our head to our heart easily. As we grow older, we tend to close the veil of our heart and only let our faith live in our head. As we grow older or more mature, we tend to start to love in word and talk, because we have pushed it from our heart to our head. We know what is right to do, but that knowledge lives in the same place that useless knowledge lives. Useless knowledge that may one day make you a winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Let me be frank, faith does not deserve to live in the same place that your useless information lives.
We must make a connection in our faith maturity to start moving our faith in Christ from our head back to our heart. I picture the painting with Jesus Christ standing outside the door and knocking. When we were children, it was so easy for us to just open the door and let him in. As we matured, we have pushed Him outside the door, and it becomes harder for us to open the door again. It is when you have opened the door to Christ that we have let the Spirit back into our heart. To me, that is the time in which we have truly given ourselves completely to God, and when we should subsequently be Baptized.
Open the door my brothers and sisters. Let Christ back into your hearts. Loving in deed and truth will not be a burden onto your heart alone. Christ shares that with you, and the deeds and truth you perform on not yours at all. They are the works for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They are not deeds that save you. It is the act of letting Christ into your heart that has saved you.
Amen and God's Peace and Love
Colossians 3:17 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The saying, "Christians talk the talk, but do not walk the walk", comes to mind when I read from 1 John 3:18. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen Christians only love in word or talk. I cannot tell you how many people I know that provide a lot of lip service to our Lord and Savior.
A synopsis of James 2:14-26, which my pastor speaks of as the "Coming to Jesus" book of the Bible, and I whole hearted agree, states that what does it profit us if we say we have faith but we do not have works. Some may argue that we are not saved by works. That being saved by works is SO Old Testament. Well, they are right, BUT...works that are driven by faith in Christ are not works of our own accord. They are a bi-product of letting the Spirit into our heart. It is not by those works that we are saved my dear friends.
All can agree that as an individual, you mature as you get older. Same holds true in our faith. Hopefully, they are one in the same. Personally, I see faith growing in understanding, knowledge, and then back to understanding. As a child, for those that have grown up in a Christian household, faith was so simple, it made its way from our head to our heart easily. As we grow older, we tend to close the veil of our heart and only let our faith live in our head. As we grow older or more mature, we tend to start to love in word and talk, because we have pushed it from our heart to our head. We know what is right to do, but that knowledge lives in the same place that useless knowledge lives. Useless knowledge that may one day make you a winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Let me be frank, faith does not deserve to live in the same place that your useless information lives.
We must make a connection in our faith maturity to start moving our faith in Christ from our head back to our heart. I picture the painting with Jesus Christ standing outside the door and knocking. When we were children, it was so easy for us to just open the door and let him in. As we matured, we have pushed Him outside the door, and it becomes harder for us to open the door again. It is when you have opened the door to Christ that we have let the Spirit back into our heart. To me, that is the time in which we have truly given ourselves completely to God, and when we should subsequently be Baptized.
Open the door my brothers and sisters. Let Christ back into your hearts. Loving in deed and truth will not be a burden onto your heart alone. Christ shares that with you, and the deeds and truth you perform on not yours at all. They are the works for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They are not deeds that save you. It is the act of letting Christ into your heart that has saved you.
Amen and God's Peace and Love
Colossians 3:17 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Hitting the Reset Button
I have re-purposed this blog so many times, I'm not sure I can even remember why it was brought into existence. As I thought about why I can't make up my mind for this blog, it donned on me, maybe it is because God has continuously re-purposed me multiple times. Maybe a better way to look at it is, I continuously try to put what God wants me to do into perfect little categorical buckets, and all He wants to do is have an avenue to speak about whatever and whenever.
In celebration of this realization, I will be re-purposing this blog one last time. This will be the last time I need to hit the reset button for what God wants to specifically talk about through me. In fact, I don't think God wants me to be so one sided in His conversation. Sure, my conversations with God maybe played out in the words that are written in this blog, but they should not be finalized with a punctuation. They shouldn't just stop with the last period I put onto the sentence.
Have you the desire to have "cage rattling" conversations? Do you have questions that you feel have never been answered? Do you want to speak in an environment that shows no judgement, that will not jump to any conclusions? Well, this is the right spot for you.
Some of you may know that I have two ministries I like to lead called Theology on Tap and Theology on Caffeine. Their purpose is similar in nature to this blog, in that they are environments where all walks of life should be able to come and enjoy the fellowship with God and His creation. The individuals invited to these ministries are not meant to be just Christians. They should be open to anyone seeking or wanting to question without being given the, "I can't believe you don't know that answer to that" type of response.
God has hear by re-purposed this Blog to be Theology on Blog. It should be a continuation of the purpose of the other two ministries. Sure, I'll be blogging my thoughts, but God asks that you ask questions as you have them. Do not be afraid...if you do not challenge yourself by even questioning what is preached to you, you may find yourself being led by dogma or theoretical theology that not all agree on, which will only frustrate you. Will we find all the answers, I can't answer that, but I do believe God will let you know if it really matters or not based on the type of answer you may NOT receive.
God loves you, me, and everyone. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us treat each other accordingly. Please join me and all the fellow individuals that care to contribute.
God's Peace and Love to you all.
In celebration of this realization, I will be re-purposing this blog one last time. This will be the last time I need to hit the reset button for what God wants to specifically talk about through me. In fact, I don't think God wants me to be so one sided in His conversation. Sure, my conversations with God maybe played out in the words that are written in this blog, but they should not be finalized with a punctuation. They shouldn't just stop with the last period I put onto the sentence.
Have you the desire to have "cage rattling" conversations? Do you have questions that you feel have never been answered? Do you want to speak in an environment that shows no judgement, that will not jump to any conclusions? Well, this is the right spot for you.
Some of you may know that I have two ministries I like to lead called Theology on Tap and Theology on Caffeine. Their purpose is similar in nature to this blog, in that they are environments where all walks of life should be able to come and enjoy the fellowship with God and His creation. The individuals invited to these ministries are not meant to be just Christians. They should be open to anyone seeking or wanting to question without being given the, "I can't believe you don't know that answer to that" type of response.
God has hear by re-purposed this Blog to be Theology on Blog. It should be a continuation of the purpose of the other two ministries. Sure, I'll be blogging my thoughts, but God asks that you ask questions as you have them. Do not be afraid...if you do not challenge yourself by even questioning what is preached to you, you may find yourself being led by dogma or theoretical theology that not all agree on, which will only frustrate you. Will we find all the answers, I can't answer that, but I do believe God will let you know if it really matters or not based on the type of answer you may NOT receive.
God loves you, me, and everyone. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us treat each other accordingly. Please join me and all the fellow individuals that care to contribute.
God's Peace and Love to you all.
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