Tag Archives: will

Team Jesus

Team Jesus

I recently went to a baseball game in St. Louis where the Cardinals were playing the Milwaukee Brewers. My sister and her family, who were visiting from Milwaukee, came along, decked out in their Brewers shirts and caps. I was amazed by how many Cardinals fans were wearing red to support their team. There was such a sea of red in the stands that those in Brewers garb stood out and even waved at one another.

There are not too many places where people can so clearly see where you stand. I wonder what it would be like if people could obviously see that we were with Team Jesus, if you will. Would we stand out in a crowd of those who were rooting only for themselves or for no god at all? Would we keep our eyes peeled for others who were wearing Christ on their sleeves and seek them out? Or would we hide in the masses, not wanting to be noticed?

We live in a world that wants to pigeon-hole people and urges people to stand with the majority. A recent Gallup poll revealed that for the first time in 80 years the percentage of those who said they belonged to a church dropped below 50% (to 47%). Religious people, including Christians, are becoming the minority. So it is becoming harder than ever to show your allegiance to Team Jesus.

But the Bible tells us plainly: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). We must always follow God and his will for us in Jesus. No other team matters except Team Jesus and we must do all we can to cheer for him in our lives, celebrating his victory over all sin, over death and the devil. The game is over. The battle is won. Jesus is the winner, and always will be.

Speaking Christian

speaking Christian

A story in the August 2020 Living Lutheran magazine talked about the value of teaching children to “speak Christian.” The article referred to the incorporation of wonder and mystery into conversation, with questions like, “I wonder how Jesus is in the bread” of Holy Communion. “I wonder since Jesus is part human too if he just couldn’t stay around forever,” one child pondered in the article, regarding the ascension (Janelle Rozek Hooper, “Encourage Wonder,” Living Lutheran, August 2020).

Deep thoughts and ones that need to be considered. But beyond considerations of mystery and wonder, my mind went to other aspects of what “speaking Christian” entails. “Speaking Christian” for me involves using language that is loving and forgiving. “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” the Bible says (Ephesians 4:14). And later in that same chapter of Ephesians, we read, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). Being kind, loving and forgiving in our speech brings us closer to Christ and marks us as “Christian.”

I think too of the disciples, who were the eyewitnesses of Christ’s days on this earth, spent their days telling and retelling the story of salvation through Christ alone—through his suffering, death and resurrection. Words about Christ’s salvation for us should always be on our lips as Christians. It is not something we should keep quiet about.

“Speaking Christian” is about repeating the words of Christ to others. Think about your favorite quotes from Christ and be quick to utter them when they are appropriate for the situation. I think about when he said, “Thy will be done.” St. Paul echoes that sentiment when he tells us, “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:15). Words that recognize that it is all up to God should pepper our speech always.

Words that reiterate how blessed we are makes “speaking Christian” unique. St. Paul does a good job of this when he says, “I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ” (Romans 15:29). We have the fullness of the blessing of Christ at our disposal every day, and it is our joy to express that, rather than complaining or nitpicking.

Let every word from your mouth bring honor to Christ and your faith in him. That is what “speaking Christian” means.

Functional Atheism

functional atheistFunctional atheism is a term that is being used in theological circles that refers to the practice of those who profess to believe in Christ, but behave as if he does not exist.

One problem with this practice, of course, is that it does not acknowledge the very real impact that Christ has on our everyday lives.

The other problem is that it perpetuates the falsehood that we are in control of our lives and we can do what we want apart from Christ and our beliefs.

I am reminded of the verse,

Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. —Psalm 115:1

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Plans

calendarI am a planner, I will admit. I like to schedule my day and my week and know when I will be where. This is a natural tendency among humans, we can all acknowledge, I think.

But during my recent illness, all my plans went out the window and I realized that I am not as in control of my time and my life as I like to think I am.

When I was talking about this with a friend of mine, she reminded me of this verse from Scripture:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

So I have taken up the practice of prefacing my plans with the disclaimer, “If the Lord wills … ” And I do not find that confining or pessimistic in any way. I am just relaying to others that my plans are not up to me ultimately; they are up to God.

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FOMO

missing outI thought I was the only one who had this feeling. But now I see that the feeling even has an acronym that is currently in the vernacular and used in magazines and on TV quite often now.

The feeling is called the fear of missing out (or FOMO, for short). It is the sensation that somewhere someone is having more fun, doing more things, having a better time than we are and we are not there to experience it with them.

It sounds silly when you say it out loud, but I truly think FOMO is at least one of the driving forces behind our over-scheduled, over-busy lifestyles these days. We want to make sure that we are fitting all that we can into a day and experiencing everything that our family and friends are experiencing.

The problem with FOMO it that is causes us to became super focused on what can bring us the most pleasure for ourselves, what can make us seem better or more involved than others and what can make us appear cool and hip and “with it” in the eyes of society.

Unfortunately, I think that FOMO has creeped into the life of the church as well. We are not as committed to activities and programs we once were in the church because we are subconsciously waiting for “something better to come along.” In extreme cases, we see the effects of FOMO playing out in lower attendance in worship and fewer activities at church.

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Living Temples

In Simply Jesus, N.T. Wright says, “Jesus was, as it were, a walking Temple. A living, breathing place-where-Israel’s-God-was-living” (p. 133)

I love that concept. Jesus, in his life here on earth, was the embodiment of heaven and earth, the location were God dwelt in all his holiness in and amongst humanity. And he spent his life explaining that to people who were not all that ready to hear it, perhaps. The Temple in Jerusalem was the only real place to be in touch with God, most people probably thought. But then Jesus said, “Follow me!” And he showed them “a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31).

templeOf course, when we extend the metaphor, we encounter this:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Each one of us is a walking temple as well, a place where God dwells. So what we do with that body needs to reflect the reality of the holiness that resides there because of Christ’s sacrifice for us.

As Christians, we cannot in good faith harm our bodies or show disrespect to them. Our bodies are a gift from God, so we should show glory to God through them.

That means using our bodies, as Jesus did his, going off by ourselves to fold our hands and pray to our heavenly Father, using our legs to walk into the house of God, using our eyes to read the Scripture, using our mouths to proclaim the Gospel to others.

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