A FORCE IN THIS WORLD

We do it again and again. We satisfy ourselves with beliefs and creeds -- creeds about that which is really fire, forms about that which once was force. But no matter how correct and even essential a creed may be, it is not the real thing… We enter a Church, take part in ritual and ceremony, worship and prayer. And after giving an offering and singing our hymns, we depart. This cannot be the end-all of Christianity.

What we narrow down, Jesus widens out. Christianity must become a force… a force of justice in a world of injustice; a force of mercy in a merciless society; a force of faith where [people] live by doubt and despair. The sinner is not a person to be avoided. He is a subject of injustice to be sought out and loved. Mercy is not a form for friends, but a power to demonstrate even to enemies. Faith is no private relationship with God, but an arm which encircles the lost. No wonder the temple must be swept clean of form-religion to make way for the fire of force: "My house shall be called a house of prayer."

-- H.S. Vigeveno in Jesus the Revolutionary


#2392

ALONE WITH OUR SIN

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…" (Romans 3:23)

Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy … He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone.

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer


#2391

GOOD DAYS, BAD DAYS

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
naked I'll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God's name be ever blessed." (Job 1:21, The Message)

Job does not curse God as his wife suggests he should do, getting rid of the problems by getting rid of God. But neither does Job explain suffering. He does not instruct us in how to live so that we can avoid suffering. Suffering is a mystery, and Job comes to respect the mystery. In the course of facing, questioning, and respecting suffering, Job finds himself in an even larger mystery -- the mystery of God. Perhaps the greatest mystery in suffering is how it can bring a person into the presence of God in a state of worship, full of wonder, love and praise. Suffering does not inevitably do that, but it does it far more often than we would expect. It certainly did that for Job. Even in his answer to his wife he speaks the language of an uncharted irony, a dark and difficult kind of truth: "We take the good days from God -- why not also the bad days?"

-- Eugene Peterson in The Message


#2390

REACHING OUT HIS HAND

A well-known painting of the Vietnam Wall depicts a young widow and her daughter standing at the wall, reaching up and touching the name of the husband and father who died. The reflection in the polished granite is not of the mother and daughter but of the husband and father reaching out his hand to touch theirs.

That is the Lord's Supper. We arrive at the table and reach out our hands to take this unleavened bread and this fruit of the vine. In response to our act of faith, Jesus touches us.

-- Rich Bersett


#2389

GIVE HOPE TO THE HOPELESS

Like Christ, we should all be so bold in mentioning the astounding benefits of participating in the Christian faith. Tell people with confidence what the Father promises! To the thirsty woman Jesus encountered at the well, He offered "living" water -- soul-quenching and spirit-filled water of life. For the people you encounter, the offers are limitless:

To those filled with shame, "Grace and forgiveness can come your way."

To those bound up in destructive habits, "When the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed."

To the weak, "Strength from God -- the Strength-Giver -- can be yours for the asking."

To the weary, "Jesus promises rest for your soul."

To the poor, richness of spirit.

To the lacking, provision in due time.

To the grieving, consolation and comfort.

To the sick and dying, eternal life and new bodies in the life hereafter.

-- Bill Hybels in Just Walk Across the Room


#2388