We are called to be people who show love God and love of people. That is what we should strive to be known for, not all the other things we often grasp onto.
Do we recognize how we are just a branch being nourished by the vine of our Savior or do we try to be the vine?
There’s a Glory coming and it is not going to be in the next election or the next job. It is in Jesus.
A common cultural belief is that God is a bad dad. A look at Luke 15 shows us God as the greatest dad there ever was.
Many think that God looks like me, sounds like me, and thinks like me. And if you disagree with me, then you disagree with God. Instead of being formed into his image, we are forming God into our own.
Culture comes up with ways we think we can make God “better” by judging Him by our standards. The Bible calls us instead to see God as He really is and recognize how He is far better than any “god” we could dream up.
When the Gospel advances, it always advances past me and my preferences and past my “Old Time Religion.” The Holy Spirit isn’t done with His mission when He’s reached me; instead, He invites me to join in His mission.
Jesus calls us to have a gritty faith. Do we press forward in faithfulness when challenges come or do we instead cower out of fear? Do we trust in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel or do we add our own “Gospel additions”?
In the early church there was an overwhelming culture of sacrifice. There was an assumption that the needy should be cared for, and it was our job to do so. It wasn’t the role of politicians or city policies. And they believed that what the Church could do together was more powerful than any one individual, could do. Ananias and Sapphire are an example of loving self above loving God and loving their neighbor. It’s easy to make a commitment to sacrifice, until you start to feel the sacrifice. Then we want to crawl off the altar, but still get the praise.
A modern day Christian might say that “Faith is personal”. I read alone. Study alone. Pray alone. And now I can even attend church alone. In the book of Acts we see that the Church is deeply communal! While each person owned their faith, they owned it in community. Like an old-time potluck, they brought their gifts and food to share with each other. The result was gladness, generosity, and growth of the community.