Blog

God’s Love Language In most of the groups I have been in over the years when the two great commandments are being discussed most people slide right past the first one about loving God and begin with loving self or neighbor.  So I have been thinking more about how to love God. We can learn something from the second commandment that helps us learn how to do the greatest commandment. Jesus told us we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves”.  It is often falsely interpreted that what makes us feel loved is how we love others.  That isn’t the best way to love others.  To live in love as Jesus desires we need to think about how to love our neighbors the way they want to...

For the past several weeks we have been part of a group that has been discussing the hurt in our world from the painful ways the American society is engaging in conflict over political, economic, and even theological issues.   As God’s people, we are called to respond to conflict in a way that is remarkably different from the way the world deals with conflict.  We certainly didn’t come up with answers to all that we need to know to be civil in our engaging in conflicts, but we did discover ideas that seemed helpful to many of us and may be of help to others. We began with the fact that conflict is a part of life “As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us...

Our faith history took a dramatic pivot when God came to earth in the person of Jesus.  For centuries God expressed himself to the world in many ways, but in specific ways through the nation of Israel.  But in Jesus God ushered in the new way he would work in the world:  it is Jesus’ living, declaring, and teaching the Kingdom of God.  Not Christian nations, but a Kingdom that cuts across all national, ethnic, gender, and generational divides.  And he told us who follow him to pray that this kingdom would invade our world.  The means of this invasion would be the transformed lives we live as kingdom people. Many of us have taught and applauded the idea of the United...

Kay and I have been praying for ourselves and for many of our companions that we would “finish well”.  What would finishing well entail? No doubt our thoughts on the subject will not cover all that it means, but the following are some of the ideas that we have gleaned as we have processed this with many companions.  We are finding them helpful as we live into this last phase of our lives. One of the ideas that came out in early discussions with others is that this is a  question that should be pursued early in our journeys because that’s when we make the decisions that will result in ending our days well.   It is a major mistake to wait until the end of our lives to begin...

I have often heard people say that we need to keep the “main thing” the main thing.  And of course for most of us, we would immediately know this refers to holding on to Jesus and his life in us and through us. In Andy Stanley’s book, Irresistible, he gives insight into one of the foundational things that take us off course.  It is the way we so often let go of Jesus and what he teaches us, for the security of a religious system called Christianity. God made a covenant with Abraham that He would bless Abraham and Abraham would be a blessing to the world.  God was faithful but Abraham and his descendants were not.  The system failed. God made a covenant with Moses and the...

I have recently read several writers who state with conviction that the traditional transactional gospel message is incomplete.  They maintain that what has been, and is being, preached is only part of the message Jesus and the early church proclaimed. These writings have underscored a concern I have had for many years. Shortly after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 I had the opportunity to talk with Michael Cassidy, a South African evangelist.  He had preached often in Rwanda and he also was very involved in bringing together leaders of different ethnic groups in South Africa in the successful work of ridding the country of the scourge of apartheid. The Rwanda genocide...

There are many ways that God communicates to us that he loves us and wants us to live our life completely joined to him. This brief piece is to affirm two messages that the Lord wants us to know and to live.  I have found them both foundational to my life as they help me live in ways that please God, brings healing to me, and is of some benefit to others.  The first word is “Chosen”.  A few thoughts on this follow: The playground was usually a fun place to be when I was growing up, but there were times of stress in that venue.  One of the recurring times of stress was the choosing of teams for pickup games of baseball.  Naturally, the best players were always chosen first...

Several years ago I wrote a piece titled “Life in the Bark” in which I presented the idea that if we concentrate on the life of the Spirit in a fellowship, that life of the Spirit will shape the organization (bark) in which it flourishes.  Here is a quote from that reflection: “In a healthy tree the flow of life produces internal growth that expands and shapes the bark of the tree.  When the life-giving flow of the Holy Spirit—the Life of Jesus—is flowing within the lives of the believers in an organization then the institution (bark) will be shaped by the spiritual growth in the people.  The bark is not dead because it is also made up of people.  It responds, splits, and...

Relationships and Friendships Enhanced by Proper Use of Technology – Observations and Ideas from C. R. Baugh and Kent Hotaling          Technology is a fantastic tool for not only getting work done but also for enhancing, supporting, and building friendships. Our technological advances are resources for connecting and for building and experiencing community.  However, technology does not automatically do so. We must manage technology so that it does not manage us. It can be so enticing that technology can control us without realizing it. When that happens, our relationships become flattened because we no longer relate to people at the deeper level of face-to-face...