pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: challenge


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Unity and Love

To live in unity and peace as the community of faith can be a challenge.  It takes effort.  Paul reminds us of our call as the body of Christ to work together for the common good.  To best accomplish this he offers three key characteristics to strive for: humility, gentleness, and patience.  When this is how we each walk, unity is much easier to accomplish.

Paul also calls for us to bear one another up in love.  What does this look like?  It looks like coming alongside a brother or sister in Christ when they have lost a loved one.  It looks like showing up when a single mom needs a hand around the house.  It means showing up to babysit a young couple’s children so they can have a date night.

At first glance maybe it seems unity may be hard because we appear to be quite diverse.  But diversity is good.  When we are diverse we all have unique gifts, perspectives, and thoughts that we can offer to each other.  Paul reminds us, though, that we do have much in common.  We worship one Lord and are guided by one Holy Spirit.  We share one common faith.  We practice one baptism.  We hold onto one hope.  We come together as one to worship one God and Father over all and through all and in all.

Together in unity we are strong and powerful and able to do much for God.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 4: 1-10


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Perfect Creations

Bullying has many forms.  It can be blatant or subtle and can lead us to act differently.  The act of bullying occurs at all levels of life and in all places.  It can happen at work, at school, at home, and even at church.  A bully’s main desire is to be on top.  In modern times, social media has taken bullying in a whole new direction.  You no longer have to be present to bully someone.

Goliath is a classic bully – physically intimidating, hurls insults with his words, seeks to be the alpha male.  We’ve all faced this type of bully.  Saul’s bullying is a little more disguised.  He wants David to wear his armor, to don his tunic.  In short, he wants David to be like him.

David counters both.  Against Goliath David calls on God’s name to defeat his enemy.  David knows he cannot face the giant alone so he calls on the one, true source of our strength – God.  Against Saul he says this is not who I am.  David goes out to face the giant just as God created him and using the skills with which God has gifted him.  He knows how God created him and David trusts this.  We find great examples here in David.

When faced with a challenge, we too need to turn to the source of all we have and are – God.  He promised to be with us and to strengthen and encourage us.  And we also must remember that God created us just as we are and that we are perfect in His sight.  We must not bend or break but must remain true to who God created us to be.  We are each His perfect creation, a child of God.  If we live each day and face the challenges that life brings as a child ofn the one, true king, life cannot defeat us.  God is on our side.

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 17: 32-49


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A Voice Calling

Job description: challenge the status quo, push people to grow and stretch themselves, be directly accountable to God

Any applicants?

Many jobs can be thankless.  Among them the job ‘prophet’ could be pretty high on a lot of people’s lists.  For most that were called in the Bible,”Yes!” was not their first reaction.

Prophets of old and prophets today have pretty much the same role.  A prophet has two primary job functions.  The first is to keep people oriented towards God.  A prophet calls us to live our lives with God at the center, following His ways and commands.  This runs counter to what the world so often tries to tell us and is therefore difficult.  A prophet tells us that ‘me’ does not come first.

The second role is to call for justice and equality for those whose voices are not heard by the those in power and in positions that can affect change.  A prophet calls for the care of the weak, for fair treatment of all, and for the stranger to be welcomed into our midst.  These calls too run counter to society’s norms.  A prophet tells us to give of ourselves and to become less so that others can become more.

Today most of us like to be comfortable, to maintain the status quo.  Change can be hard.  No wonder being a prophet is difficult.  But a faith that is not active and growing, bringing light into darkness, is dead.  That is not a good place to be.

May we learn to hear and welcome the prophet’s voice, both for what it calls us to spiritually and for the words spoken on behalf of the poor and powerless, words that bring hope, healing, justice, and love.

Scripture reference: Deuteronomy 18: 15-20