Tag: God

What does it mean to be a Christian voter?

Tony Woodlief, with words I need to take heed of:

Cast aside what you think you know is right, the church marquee urges, and consider the God-breathed Word. Give yourself over to it and these seemingly large things–tax rates, economic growth, wars, and rumors of wars–will diminish. Meanwhile, those seemingly small things–the anger in our hearts when we, say, confront someone whose ideology we dislike or the fact that we find it so much easier to spend time with those we like rather than those who need us–will become grievous to our spirits.

This is the Word that cuts through every heart, through the very heart of darkness, illuminating the world as it is and will be. Beside it every politician ever born is remarkably inconsequential. Our business on Election Day is brief, and regardless of who wins our work remains the same–seeking and serving the lost, losing our own lives in the doing, and clinging to the Cross that shatters nations, tribes, and creeds.

I’m hanging my hat on this one

“Who is in the White House is not as important as Who is on the White Throne.” –Stewart Briscoe
[Via Mike.]

You never know

Dr. Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion:

“The cure to cancer might be in the slums of Kenya or Indonesia.”
In other words, you don’t know what the children of today are capable of tomorrow, how God may use someone like me, someone like you, now to change the lives of scores, hundreds, thousands, possibly millions, years from now, just because we help change the life of one child today.
Please consider sponsoring a child.

A prayer


Brandon Heath – Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

The last thing Jesus needs…

Neal Campbell:

“The last thing Jesus needs is the State. Stupid Christians like James Dobson and Pat Roberton like D.C. more than grace … sad.”

New hat

In preparation for the mission trip I’m going on next week to build houses in Juarez, Mexico, I picked up a Panama Jack cowboy hat at Wal-Mart earlier this evening for a mere ten dollars.

New hat
Click on the photo to see a larger version.

The Juarez trip can be tough on gear (the boots I wore last year won’t be making a return trip), but I figure for ten bucks, I won’t worry if the hat doesn’t go another year. (And yes, a backup hat will be packed, just in case.)

What’s the goal?

Josh Harris:

Moments like this are reminders for me that the songs and trappings of Christian culture are not the hope of the world–Jesus is! We need to make him known. We need to love and seek to serve the world around us through prayer, through faithful evangelism, and through Christ-like service of those in need. Our goal is not building a more air-tight evangelical bubble. Neither should our goal be hoping that our subculture will burst out into the broader culture to great acclaim.

Instead, our goal should be to proclaim Christ and him crucified to the people we go to the school with, work with, and live next door to. Our goal should be to preach the gospel and live lives worthy of that gospel. Our goal should be to use our gifts in every sector of society so that God is glorified.

He exists and loves us

Maury McCown:

[A]nother way I’m convinced He exists and loves us — on the most base of levels — is that He hasn’t simply wiped us off the face of the earth. I don’t struggle with the whole “why does God let bad things happen” — that’s simple to dismiss, and maybe I will here one day. What I’m getting at is that He has such enormous self-control — if I were Him, there would only be a scant few humans left on the planet.

It’s one of two things: He loves as much as He says He does, or He doesn’t give a rat’s behind about us. With much thanks I know wholeheartedly that the latter isn’t true, so once again I’m amazed at how patient God is with us, and how He loves us, though we pain Him so.

Who they are and what they’re about

Brent McKinney, A Few Thoughts On Jeremiah:

I think absolutes exist. In other words, if we “miss the mark,” there’s an implication that there’s a mark to hit. A truth that is “right” and to wander away from that is, by implication, “wrong.”

I think like the “1d1” definition regarding sin, that there’s a “way” to go and to deviate from that–wander away– is somehow tied to your identity as a human being. That we “miss” or “lose” our very selves. My guess is that we’re created in the image of God Himself, and to wander away from that…or get lost…is actually a denial of who we are and what we’re about.

I think that most followers of God have no idea who they are and what they’re about.

I think that most followers of God, if they knew who they are and what they’re about (and, in order to get that we would have to know God and what He’s about) would take sin a great deal more seriously than we do.
As usual, when Brent’s thinking deep thoughts, the entire thing is really good.

The Awaited One

The following is excerpted from Max Lucado’s An Angel’s Story*, and was the 12/23/07 e-mail from MaxLucado.com, which anyone can sign up to receive. Max and his crew are encouraging subscribers to share this and the other excerpts with their friends, so here I am, sharing it with my readers.*
We were a wreath of Light around the stable, a necklace of diamonds around the structure. Every angel had been called from his post for the coming, even Michael. None doubted God would, but none knew how He could, fulfill His promise.
“I’ve heated the water!”
“No need to yell, Joseph, I hear you fine.”
Mary would have heard had Joseph whispered. The stable was even smaller than Joseph had imagined but the innkeeper was right–it was clean. I started to clear out the sheep and cow, but Michael stopped me. “The Father wants all of creation to witness the moment.”
Mary cried out and gripped Joseph’s arm with one hand and a feed trough with the other. The thrust in her abdomen lifted her back, and she leaned forward.
“Is it time?” Joseph asked.
She shot back a glance, and he had his answer.
Within moments the Awaited One was born. I was privileged to have a position close to the couple, only a step behind Michael. We both gazed into the wrinkled face of the infant. Joseph had placed hay in a feed trough, giving Jesus His first bed.
All of God was in the infant. Light encircled His face and radiated from His tiny hands. The very glory I had witnessed in His throne room now burst through His skin.
I felt we should sing but did not know what. We had no song. We had no verse. We had never seen the sight of God in a baby. When God had made a star, our words had roared. When He had delivered His servants, our tongues had flown with praise. Before His throne, our songs never ended. But what do you sing to God in a feed trough?
In that moment a wonderful thing happened. As we looked at the baby Jesus, the darkness lifted. Not the darkness of the night, but the darkness of the mystery. Heaven’s enlightenment engulfed the legions.
Our minds were filled with the Truth we had never before known. We became aware for the first time of the Father’s plan to rescue those who bear His name.
“Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart, prepare Him room! Heaven and nature sing!”