Skip to main content

To Be Clear…

                 I like the TV show “American Pickers”, so when I realized that a trip to the Indianapolis 500 was going to take my brother and me right past their shop in Le Claire, Iowa, I had to stop.  It was fun looking around and seeing some things that I had seen on the show.  I even bought a few souvenirs. 
                As I was leaving, I asked the girl behind the counter, “What do you do when they start shooting around here?”  She gave me the strangest look as if she had no idea what I was talking about, so I rephrased my question. “When they are shooting the TV show, what do you do with the store?  Do you close it?  Do you use part of it?  What happens?”    She laughed and said, “I grew up in Chicago, so when you asked about shooting, that meant something completely different to me!   I was thinking, ‘There is no shooting around here!  This is Iowa!’”  (In case you are curious… They film early in the morning before the store is open).
                It is so easy to misunderstand one another. 
                The more I talk to people, the more convinced I am that miscommunication is the church’s biggest problem.  Many of the things that we debate and argue about have no meaning to the average person.   Therefore, they pass it off as being either too confusing or, worse, completely irrelevant.
                This is not a new problem.  The church in Corinth was confused and off the rails in several areas.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul tried to sort out some of their issues, but his biggest remedy was to urge them to get back to the clear, basic message. 
                “I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you… By this gospel you are saved…  What I received, I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  
                 Whatever else we need to sort out, our primary message must always be about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. 
                That is the only part that has any real power.
                “Thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Twenty-three Descriptions of God (Psalm 145)

  Let’s play a quick game.  Take 10 seconds and list 5 or 6 words to describe God.  Got your words?  Good!   Here comes the game part.  I will list twenty-three ways that David describes God in Psalm 145, and we will see how many of his words match yours.   David says that God is, the king, great, majestic, wonderful, powerful, awesome, abundant in goodness, righteous, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love, good to all, glorious, mighty, trustworthy, faithful, supporting, generous, providing, near, saving and watching.     How did you do? This is not a useless exercise.  The words we use to describe God not only indicate something about how we see him, but they also influence how we interact with him.  For example, if I know that God is “Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (verse 8), I will not fear him, and I will not assume that he is against me.  When I remember that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: What is so Great About Grace?

If you were to drive by our house, you would see that Sara loves plants.  Our yard is full of flowers, and Sara lovingly tends every one of them. Which is why I was so afraid when she left town and put me in charge of keeping things alive. She must have been a little concerned, too, because she sent me two videos with specific instructions on how to water, when to water, and what to do.  Honestly, those first two videos helped, but the third one she sent was the one I liked most.  In that one, she said, “Please do your best. I want the yard to look good for the family reunion in two weeks.  However, if something dies, we will dig it out and pretend that it never existed!” That is what grace looks like!  Try your best, do what you can, but if it goes wrong, it will be ok. Sometimes we talk as though grace and effort are opposites.  That is not true.  They are partners. In one place, scripture asks, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone c...
Post a Comment
Read more