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

New Article: A Path Worth Following

  Jehoram was a terrible king.  He reigned in Judah around the year 850 B.C. and he did not care about God or his people.  His first act as king was to assassinate his six brothers so that no one could challenge his authority.  He was brutal and selfish.   Therefore, when the Bible sums up his life, it says, “Jehoram… passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David” (2 Chronicles 21:20).  Did you catch that?  “To no one’s regret!”  What a terrible phrase for your tombstone. On the other hand, consider a lady named Tabitha.  She lived in the city of Joppa in the first century A.D. and we are told, “… she was always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  She became sick and died.  This caused the community so much grief that they called Peter, who was in the nearby town of Lydda, to come and help them.  When Peter arrived, a crowd gathered, bringing all the robes and other clothing that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Press The Button!

  Consider This:  Press the Button! My favourite TV game show is Jeopardy.  I used to like it even more when my kids were younger, because I could easily beat them and look smart.  These days, after they have grown up and gone to university, it is much more difficult.  However, Jeopardy is still the only game show I will watch. In a book I read, a contestant who did very well on the show shared the secret to his success.  He said (and I am paraphrasing here), “You must press the button before you know the answer.  Everyone on Jeopardy is smart. Everyone knows the answer. The key to winning is to act.  You must jump in and press the button, assuming that your brain will catch up and supply the answer.  If you wait until you are sure, you will be too late!” Press the button! Too often, we hesitate, not because we do not know what to do, but because we do not want to do it.  Sometimes, we fail to act because we are not sure how the situatio...
Post a Comment
Read more