Rain beat violently on the pavement outside of my second-grade class window. The sun had been hidden by dark gray clouds the entire morning. To say this was a downpour would have been an understatement.
This memory from my childhood seems to only serve one purpose: to remind me that God is near, even when he seems far away, or worse; non-existent. (more…)
What a tragedy it is for the person who spends their whole life using Grace as a defense for doing nothing. Even more so for the ones, the thousands, who could have been reached by the actions that were never taken by that one person. Grace was not cheap. (more…)
Is going to church the same thing as “confessing Jesus before men” (Matthew 20:32-33)? If the people I meet or work with “know” that I’m a Christian because I have a fish on my car – or because I pray before my meals, have I just “confessed” Jesus? Are my Christian friends the “men” (people) that Jesus is referring to?
Myself, I live somewhere in the space between confession and denial. I’m not comfortable with that.
The idea that confession of Jesus to men (unbelieving people) is simply the absence of a denial permeates the church.
The context of the passage above is a command to evangelize and that we should not fear the “men” (non-believing people) that we are evangelizing to. Our identity as Christians (followers of Christ, Christ followers, whatever) should be crystal clear because of our “confession.” Nothing wrong with the fish on your car or being nice, but it seems like that should be a supplement to our confession of Jesus as Lord.
It’s interesting that, in a similar context of confessing Christ found in Romans 10:9-10, it is clearly pointed out that the confession is to be done verbally. But even still, within the context of Matthew 10, Jesus refers to “speaking.”
I have a lot of growing to do. Thoughts? (perhaps not about my need to grow, but that’s fine. whatever.)
Sometimes I need things to be simplified for me because I naturally tend to overthink. I will spend years thinking that there is a deep meaning to something that is meant to be relatively simple. Then a simple phrase is spoken that resolves the confusion and lays to rest the need to continue wondering if I’ve got it right.
“We glorify what we draw attention to” – (Full sermon)
That’s it.
I want to glorify God. Most Christians do. That is, or should be, the ultimate purpose of our life. But, that word, “glorify” always confounded me. It shouldn’t have, but it did. How do we glorify a God who can’t be made more valuable than He already is? How do we somehow add to His glory? We can’t. This was always my confusion. But confused or not, I have tried to do my best at carrying out this concept I couldn’t fully define.
What it means seems very simple now. When we draw attention to something or someone, people say we are “glorifying” it. When a movie makes violence look good, we say that it “glorifies” violence. It draws attention to violence in a positive light. Glorifying isn’t always about making something bad seem good, but it’s also about revealing, or drawing attention to the good already present.
I’ve given “credit” to God for things that have happened in my life. I’ve told other people to give God “credit”, but I didn’t see that as exactly the same thing as giving God glory. Just credit. It’s fair for me to be foolish about some things as long as I am willing to accept a new way of thinking when the Truth arrives.
If my life glorifies God, then that simply means that I draw attention to God, that I draw attention to His goodness and Truth. That paradigm shift truly makes me reconsider everything. I realize that I can either be spending my time drawing attention to something else, drawing no attention to anything, or drawing attention to God. The Word says “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I read that to mean that everything I do should be drawing attention to God.
It’s the “everything” part that I struggle with. God always sets a perfect standard. For imperfect humans, there is grace.
sometimes I just say stuff
