For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its effectiveness. (1 Corinthians 1:17)

In the Corinthian culture, eloquent speakers enjoyed high status in the community - almost like sports heroes or movie stars today. Their message was less important than the way they presented it.

By contrast, the good news of Christ's sacrificial love was much greater than the one who delivered it. In fact, as Paul writes, a polished presentation of the gospel ran the risk of diminishing its power.

You don't have to be an effective communicator to share your faith. In fact, it can sometimes get in the way. The Christians who have most shaped my walk with Christ have not been preachers or professors, but simple believers who told me about Christ's love and what God had done in their lives - in their own words.

Marion Soards puts it this way -

"The cross is not a pretty sight, and sheer manipulative eloquence is not a medium that can bear the weight of the message of Christ's cross."

God's Initiative

"… for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Philippians 2:13)

The key to faithful living is not doing great things for God, but letting God do great things through us. God is the one who knows what is needed and how we can best meet that need. We can do nothing of value without the power of God working through us.

When we turn our will over to God, God places in us the desire to do what is best, what is right. With our hearts and minds focused on God, God works through our lives to accomplish his will.

Henry Blackaby puts it this way -

"When you are God-centered, even the desires to do the things that please God come from God’s initiative in your life."

Perfect Peace

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever. (Isaiah 26:3,4a)

Once, while serving on the Board of a Christian camp, I learned that we some organization had offered us a "peace pole" that had written on it "Peace on Earth" in many different languages. I recommended that we not accept it. If we wanted to put up a symbol of peace, we ought to put up a cross - because peace can only be found in Christ.

There is so much in the world that disturbs and disrupts peace. True peace can only be found when we walk with the Lord. Thomas Merton once wrote -

"We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God."

Faithful Education

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair-every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. (Proverbs 2:9-10)

Wisdom is a gift from God, given to those who devote themselves to Him. A faith-full education is not so much about information as it is about formation. We are formed in the ways of God, the truth that sets us free to do what is right, just, and fair. God's education teaches us not just how to do things, but how to do them in the best way.

As we grow in our relationship with Christ, we come to desire learning more about God and

God's ways.

John Ruskin wrote this about education --

"The true end of education is not only to make the young learned, but to make them love learning. Not only to make them industrious, but to make them love industry. Not only to make them virtuous, but to make them love virtue... Not only to make them just, but to make them hunger and thirst after justice."

Being Content

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:7-8)

The world teaches us to long for the things we don’t have and can’t get. It takes great wisdom and faithful discipline to step away from this craving and be happy with who we are and what we’ve been given.

The Greek philosopher Epictitus expresses it this way --

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."

Ordered Chaos

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)


The world can be a troubling and chaotic place. Often, we internalize this chaos and become very anxious and unsettled. In the midst of the chaos, Christ promises us peace - a peace that passes all human understanding. In the midst of the chaos, we can see God’s hand at work.

Professor Elizabeth Achtemeier writes -



"God preserves His order despite our chaos."

God’s order helps us deal with the chaos within and around us. When we receive the peace of Christ, we can move forward in faith - even in the midst of a chaotic world.

Doing the Impossible

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

God’s expectations of us are very high. In fact, on our own, they are unattainable. I know when I read the Bible I sometimes get discouraged that I’m not living up to God’s standards.

The key to faithful living is not focusing so much on our own efforts as on God’s work within us. It is also important to take things one step at a time, to do the little things rather than try to accomplish great things.

St. Francis has some good advice for living faithfully -

"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

Love to Worship

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1)

True worship begins with an overwhelming sense of God’s love. When we recognize that God loves us so much that, through Christ, He would adopt us into His family - that is when we are inspired to love in return. It is out of this love that worship flows.

Henry Ward Beecher once wrote -

"I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love."

The Power of Scripture

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

The Bible is much more than an old book with good stories. It’s more than just a laundry list of do’s and don’ts. The Bible - the whole Bible - is given to us by God to be our guide for life and faith.

When we read the Bible with faithful hearts and minds, our lives are reshaped by the Holy Spirit. We become more like what God wants us to be. This means that before we read God’s Word, we should be ready to let go of the parts of our lives that are not pleasing to God.

Mark Twain, not known to be a devout Christian himself, nevertheless recognized the power of Scripture when he said -

"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."

Gospel Power

Stephen has preached a powerful sermon to a crowd gathered in Jerusalem. How do the people respond?


When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. (Acts 7:54)

The people become so incensed by his words that they stone him. Yet, his willingness to boldly proclaim the Gospel led to the expansive growth of the Church that continues on today.


When we speak the truth (even when it is in love), there will be people (sometimes many) who don't want to hear it. Some people just can't handle the truth. If we are honest with ourselves, there are times when we don't want to face the truth about something we've said or done.

But the truth, threatening as it can be, is something we desperately need to hear.

Oswald Chambers once wrote -




"The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it must reveal that I am unholy; but it also awakens an intense craving."

Complainers

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’" He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. (John 12:4-6)




"It is a general popular error to imagine that the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare." (Edmund Burke)

Losses and Gains

Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

Jim Eliot was a missionary driven to take the Gospel to unreached peoples in a dangerous land. Many tried to discourage him, but he was undeterred. His life was meant to be given up for God. He wrote -

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Fragrant Forgiveness

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." (Matthew 11:25)

When someone does something that causes us pain, it is natural to nurse a grudge against him (or her). But the lesson of the Gospel is that we are called to forgive just as God forgives us. In fact, verses like this one may lead us to think we can only receive as much forgiveness as we extend.

When forgiveness is genuine, it is a beautiful, spiritual thing. Mark Twain once said -

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it."

Perseverance

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (James 1:2)

"Storms make oaks take deeper root." (George Herbert)

Loving Creation

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

God creates. We construct. The difference is God brings something to life out of nothing. We simply take something God has already made and shape it according to our desires.

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about God before He created the heavens and the earth, but the story of creation and all that follows shows us that God’s primary motivation in creating is love. This love is far beyond what we might feel toward something we’ve constructed.

G.K. Chesterton once said -

"A thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed, but a thing created is loved before it exists."

Spiritual Preparation

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16)

Esther has become aware that there is a plot to kill her people. She is faced with a crucial decision. Will she stay in hiding and try to preserve her own life? Will she go to the king and risk death to save her people?

We see here that Esther resolves to go to the king. But first, she asks for the spiritual support of her people (through fasting). Through this, Esther is able to summon up the courage to act and her people are rescued.

Fasting is not commonly practiced in the faith community today, but there are other spiritual practices that take its place. One of these, of course, is prayer. We need to draw on the spiritual resource of collective prayer before we rush into action. This will help us be more effective in our mission. Prayer helps us hone our activity down to what is most essential.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote -

"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe."

A Leap of Faith

"Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. (Matthew 14:28-29)

You’ve got to admire Peter’s courage to step out on the water with only the assurance that the voice of the Lord had invited him. It would take a lot more for most of us to take such a risk.

To move forward in faith, though, we’ve got to step out of the boat. We’ve got to take that first step even without the guarantee that we won’t sink.

I like the way Ray Bradbury puts it -

"Sometimes you have to jump off cliffs and grow wings on the way down."

What Not to Say

“There is… a time to keep silent and a time to speak.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1a, 7b)

"True eloquence consists of saying all that should be said, and that only." (Francois de La Rochefoucauld)

The Discipline of Happiness

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

Gratitude is not so much a feeling as it is a discipline. Gratitude flows from a life of obedience to God’s Word and God’s ways.

I once knew a woman named Olivia who was well into her 90s. She was widowed early in life and was left to raise her three children on her own. She had lived through many lean years and struggled greatly to make ends meet.

Through it all, without fail, she would start each morning with a hymn and end each day with a Scripture reading. She would follow this up with prayers of thanksgiving for all God’s blessings.

These disciplines gave Olivia the strength to face the challenges her life brought. They also helped her come to experience joy in the midst of hardship.

Someone once wrote -

"In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy."

Personal Love

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Luke 12:6-7)

God’s love for us is intensely personal. And God wants us to share this love with others in a very personal way. Our job is not to love “the world”, but to love each individual within the world.

Mother Teresa put it this way -

“I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time."