The Power of the Gospel

The words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels are strangely powerful. They turn our values upside down. The wise are to be childlike. The powerful are to become servants. The weak are strong. Those who have nothing receive the blessings of the kingdom. The outcasts are welcomed into God's family. Those who acknowledge their sins are forgiven. These words not only challenge us, but invite us to live that kind of reality. And in living such a lifestyle we cannot but affect the world. (CR)

Thought: The strange words of Jesus call us to experience life in a new way!

Christ the Victor!

JESUS the faithful Son of the Father endured that shameful cross and was raised with honor through God's power. His victory is a reality in which we can share. It frees us from the power of the law with its regulations that points us in the right direction, but cannot empower us to live by its precepts. Christ's victory frees us from sin's power which enslaves us to do even the things we don't want to do. And Christ has robbed the evil one of his power. Light and not darkness, freedom and not enslavement, obedience and not rebellion now become a radical possibility for those who put their trust in Christ the Victor! (CR)

In Christ, light and not darkness can become norm for our lives and for the world.

The second Adam

JESUS has taken His stand in the place where I should be standing but have failed. He was obedient where I refused to listen. He was faithful where I was wayward. He was resolute where I was wavered. He was forgiving where I was bitter. He pleased His Father where I pleased myself. He bore my sin and shame while I was the guilty party. He is the true Saviour, doing for me what I could not do for myself. Yet, surprisingly, He welcomes and embraces me and empowers me to become like Him.


Thought: If Christ would not be for us, who then would be? (CR)

Lord the Whole of our Life

We are quite happy for Jesus to add something to our life. We have no problem in accepting His blessings. We are less happy, however, for Him to take something away. What is even more startling is when the call of Jesus causes a deep rupture in our previous lifestyle and calls us to new priorities and concerns. This orientation may well shake our previous securities, but can only lead us to a new state of blessedness and growth. (CR)

If Jesus Christ cannot challenge us to adopt new priorities, then He does not touch the central issues of our lives. Christ's lordship is not only over our spirituality, but also over our social and economic priorities!

Head and Heart

Knowing Christ has everything to do with acknowledging Him with our mind. To know Christ is never an anti-intellectual affair. But knowing Christ is also a matter of the heart. By faith we know Him, but by His Spirit we also experience His love and presence. Thus our understanding of Christ also comes from that mysterious work of His Spirit which at times is beyond words. If we think that we contain the living Christ within our words and our theology, we have grasped far less than we realize.(CR)

PRAYER:

Lord, may I learn more of You through the eyes and ears of the heart. May my intellectual understanding of You, my Savior, also be enlarged. And may I learn more about You in the experiences of life and the mysterious working of Your Spirit.

God, the Great Initiator!

"If we ask how we should begin life with God, the Scripture answers that God has long since begun life with us. If we ask what we can do for God, we hear what God has done for us. If we ask how we can live without sin before God, the forgiveness of all sins in Jesus Christ is announced to us.'

We don't begin with God; he begins with us. Before we seek God He is already at work in our lives. He is the one who acts first and what we do is a response to His prompting and love. We are often not aware that God is ahead of us in this way. It is usually in retrospect that we make this discovery. This can only cause us to be thankful, for God was there with us even when we did not know it. (CR)