poetmom

Vouching for others can be hard. I am someone who often fears being taken advantage of. It is of course easier to give financially to the truly poor or those who are doing mission work than it is to give to a regular ol' brother or sister in Christ back home. We have been burned in the past, and I know we will continue to be burned. We must be wise in our vouching to the fullest extent possible, yet we also need to remember that our money is not our own, but God's. Sometimes we need to vouch, even if we might be taking a risk. If we have fully assessed a situation and prayed about it, we should vouch even if we're not 100% sure, for "love always protects, always trusts, always hopes." If the vouching turns out to be a failure, we can know that we did our part and that God will bless our efforts anyway. Again, this is not easy, but Christ's vouching for us was a trillion times harder, and look how often we take advantage of him.

In light of the recent actions of the cult Westboro Baptist Church (the people who like to protest at funerals and such), these words are extremely relevant. Now since I do consider this group a cult, and not a Christian church, I shouldn't hold them to the same standards that I would hold a group of believers. But it is a good reminder. People absolutely watch our demeanor, and in this jaded world, we DO have opportunities to interact with people with love and hope in Christ. Just last night I rolled my eyes at a guy in a coffee shop who was ranting and raving about politics I didn't agree with. I didn't care if he saw me--in fact, I think I wanted him to. That is not grace and salt. I'm not saying we need to always be happy and agree with everyone; even healthy debate can be seasoned with salt. But my gesture accomplished nothing. I forgot how valuable these opportunities are. We must be alert, think before we speak, even season our body language with salt. God will give us the power to change lives!

Being watchful I believe involves more than just staying awake, but being alert to the spiritual forces out there, to who and what needs prayer. Thanksgiving is very often neglected in my prayers--I go right to a need. However, Paul seems to bathe all his prayers in thanksgiving. I really do take most of my blessings for granted and want to grow in the area of gratitude in prayer.

While we don't want to teach our children to blindly follow all authority (Jesus certainly did not), we want to teach them to follow and respect the family, the law, school, church, and other societal structures that are put in place to protect their best interests. Obedience requires humility and putting the self aside, which, of course, is necessary for following Christ. Parents can best encourage their children by reminding them that they love them even in the midst of discipline. Also, I think it is crucial that parents respect and encourage their children to pursue the gifts that God has given them. It is so heartbreaking to see kids forced to play piano or football when that is not where their hearts or talents lie. God may have entrusted these children to us parents, but they are their own people with God's own plan for their lives. We must encourage them to become the best that God has created them to be.

Aside from what many people think about Paul, he is not a sexist in these writings. In fact, to tell a woman that she has a CHOICE to submit to her husband, not out of cultural obligation or by force, but as a way to express her faith, is profound. This is a man who said that are all equal and who partnered with women in ministry. I used to avoid Paul before I really understood the magnitude of what he did for women, men, and marriage as a whole. But he really hits home with these difficult commands. It is hard for anyone to submit to someone else or for anyone to truly love sacrificially because of our selfish natures. His expectations are high, but if husbands and wives truly gave this a shot, marriages, families, and really, whole societies, would be transformed. Imagine! There is hope!

First of all, I need to ask. . .why are we replacing the word "****" with stars? I'm not trying to be adversarial--just curious as all get-out. I have been a Christian for almost 25 years, and I have never seen this before! Do most people consider "****" to be a bad word? I apologize if I've offended anyone, but the word is in the original question, so I feel okay typing it now--I've just never seen the **** thing before, so I am very confused. My first reaction, of course, would be to blame the media. And while they DEFINITELY aren't helping matters, we must remember that none of these shows or ads were around in Paul's day, yet he still knew to warn about it. Also, in one of these lessons, either Colossians or Ephesians, I think, Dr. Ralph said that in Paul's day the culture was even MORE out of control and immoral than ours. So I think we need to look at the deep inner nature of humans. People want to feel loved and validated, and even though sexual attempts outside of marriage are misguided, most people delving into these experiences are looking to receive some sort of connection and satisfaction they are not getting in the proper ways God provided. Even when people have sex just for the most shallow, physical thrill of it, they are still relieving some sort of emptiness or boredom intended to be met by other means.

Nailing the law to the cross symbolizes the death of the law. Yes, Christ was nailed there, too, but the difference is that he rose again while the law pretty much rotted away there on the cross--over and done with! We humans try to resurrect the law all the time because law is easier to make sense of than grace. It's our nature to try to pry those laws back off the cross and live with their burdens. Paul makes such a big deal about this issue because it is central to our faith and central to our growth in Christ. How can you grow in your relationship with the living God while trying to maintain a relationship with the dead law?

Christ gets to the core of our being and truly transforms us while human rules remain on the surface of our behavior. I think sometimes "rules" can temporarily aid someone who is trying to focus on Christ or get back on track, such as staying away from bars, disconnecting the cable TV, fasting from shopping malls. But the key is to remember that these "rules" don't do the transforming--Christ does.

Since the Bible, including Paul, stresses growing in our "knowledge and depth of insight," it's easy to see why we would see ourselves as incomplete in a way. As far as our standing before Christ, we are complete--he has done all the work. However, we can still--and should--grow, not in order to earn salvation, but in order to reach a deeper understanding and love that will point back to God.

The first church I went to as a new Christian teenager was very conservative and legalistic. I was taught--and very much believed--that being a Christian had to do with following the right politics, slamming certain groups of people (including women), listening to only Christian music (except for the Beach Boys, since the pastor liked them and deemed them acceptable), and dressing a certain way. As a result, many of the youth in the church had no real foundation in Christ and struggled with sins in private until they were "found out" and had to stand up in front of everyone to make a confession. I was a new Christian, young and impressionable, and it was almost impossible for me to distinguish following Christ from following a subculture. By the grace of God, once I got to college I joined a fellowship that taught what it really meant to be a Christian, and from there, I slowly but surely started to understand what a relationship with God really meant.

As far as what it means to live with the "hope of glory," I think since glory is defined as "honor" or "weightiness," we must anticipate the weighty honor of living with Christ forever. We are not honored because of our own works; we are honored because of what Christ has done for us--an honor we do not deserve but can gladly accept on behalf of Christ's work for us and in us!

This is a difficult concept for us Americans. In terms of suffering for the church, what does that mean? Are we being stoned or imprisioned? No. I think the most we can say is that we might "suffer annoyance for the sake of the church"! Meetings where people disagree, visitors to our church who may present challenges because of their drug/sex background, faulty A/C in the Sunday school rooms.Yes, all these issues can be challenges, but they don't present suffering that is any way equal to Paul's. I guess a start, though, is to even endure the annoyances. Many people leave local congregations and even the church itself because of what began as a simple inconvenience or misunderstanding. I may not suffer like Paul, but I can at least start by not whining over the small things I do experience!

I would have to go with Dr. Ralph's interpretation here. The problem with the Sinner's Prayer is that we've sort of made it up. There is nothing wrong with it, of course, but we as an evangelical church have made that prayer the end-all and be-all of salvation. I spent years as a teenager and young adult thinking my mission was to "get" people to say this prayer, as if it were some sort of magical incantation. Yes, you can believe instantly. Or it can be a process. But faith is faith. Saying some words ten years ago and then rejecting Christ later doesn't seem to make one a Christian. Christian means "little Christ," and if we have completely forgotten him, how are we following him? Yes, there is Grace, and yes, we often get off track and have to get back on. And the last couple of posters are correct--only God can truly know where someone's heart is. I just think the emphasis on "praying the prayer" has caused many people to have a shallow, rocky start to their faith. After that prayer, intentional, strategic discipleship is key in order to keep that person following Christ and growing in faith. I feel badly about the people I got to say the prayer in college. I would be so excited to get them to say it, then whew--my job was done!

As several people have mentioned, in the Jewish law people were required to make blood sacrifices for sins. This concept is very hard for us to understand today, as we no longer operate by these laws. However, Jesus' sacrificial act had monumental implications because it became THE one and only sacrifice people needed for their sins. We are permanently reconciled--turned from enemies of God to friends of God, and we no longer have the burden of making ourselves holy and acceptable to him on a daily basis. I still have a hard time letting this sink in!

I think it's especially important to note that we're not just "neutralized" by reconciliation but brought 180 degrees from hostility to friendship. When I was a younger Christian, I thought it was all about avoiding hell. It is so much more! We are now children of God, brothers and sisters of Christ!