Stumbling About for Truth

Don't you know that bad behavior has consequences? The Bible in Galatians refers to it as reaping what you sow (Galatians 6:7). The terms are related to planting (sowing) and harvesting (reaping the results of your sowing). So if you plant corn seed in your garden in the spring , you get corn in the fall. Of course, it takes a lot of nurturing of that garden in order to reap the benefits of sowing. The corn reaped in the fall is the natural consequence of the corn seed that was sown the prior spring. You can probably see where I am going spiritually. There are natural consequences spiritually as well. If you sow (plant) an angry thought (seed) against someone, then nurture that anger over time, you'll likely end up doing something stupid like telling that person "just what you think of them" and hurting them. That's the reaping of the anger you sowed. That's the resulting sin of your anger. Or maybe posting something demeaning to another on a social media...

Don't you know that when I fail, when I act horribly, strike out in anger at someone or goad them into their own fit of anger, that I am exhibiting the very reason I need Christ? It's not an excuse for my poor behavior. It's reality. For everyone one of us. Don't believe me? Show me a person who says it's not true and I'll show you the very same person who grades sin on a sliding scale. Interestingly, it always slides in favor of their pet bad behaviors! So when you see my good works or my bad behavior - and I do indeed strive to always make them good works as opposed to the bad behavior - know that I am not saved by them, but in spite of them. And know that there are always consequences to them for me in spite of my relationship with Christ.

For a truly sickening story of inhumanity, click here . of course, there are those who will say this has been going on for along time (see WWII Germany for examples) - that they are not surprised nor shocked. They should be though. We should never become desensitized to the awfulness of this kind of brutality against others.

I am reading "What's With Paul and Women?" by Jon Zens. He is advocating for women to be free from male domination and free to perform all tasks in church that they are gifted for. In the midst of reading that and following his argument, I ran across a short section on who really has authority in God's Kingdom. As is true with the rest of his book concerning women's roles in the church, his view of authority flies in the face of what we think of when we think about how churches are set up and who assumes authority. Running across this section is somewhat ironic in light of a facebook post I authored earlier today that read: "If any religious leader ever tries to claim any kind of spiritual authority over you, put that person out of your life. You have but one Person to give account to and that is God Himself." The reason I say it's ironice is listen to what Mr. Zens says on page 69 of his book: "We must remember that our Lord taught us that in h...

Am I willing to imitate Jesus by hanging out with "scum"? Do I live with the conviction that sinful people aren't scum at all to Jesus, but rather those to whom he and his followers (including me!) have been sent? For more from this challenging essay at The High Calling blog, go here .

I sometimes wonder if Heaven’s walls are pitted with holes left by Jesus’ head as he watches how we try to be his Body on Earth. The more I learn about my faith the more I realise that I am getting it wrong, taking it too far or not taking it far enough. One example that I’ve been thinking about recently is the way we talk about Jesus hanging out with prostitutes. As a speaker and mentor, I’ve talked about this a lot as well as hearing many other speakers and pastors do the same. And we all seem to emphasise the same thing: How amazing it is that God with skin on would spend time with someone who sells their body for money. It’s amazing to me how I can be so right and so wrong at the same time. If the writer of this got your attention, read the rest of his essay here .