Why God?

Ever fell into the trap of asking (or even complaining to) God about the returns on your  investment in His kingdom? One young man felt so good about his prospects that he was confident enough to say to Jesus “I’ve kept all the laws.” The disciples looking on saw a very disappointed young man walk away in response to Jesus’ answer. At this point, Peter quips “Well, we’ve left everything to follow you. What’s in it for us?” (Mat. 19:27; emphasis mine).

We just can’t help ourselves in not only comparing ourselves with others, but asking the same set of questions the original audience put to Jesus:[1]

ü  “What will I (we) get for our labor?  19:27

ü  “Why don’t I get more for my effort?  20:11

ü  “How can this be fair?”   20:12

ü  Since I (we) have sacrificed so much, will I (we) receive more than him/her?”  20:21-22

The Illogic of Grace: Dealing With My Neighbor

Kingdom values are totally reversed from the world. Our cultural values may contribute  harm and pain to others. How should we handle difficult situations? Sherwood Lingenfelter has an interesting perspective on how to deal with this:

"When we follow God's way we focus on loving one another and extending grace to our brothers and sisters in contexts where we have disagreements and conflicts with them. We try to implement the commands of the Lord to love one another, to deny ourselves, and to be servants. Our relationships are then guided not by logic, but by the illogic of love that flows from grace."[1]

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[1]  Sherwood Lingenfelter, Leading Cross-Culturally, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 50.

Cultivating A Christian Worldview- Our Nine Year Old Girl

My nine-year-old (she tells me soon to be 10) does not instinctively gravitate towards anything “church/God”. I have to wonder what my mom would say about me when I was 9/10 years old. I have been observing her for a few months now, and notice that if given the opportunity, she will not: sing church songs, worship, read her Bible, pray, act friendly towards others. However, as I have observed over this summer, she will: watch as many hours of videos as she can, she knows all the (worldly) songs and dance moves, can repeat the coolest things to say, can identify all the kid celebrities, will play all day. C’mon, you say…give her a break! She’s only nine years old. True. Again, at my age, I cannot remember what I was like at her age. I am sure I was no saint, and I did much the same things as she did. At nine, I was in Primary school and in love with the prettiest girl in the school (Kim), thought we'd get married too…funny thing I am married to another  beautiful girl named Kim. I was on top of stuff, knew all the songs (it was the Michael Jackson era). I was very engaged in school and did a lot of stuff with friends and family. But church… can’t say. I lived with my grandmother who had a more subdued approach to "training in the Way."