Monday Morning Musings
- Yes, I know…I saw the replays…so please don’t talk to me about the Bengals…I may spontaneously burst into tears.
- I was extremely nervous to preach yesterday…this weeks beatitude; “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. For me, it was one of the toughest messages I have ever preached. Why? I guess I question if we westerners can really understand the root of this statement from Jesus…and because it really messes with the auto-definitions that I have built into my life-theology. Can we really grasp what it means to be empty of ourselves…to live completely other-focused. Can we even define kenosis in 30 min…and truely grasp it?
- Maybe this helps us define (Hebrew) mercy – Do nothing from selfish ambition of conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross (Philippians 2:1-8)…
- As much as I felt the struggle yesterday to ‘wrap up’ the tension of living a life of mercy…I’m ok with letting all of us struggle with applying it for ourselves. As I said yesterday…you can apply it better to your life than I can. Today I read a great post from Mark Batterson that put some word-skin on the thought-skeleton that has been rattling around in my brain for a few weeks. BTW…this understanding that preaching is not enough makes our participation in the conversation hour even more crucial to the spiritual development here at nbc.
- I love…absolutely love, what God is doing in me these days. I am beginning to embrace the broken-ness. Becoming dependent on presence…remaining in my posture of confession…and am happy.
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