Everyone knows the story of the prodigal son, which we read today in Luke 15. The message is encouraging...the younger son wastes everything he was given by his father and then returns with a knowledge that he is unworthy but the father loves him anyways.
There's a book I encourage you to read called "The Prodigal God", which was written by Timothy Keller. He wrote his book based off a sermon from Dr. Edmund Clowney, and he takes a different approach to what we can learn from the parable of the lost son.
His book considers how we often overlook the older brother in the story. What does he do when his brother returns to ask for forgiveness? He refused to forgive his brother and he resented his father for not recognizing him with the fanfare he gave the lost son. There is a correlation between the younger brother and the tax collectors and sinners who understood Jesus' message...and the Pharisees and teachers of the law were like the older brother, who represented the moral and obedient who never turned away from their self-righteous thinking.
The thought provoking (although not new) concept of the book is that, through this parable, "There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord," says Keller. "One is by breaking all the moral laws and setting your own course, and one is by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good."
A repentant heart who asks forgiveness of the Father is celebrated by the angels in heaven and is worthy of our support as believers in Christ. A self-righteous sense of entitlement is not the same as truly knowing and following Christ.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
How Salty Are You?
My life has been consumed by thoughts about salt the past few days. My husband had to see the Dr. on Monday morning because his blood pressure sky-rocketed...he was shaky, his heart was racing, and he got light-headed every time he stood up. After a trip to Urgent Care, a valium and some blood pressure medicine he was sent home with orders to see a physician...which he did yesterday. Now we're challenged with making some dietary changes and in a month we'll see if the numbers go down. Yes, it's hereditary, but the main cuplrit here is salt!
I don't know if you've ever looked at the foods you eat, but you might be as suprised as we were to find out just how much salt/sodium there is in everything!! It's even in things that don't taste salty like cereal. We rely on so many pre-packaged foods, and the manufacturers rely on salt to preserve it's shelf life. Did you realize that it will take 6 weeks of limiting your salt intake for your taste buds to adjust to it's liking of other seasonings? We've been trained to want way more than our body needs.
Salt is very useful to prevent food from spoiling...and it adds flavor. But, like all earthly pleasures, it needs to be kept in check. In our spiritual walk, we need to keep our "saltiness" in check too. It's all too easy to walk around like Mrs. Dash and pretend to be salt, but it's just not the real thing.
Being the kind of salt that Jesus talks about (the kind that brings flavor to life) requires the same kind of concentrated effort it takes to carefully plan how much sodium we consume in our diets. When we choose to blend in instead of stand up for Christ we lose our saltiness and become worthless. "Salt is good, but if it loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" So go and be salt in the world (but just watch how much you eat)! :-)
I don't know if you've ever looked at the foods you eat, but you might be as suprised as we were to find out just how much salt/sodium there is in everything!! It's even in things that don't taste salty like cereal. We rely on so many pre-packaged foods, and the manufacturers rely on salt to preserve it's shelf life. Did you realize that it will take 6 weeks of limiting your salt intake for your taste buds to adjust to it's liking of other seasonings? We've been trained to want way more than our body needs.
Salt is very useful to prevent food from spoiling...and it adds flavor. But, like all earthly pleasures, it needs to be kept in check. In our spiritual walk, we need to keep our "saltiness" in check too. It's all too easy to walk around like Mrs. Dash and pretend to be salt, but it's just not the real thing.
Being the kind of salt that Jesus talks about (the kind that brings flavor to life) requires the same kind of concentrated effort it takes to carefully plan how much sodium we consume in our diets. When we choose to blend in instead of stand up for Christ we lose our saltiness and become worthless. "Salt is good, but if it loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" So go and be salt in the world (but just watch how much you eat)! :-)
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Don't Be Afraid
8-9"Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God's angels. But if you pretend you don't know me, do you think I'll defend you before God's angels?
10"If you bad-mouth the Son of Man out of misunderstanding or ignorance, that can be overlooked. But if you're knowingly attacking God himself, taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won't be overlooked.
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