Just seven years ago, if someone had told me that I'd be writing for Christianity Today magazine about how I came to believe in God, I would have laughed out loud. If there was one thing in which I was completely secure, it was that I would never adhere to any religion—especially to evangelical Christianity, which I held in particular contempt. I grew up in the Episcopal Church in Alaska, but my belief was superficial and flimsy. It was borrowed from my archaeologist father, who was so brilliant he taught himself to speak and read Russian. When I encountered doubt, I would fall back on the fact that he believed. Leaning on my father's faith got me through high school. But by college it wasn't enough, especially because as I grew older he began to confide in me his own doubts. What little faith I had couldn't withstand this revelation. From my early 20s on, I would waver between atheism and agnosticism, never coming close to considering that God could be real. After college I worked as an appointee in the Clinton administration from 1992 to 1998. The White House surrounded me with intellectual people who, if they had any deep faith in God, never expressed it. Later, when I moved to New York, where I worked in Democratic politics, my world became aggressively secular. Everyone I knew was politically left-leaning, and my group of friends was overwhelmingly atheist. by Howard Bailey There are many groups of Christians, I am going to highlight two of them. One group mentioned the most in the Bible 38 times. ( I Borrowed Elmer's Bible) They are the Ignorant Brothers. (Romans 11:25) I am not assuming that any in Crosstalk fit into this category. How could we with the fine leadership, brilliant remarks and discussions that ensue each week. The group of Christians I want to highlight are those that do not appreciate the status they have, and truly deserve, being in Christ. The Apostle Paul spoke in Romans 12:3, “Do not think more highly (of yourself) than you aught.” Having said that, it also implies that you should at least think highly of yourself as you are. Most people shy away from having a high regard about themselves being a christian. I find that many people take from this verse the feeling that they should behave in an aura of humility, almost as if they were ashamed of being a christian. Don't you think Michael Jordan thought he was a better than an average basketball player? We have so much to be grateful for in being in Christ. Look at who we are, what we have and that we are going to be with him in eternity. Maybe, if we have the self confidence, appreciation of the following, people may wonder and want to know how what it is that gives us this countenance we have. We are the Temple of and are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19) Because Jesus is our King (1 Timothy 6:15) , that makes us princes as we are the children of God. (John 1:12) Along with this, we are also His chosen people (1 Peter 1:9) and His ambassadors, Wow! There are two songs, one we sing. One in church, “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus”, and a secular song, “You”re nobody till somebody loves you” What are they telling us? Stand up for our Lord and Savior and let others know how proud we are to know Him on a personal basis. The second reminds us that we are somebody because God loves us. He always has, He always will. While God loves us then, let His love shine through us to others. If we love others, then they may become somebody in Christ. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke10:27) What a resume this would make. Stand tall, sit tall and exude your happiness and love you have in Christ so that others may ask why you are so blessed. Smile, Jesus love you. Yours and His, Howard Bailey Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Jesus told us to stop judging others, to look at the log in our own eye instead of at the splinter in someone else’s eye. The Apostle Paul in talking about the “thorn in his flesh,” seems to have become very sensitive to and very aware of the “log in his own eye. I believe that God has given each of us a “thorn in the flesh,” to humble us and to help us recognize that we cannot make it alone, that we need His help to become the kind of people we want to be and He wants us to be. I believe that the thorn he has given us is directly tied to the gifts and talents that he wants us to use in His Spirit, out of our love for Him and for each other. I believe that the thorn in our flesh is the dark side of those gifts, the side we see when we use them “in the flesh,” to serve ourselves often at the expense of others. There has been much speculation about the exact nature of the thorn in Paul’s flesh, but that’s all it is, speculation. I am less concerned about the specific nature of his thorn than I am about what his words seem to imply a thorn is. From Paul’s words I realize that my thorn is something that get’s me into trouble (it humbles me). It is something that I can’t control on my own no matter how hard I try. Finally it is something that God is not going to take away. The thorn is there for a reason, and it serves a purpose. It is there to keep me humble. More than that, it is a tool that God uses to continue the process by which I become transformed ever so slowly into the image of His Son. It is there to help me become a more caring, loving, forgiving, person. At Crosstalk Friday morning, 11/22/2013, Jim suggested that everyone watch the short video clip of The Robinson Family. The trailer for the video is included here. If you would like to watch the complete video, 36 minutes, click here. “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:25-33 What I like about the quotation from Ephesians is not the role definition that Paul seems to ascribe to males and females. I don’t believe as Paul did that women should never speak in church or have authority over men. I don’t believe that a man is always right. What I like about the quotation is the emphasis that Paul places on the kind of love a man is to have for his wife. It is also the kind of love that I believe a wife should have for her husband. It is the kind of love that allows us to forgive each other’s sins and mistakes. me that I need to search for the hurt and the fear that drives the behavior of my accusers. |
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