Cross Encounters

Jesus and his Gospel and his revelation that God loves and cares for us does build us up not to ignore what is happening in the world, nor to try and make God and what he does in our image, but to have a confidence, hope, and resilience that God is good and does help us every day.

There’s not much mention in the Bible of God laughing but the many references to joy, rejoicing, praise, delight, and living a full life (in Christ) must mean that God laughs with more joy for his people than with sad irony over a blind humanity.

The environment is very topical today – as it should be – but the starting environment for Christians is coram Deo – in the presence of God. When that is understood then we can live and serve in any environment!

In the vastness of the universe, you are precious to God! When Jesus is the light of the world, you are truly enlightened!

We are observed, monitored, and tracked because people want something from us or to control us – so we find it very hard to imagine that God doesn’t do likewise. Amazing grace tells us another message – that God watches and acts towards us for our benefit! Amazing!

Against the charge that all Christians are hypocrites, those who live repentance grounded in Baptism are not pretending to be something they’re not but are living the saint-sinner tension in this world.

However we define the world and its troubles and evil, frailties and weakness, we will never get close to reality until we define things theologically – before God – and with sin, we don’t like what we find. Thank goodness, God has good news for us!

All Christian theology, Bible studies, sermons, and more become personal in Baptism where God personally declares all Christian theology, Bible studies, sermon, and more to be FOR YOU.

Jesus entered our world and lived each day not ’fast forwarding’ through the boring or dull days but died and rose again to be with us each day.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4 ESV).

So central and so important to the Christian life.

The best way is to come into God’s presence and he will serve you!

No matter our identities or roles in this world, Christians can have the sure foundation that they are God’s children because God is faithful!

Their message is the same – Jesus is God for us and with us – which is very personal!

Beyond our experiences of worship, God is present because he says so – through words, water, bread, and wine – and he is the one who is active towards us.

That is what life can seem like – one whack after another – never getting a break! (Where are you, God?!) The story of the crucified man alive again with us offers the best comfort and help that we or our life is not meaningless.

As important as my confession of Faith is, what is more important is Jesus’ action of confessing us to the Father!

It is so easy to be overwhelmed more and more with social media. There are many ways to respond. One key way is to pray. Another important way might be looking up more and more at the real world around you than the world on the screen.

That is probably one of the hardest messages to keep saying in the world and to believe in the heart! Nevertheless, it is true! Look to the cross!

Yes, the Bible talks about angels but let us be clear about what the Bible says and what is not said.

We cannot. Death takes our life. In Christ, Christians trust that death does not have the final say. That is the message at every Christian funeral. (Why not help your loved ones grieve at the funeral by writing down the Bible verses and hymns you would like at the service?)

We hear so many words and some of them speak to us. The Holy Spirit works so that we hear in God’s Word what we need to hear! Let us listen!

Christians always live in intersections of faith and action, church, and state – or in Two Kingdoms as Lutherans sometimes say. Nevertheless, being aware of the intersections helps us remember the essence of the Church and gives us freedom in how we live our faith.

For all the theological talk that is around and the mysteries we cannot fully understand, let us not lose sight of the joy and certainty of Jesus and salvation through him and live each day with his relationship with us at the centre of our being.

What is your perspective of God? What is the divine perspective of you? The world’s gods are ’up there’ or ’far away’ but in Christianity Jesus is close by and face to face.