The Problem Is Enmity, Not Ethnicity
The Problem Is Enmity, Not Ethnicity
— Read on justthinking.me/2018/04/16/the-problem-is-enmity-not-ethnicity/
Tag Archives: renewing
The Problem Is Enmity, Not Ethnicity
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Day 10: Say No To All Forms of Racism, Sexism, Ethnicism, Elitism, etc.
Galatians 3:27-28
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Collossians 3
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Soli Deo Gloria
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Foundational Faith
DAY 5
To my most beloved sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus who lives and reigns for evermore:
I make myself breakfast every morning. Ever since my wife and I did the South Beach Diet (which didn’t “stick” by the way) I’ve made eggs for breakfast. I found my morning goes better because I feel fuller for longer. But I goofed a little this morning. I started heating the pan, cracked my eggs and plunked them in the pan to make fried eggs. I’d forgotten an important step though: making sure the pan was hot enough. Sure, I had coated it with a thin layer of oil, but but it just wasn’t hot enough. So what’s the big deal? Well, if you’ve never done it, it means the eggs will stick. A lot. I made what my father in law refers to as fried scrambled eggs. And it’s a pain to clean the pan, stuck and dried on egg. And the end product, the eggs, are not as good as when they are done correctly. Sure, I could eat them but in a restaurant the customer would have sent the food back. It’s similar, but not really the same end result.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you”
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Who Have We Become?
Christians in America: Who are we? How do you first identify yourself? Is it by gender? Is it by place of birth? Some other modifier? Or by denomination? Does anything come before “Christian”?
I realized in my own life, that I was more defined by my political viewpoints. I was defined by the western education that raised me. By the philosophies of the Greeks and the Romans and the English. None of which is bad, in and of itself in my opinion.
But I had missed the foundational layer: Christ. Christ in me, the Hope of Glory.
I. Am. Christ’s.
We cannot serve two masters, we are told in scripture. And the very tenets, the very roots of yourself need to be in Christ. I think this makes the command to “pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin” a little easier to grasp.
Does some philosophy apart from Christ cause you to stumble?
Does your self made image need constant care and maintenance?
Then pluck it out. Tear it out. Burn it down. Dig it up and burn it.
Whatever. It. Takes.
“How?” you ask. The way the Church has for centuries counseled the penitent: With prayer. And fasting. And confession. And giving of alms. And meditation on God’s word. And tears. And supplications. And agonizing and pitiful sobs to the Holy Spirit. Because it’s the only way to dig away the sand to the rock that is Christ. Because your soul depends on it my sisters and my brothers. And only GOD can give you the strength to do it.
Soli Deo Gloria
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