Morn'n Meds

Daily Thoughts

Marriage. When happiness is the prime objective for marriage we seek for as many compatibilities as possible so that we won’t be unhappy. Alternatively, when ‘joy’ in the Lord is our prime objective, through love we respect our spouse just as s/he is - rejoicing in differences as opportunities to grow wisely and in grace.

Respect. Our natural inclination is to change everything and everyone around us so that ‘we’ don’t have to change. That seldom works out well. Here’s ‘something better’. Try respecting people and things as they are. Curiously, as soon as you do, you become a life-long learner, a person of ‘grace’.

The Story

The Story at the Good Cup - “Mistaken” - (Mk 12:18-27) Sat @ 5pm. Franklin TN 

A conversation about heaven, marriage, & mistakes.

Come on over and join the discussion.

We are a participatory, unchurchy, small and diverse gathering of folks interested in getting to know who Jesus was apart from all the usual religious, denominational trappings. No creeds, no offering taken, no membership, no programs, no forced conclusions - just a discussion.

All welcome

Would we truly want a President to make decisions based on his religion or based on our US Constitution? What if the President believed that our US Constitution was based on the Bible rather than Greek philosophy? Wouldn’t we want a person who would be the President for all the people? Would we want a pastor who made decisions based on the US Constitution? Shouldn’t there be a different source of authority for a pastor vs the President of the United States?

Omnipotence. If we really believed in the omnipotence of God, how would that change our daily life? If God can do anything, is there anything too fantastic to believe? Can’t we accept all the evidences of science and all the scripture? Can bodily resurrection not be a provable fact, yet be the truth?

Angels. Were all the angels made at once? Clones or each made unique? Despite the common, but nonsensical interpretation of Gen 6:1,2 contrary to Mk 12:25, angels are not sexual beings - nor will bodily resurrection render us as sexual beings since we will be like them. Thus, no marriage in heaven. Does this mean that Gal 3:28 will become a physical reality?

Americans sacrifice their lives for freedom. Christians have always sacrificed their freedom for love.

—Coldstream

American soldiers give up their lives for the cause of freedom. Would Christians be as willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the kingdom of God - for the cause of love? The willingness to die for love makes the kingdom ‘tangible’, just as a soldiers willingness to die for freedom keeps the American way of life safe.

Not all who wander are lost.

—J. R. R. Tolkien

While the American priority is freedom, the Christian priority is love. When the ‘American Christian’ ceases to love in order to protect freedom s/he acts as an American, but not as a Christian. Because we are ‘free in Christ’ we ‘love our enemy’. No one can take that kind of true ‘freedom’ away from the one who loves.

Most of us deal with life at the superficial level. We don’t have time to dig deeper. We ‘get by’ and assume that what ‘we’ see is all there is to see. But some, who have dug deeper, actually see life differently. Thus they make decisions that to the superficial thinker seem absurd. The scriptures call this ‘wisdom’.

tonyburgess asked: I agree with you, the American church has a healthy dose of prosperity and freedom tied to it. I think its the freedom to prosper no matter what. There's plenty of blame to go around in regard to this. Keep on blogging!

Yes, we ought to cherish freedom whenever it is offered (1 Cor 7:21), yet if our faith is dependent upon political freedom then it is not of much value in the world since few people have such freedom. Faith in God is independent of circumstances (Rom 8:31-39). The far greater concern ought to be having a faith in God that produces a grace-filled love for others whatever our circumstances. Our American obsession with freedom has skewed our practice of faith making ‘freedom’ the objective of faith rather than love. We are ‘free’ in Christ whether or not we have objective freedom. What think ye?  :)

Having just argued that God intervenes miraculously to save the innocent (Num 5:11-22), I can’t help but find my position challenged by everyday life. Yet, if we cling only to the present for the evidence of God’s ‘help’ we exalt the temporal over the spiritual. God’s intervention is Christ. Whatever losses we have now are made right through hope in life after life.

But now faith, hope, love, freedom, abide these four; but the greatest of these is freedom.

Say what? What has America done to Christianity?

Nationalism hijacked, neutered and then co-opted adulterated ‘Christianity’. The voice of the Almighty has ever since been drowned out by the perennial sounds of war and money-making.

—Coldstream