Today, I post in response to heidi:

I must admit, I’ve had a lot of questions bouncing around in my head lately, but seem to be recently always coming back to Micah 6:8. (act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before our God)

I’ve also been recently frustrated with the evangelical bent towards reason and well-thought everything. No, we should not abandon such pursuits, but what ever happened to Paul, preaching the “foolishness” of God, and desiring that those who came to Christ have their faith rest not on man’s wisdom, but God’s power?

It’s as if we can be in love with God during worship, and surrender to his Spirit in an undignified manner then, but must abandon ourselves to cold logic the rest of the time…

My weakness saddens me. My inability to boldly speak the truth hurts me. Not that I can’t easily argue doctrine with other believers (even if it happens to be controversial in their eyes), but I find that it is nearly impossibly to just up and share my faith. I can act like a Christian, claim to be one, etc, but to take the step to ask someone what place God has in their life…?

It all boils dwn to the fundamental “foolishness” of the gospel, and my reluctance to look the fool. I’m too proud, I hate failure/rejection too much. Paul lays out the concept of this foolishness pretty quickly in 1 Cor 1. He basically says that the gospel is foolishness to the world, and it’s by God’s power alone (not human wisdom) that people come to believe.

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 Cor 1:17)

Apologetics will not get anyone saved. Ravi Zacharias put it well when he said that the sole purpose of apologetics is to clear up some of the smoke to alow people to really see the gospel clearly.

So let us preach the gospel, but “not with wise and persuasive words, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Cor 2:5)

“For, ‘Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.’” 1 Peter 3:10-11

Looking a bit further back in 1 Peter 3, we see we’re to “live in harmony,” “be sympathetic…compassionate…humble…repay evil with blessing” “For to this you were called” We must actively seek peace with those around us, doing all we can to be salt and light.

However, we must never lose our saltiness or light to live at peace. Jesus himself said, “whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:33-36)

Live a life of love and peace, but understand that your faith will (sooner or later) cause some conflict. People will not always understand you. Make your greatest effort to respond peacefully, with love.

Ah yes, week three will be fun: Peace. At first glance, it looks to be easier than love and joy, but who knows? We’ll certainly find out. I hope to find out a little more about inner peace, world peace, and peace and carrots. (Sorry, I know that was painfully bad. What’s more painful is me not deleting it completely.)

This morning I was rushed, so all I came up with was Philippians 4:6-7, but what a great passage! So often we worry about things for a long time before they become severe enough to pray about. And sometimes, when faced with circumstances that are beyond severe, we don’t take the time to bring them before the LORD because we just don’t see it doing any good. Come on, people! This is peace that transcends all understanding! God is in the business of doing things we can’t even imagine.

“I dunno, I can imagine a lot!” (Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope)

Yes, I’m hopelessly fragmented, but I’m in a hurry to get this posted before I run off to eat and then to Bible Study. We’re starting a new semester here (I’m helping out with the KSU Navs), so we get to pick a new book: anyone have any great ideas?

Go in peace today. Come back tomorrow for more!

Peace out! [groan]

Sorry, I slept through my morning devotional time this morning. Check out what Osama Bin Laden is up to though!

Sorry this isn’t about Joy, but I got distracted by James yesterday…

Read James 1:22-25, then consider the following. What has God taught you recently? Have you continued acting upon that revelation? Do you continue coming back to his Word daily, seeking wisdom and holiness? Or have you forgotten about the mud on your face, naively wandering through life telling yourself that everything is fine?

You see, entropy tells us that things naturally go from order to disorder. If we’re not actively moving to become closer to God, we’re drifting away. And the more intently you look into the “mirror” James refers to, the more you realize how much work needs to be done in your life.

So come back to the mirror of God’s Word, consider what it reveals in your life, and ACT. Then keep coming back, and “[you] will be blessed in what [you] do.” (James 1:25)