For the first time in my life…
I have the flu.
I didn’t know it was possible to feel hot and cold at the same time.
I can’t remember the last time I had a fever… but it was up to 102 last night. And seems to stay around 99 or 100 while I’m taking Tylenol every 3 hours.
I think I have the Black death.
Before the batteries in my iDog died, I was listening to the next podcast by Rob Bell in his series on Phillippians (Grace and Peace was the first).
Wow. He digs in deep and pulls out some great stuff. What you’re about to read comes from only the first 6 or 7 minutes of the message (and this may come across as disjointed because it’s hard to paraphrase a sermon sometimes and I don’t want to just write verbatim what he said).
Philippians 1:3-6
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
There are certain phrases in these verses that would have automatically been recognized by Paul’s Jewish audience. Key words: began, good work, completed. These words have significant meaning… where do they first occur?
Genesis 1
In the beginning God created…
God began something.
In vs 10, vs 12, vs 18, vs 21, vs 25 – in all of these verses, God saw that “it was good.”
Chapter 2:1
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed…”
So something that was begun, that is a good work, that is completed… see where I’m going?
The Jewish readers of the first passage would have recognized Paul’s phrasing and associated it with Genesis. Why would Paul want them to make that connection?
1 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, Let light shine out of the darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Let light shine out of the darkness. That’s another image from Genesis. Why is Paul making the Jewish people think of the Creation account?
The same God who let light shine into the darkness of the universe, the same God who is in control of the universe, has taken the light and has shined it into your hearts so that you could see things as they truly are.
So when Paul begins Philippians, he says:
…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
And I love this next thought. I had to listen to it a few times because, quite honestly, it blew me away.
There is this creative dynamic propulsive nuclear energy that brought the universe into being. There is this power, the kind of power that made the solar system, the grand canyon, the oceans, and when you said “Yes” to the grace of God, that power was unleashed in you.
When we say yes to the grace of God, the explosive creative energy that brought the universe into being is unleashed in us.
How profound. Seriously. That’s a lot of power.
What if people lived with this kind of awareness? What if we approached everything in our lives with the awareness that we have access to the same power God used to create the oceans and the mountains? It would change how we do life!
Most of you know that I’ve given up TV for Lent in an effort to find an intimacy with God that has been missing in my life. So tonight, while my roommate was in the living room watching American Idol without me, I listened to a podcast from Mars Hill Church, of which Rob Bell is the pastor. The topic was Grace & Peace. I thought it was very fitting, since many of our contributors (2 of the 4) wrote about forgiveness this week. In fact, I thought it was so good that I’m listening to it for a second time while writing this.
Did you know that the apostle Paul began nearly every single letter (if not all with them) by wishing grace and peace to his audience? Everything he does he begins with “grace and peace to you.” What if everything we did began with “grace and peace to you”?
There are a few different definitions of grace, by different scholars…
I wish you favor, joy, pleasure, gratification, acceptance… and peace to you.
I wish you a favor done without expectation of return… and peace to you.
The absolutely free expression of the love of God finding its only motive in the bounty and benevolence of God… and peace to you.
Pretty cool, eh?
Joy, acceptance, favor, pleasure, every kind of good… to you.
I don’t know about you, but I like that. Rob is definitely right when he says, “I need grace and peace. I need people to speak grace and peace to me. I need to be reminded of it. ” He’s not the only one. I do too. It’s not often that grace and peace come from my lips.
Jesus says, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” One mystic says that to know everything is to forgive everything. Jesus says, “Father, forgive them.”
We need grace and peace for our enemies. Have you been wronged? Betrayed? Abandoned? Cheated on? Deserted? Stabbed in the back?
What would it be like to be so rooted and grounded in grace and peace…
So soaked and marinated in grace and peace that you could forgive people even as they’ve driven nails into your arms and feet?
Jesus forgives them while he’s still on the cross.
What would it be like to have that kind of grace and peace for your enemies? For the people you hate? For the people who have wronged you?
What would it be like if we could be so marinated and so alive in grace and peace that even to those that have most broken our hearts we could speak grace and peace?
It would change the world.
Discuss this article in the forums (comments are turned off here).
Crossposted at Common Ground.
Everyone around me seems to be getting married.
The sermon at church on Sunday? Finding Your Two.
Bah humbug.
Has anyone had any experience with CheapOAir.com? I’m planning to buy my mom a plane ticket to come out and visit sometime in the spring summer, so I’m weighing my options. So far, this website has by far the lowest price (before taxes):
As you can see, I’ve done my homework on this one! The consumer reviews listed on CheapOAir are, of course, very favorable. But I found a bunch of complaints against them on a complaint site.
So I’m wary. But I really want that cheaper flight.
Do any of you have experience with this company?
I found these lists today. I really like them. Although I have to disagree with the assessment that men like this exist.
In recent years I’ve become a pretty big fan of Will Ferrell. Talladega Nights. Blades of Glory. More Cowbell.
And now… Semi-Pro.
And Old Spice is capitalizing on his latest film. Check out these frikkin funny commercials for Old Spice. Especially Number Two and Look it Up. They’re the best (I think, anyways).
I completely spaced that Saturday was my two year blogiversary!
It’s hard to believe that I’ve had this website for 2 years. It doesn’t feel that long. I can’t believe I’ve been this committed to something for that long, either.
This month’s topic on Common Ground is altruism. There are four new articles up today (which is awesome since the last three weeks only had 1 new article each week!).
Stop over and take a gander around, then jump over to the forums for discussion!
You can also find links to both the website and the forums over in my right sidebar – ->>
It’s not Christmas, that’s for sure!
It’s the time of year that the luscious, crispy, crunchity, peanut buttery little bit of heaven that disguises itself as a cookie shows itself.
Yes, it’s Girl Scout Cookie time! And that little bit of heaven goes by the moniker “Tagalongs.”
*Sigh*
I wonder how long I can make a box of 15 (well… 14 now) last?
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