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Acts 17:22-31
In this year's voting for players to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, sluggers were absent from the list. The sports writers, who are responsible for determining eligibility, were leery of admitting anyone who was suspected of using steroids to enhance his performance. Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark noted that it will be decades for sluggers from the Steroids Era to be evaluated in context with their predecessors.
Those players who used steroids worshiped an "unknown god." Instead of depending upon their God-given abilities and talent, they chose to turn to a god made of human hands. And in so doing there was judgment upon their actions. Their records may always have an asterisk beside them. They sacrificed themselves before the dead altar of vanity rather than the living altar of humility.
Let us be sure our performance in life reflects the worship of our living God, which will be seen in lives lived in honesty, integrity, and humility.
Ron L.
Acts 17:22-31
Do you ever feel like there is something missing? Surrounded by all the things in the world, good and bad, ugly and beautiful... still. A blank space. An unnamable space. A space that sometimes keeps you awake at night, trying to put your finger on what exactly it is. The mysterious "Rainbow Connection." The "ineffable." The Athenians that Paul speaks to in today's reading knew that space. In their great pantheon of gods, they still felt that empty space nag at them like a jagged fingernail -- just noticeable enough to be a little bit irritating. The Athenians addressed this problem by making it a part of their religious observances. They called it "the unknown god" and mixed it into their collection of known gods -- an attempt to cover all bases, to soothe the jagged fingernail of unknown space that sometimes kept them awake in the night hours.
Leah T.
1 Peter 3:13-22
Once, when I was a university student, I went to a debate between a well-known Christian apologist and a prominent atheist. It was an interesting discussion with many well thought out arguments on both sides. While I'm not sure anyone in the audience changed their position on the existence of God after that debate (I can safely say I didn't), it did offer a lot of food for thought.
Thinking back on that evening as I read this passage, I find myself asking, "How do we as Christians want to get the message out? Do we want to be relentless defenders, unwavering and self-assured to the point of arrogance? Do we want to be capitulating, perhaps even apologetic (in the other sense of the world) for our faith, in the hopes that we can bring people to Christ because they like us and feel comfortable with us?" Which is the right way to go? As Peter points out, we need the proper balance when defending our faith: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (v. 15).
Craig K.
John 14:15-21
Mark Twain would not allow his autobiography to be released until 100 years after his death. The century has finally passed and his most intimate writings have been revealed to the public. Because of his diatribes against Christianity, it is being questioned if Twain was a Christian or not. His writings reflect the truths of the scriptures, and he was active in his home Presbyterian church. Yet, in his autobiography he attacks the Christian religion. In one line he wrote, "There is one notable thing about our Christianity: bad, bloody, merciless, money-grabbing and predatory... ours is a terrible religion." Scholars who have examined all of Twain's writings and life have concluded that he was not opposed to Christianity, but only the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be Christian.
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And this is the point that Mark Twain was making, ours is a hypocritical religion if we do not keep God's commandments.
Ron L.
John 14:15-21
What do you do when you love someone? As author Salman Rushdie writes in his novel The Satanic Verses, "love is a yearning to be like (even to become) the beloved." Perhaps trying to "become" that person is a bit strong, but you do try to make them happy. And how better to make them happy than to do what they want you to do? To follow their rules? To obey, as it were, their "commandments"? We do this with our parents, our significant others, our close friends. How often have you caught yourself avoiding certain things because someone close to you dislikes it? Or found yourself using phrases and speech patterns that you have picked up from people you admire? When we love someone, we start to immerse ourselves in them. Let it be so for the one who we love and admire above all: Christ.
Leah T.
In this year's voting for players to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, sluggers were absent from the list. The sports writers, who are responsible for determining eligibility, were leery of admitting anyone who was suspected of using steroids to enhance his performance. Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark noted that it will be decades for sluggers from the Steroids Era to be evaluated in context with their predecessors.
Those players who used steroids worshiped an "unknown god." Instead of depending upon their God-given abilities and talent, they chose to turn to a god made of human hands. And in so doing there was judgment upon their actions. Their records may always have an asterisk beside them. They sacrificed themselves before the dead altar of vanity rather than the living altar of humility.
Let us be sure our performance in life reflects the worship of our living God, which will be seen in lives lived in honesty, integrity, and humility.
Ron L.
Acts 17:22-31
Do you ever feel like there is something missing? Surrounded by all the things in the world, good and bad, ugly and beautiful... still. A blank space. An unnamable space. A space that sometimes keeps you awake at night, trying to put your finger on what exactly it is. The mysterious "Rainbow Connection." The "ineffable." The Athenians that Paul speaks to in today's reading knew that space. In their great pantheon of gods, they still felt that empty space nag at them like a jagged fingernail -- just noticeable enough to be a little bit irritating. The Athenians addressed this problem by making it a part of their religious observances. They called it "the unknown god" and mixed it into their collection of known gods -- an attempt to cover all bases, to soothe the jagged fingernail of unknown space that sometimes kept them awake in the night hours.
Leah T.
1 Peter 3:13-22
Once, when I was a university student, I went to a debate between a well-known Christian apologist and a prominent atheist. It was an interesting discussion with many well thought out arguments on both sides. While I'm not sure anyone in the audience changed their position on the existence of God after that debate (I can safely say I didn't), it did offer a lot of food for thought.
Thinking back on that evening as I read this passage, I find myself asking, "How do we as Christians want to get the message out? Do we want to be relentless defenders, unwavering and self-assured to the point of arrogance? Do we want to be capitulating, perhaps even apologetic (in the other sense of the world) for our faith, in the hopes that we can bring people to Christ because they like us and feel comfortable with us?" Which is the right way to go? As Peter points out, we need the proper balance when defending our faith: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (v. 15).
Craig K.
John 14:15-21
Mark Twain would not allow his autobiography to be released until 100 years after his death. The century has finally passed and his most intimate writings have been revealed to the public. Because of his diatribes against Christianity, it is being questioned if Twain was a Christian or not. His writings reflect the truths of the scriptures, and he was active in his home Presbyterian church. Yet, in his autobiography he attacks the Christian religion. In one line he wrote, "There is one notable thing about our Christianity: bad, bloody, merciless, money-grabbing and predatory... ours is a terrible religion." Scholars who have examined all of Twain's writings and life have concluded that he was not opposed to Christianity, but only the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be Christian.
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And this is the point that Mark Twain was making, ours is a hypocritical religion if we do not keep God's commandments.
Ron L.
John 14:15-21
What do you do when you love someone? As author Salman Rushdie writes in his novel The Satanic Verses, "love is a yearning to be like (even to become) the beloved." Perhaps trying to "become" that person is a bit strong, but you do try to make them happy. And how better to make them happy than to do what they want you to do? To follow their rules? To obey, as it were, their "commandments"? We do this with our parents, our significant others, our close friends. How often have you caught yourself avoiding certain things because someone close to you dislikes it? Or found yourself using phrases and speech patterns that you have picked up from people you admire? When we love someone, we start to immerse ourselves in them. Let it be so for the one who we love and admire above all: Christ.
Leah T.
