The startling truth about God’s presence

I posted the first two chapters of Ephesians last time in order to give Paul’s detailed account of the good news that brings great joy. The reason this account is so important is because it not only tells us what Christ did for us on the cross but also what that means to us…today, tomorrow, and forever. I will spend some time now expounding on some of my own thoughts about this. 

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Encountering the good news that brings great joy

We know that the word “gospel” means “Good news that brings great joy.” Paul concisely defines the gospel in 1 Cor.15:1-4, which is not only one of the oldest written texts in the New Testament, within a couple of decades of the event itself, but also only a reminder of what his followers already knew very well from their oral creeds that date back to within a year of the crucifixion itself (see “New Testament Hymns and Creeds“). But that’s not my point here. 

Encountering the God of the Word

Jesus said this to His disciples: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63).  The Bible was never meant to be read as a textbook, or really even as a history book. At least, not in any modern sense. This is one point some Christian apologists and most skeptics seem to miss. 

Just how far will Love go?

From our small town in Wisconsin to the beautiful city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia is 5,316 miles. Several years back, I went there with two of our leaders to minister in several rehab centers around that region. I’ll call these two leaders Mark and Josh, because that’s their real names. The rest of the names in this retelling will be fictitious in order to protect their identity. You’ll see why in in a moment. 

Surrender: the key to greater revelation

One key to receiving greater revelation from God is found in cultivating a heart of surrender. You’ll begin to hear God speak more clearly through His Word and indwelling Spirit. But the main issue of surrender is not so much about our sins or bad habits (we should surrender those, too); it has more to do with our relationship with Him. To see this, let’s look at Jesus first. 

The Cosmic Reboot

In the Doctor Who episode, “The Big Bang,” the doctor (who is a Time Lord) reboots the Universe by allowing the Pandorica’s restoration field and the preserved pre-explosion Universe atoms to shine across all of space and time, thus undoing the TARDIS explosion, and restores everything to the way it was before the explosion (Wikipedia).

And this is a great analogy for what Christ (the Lord of Time) did for us on the cross. 

How Christendom gave us Secularism

In my last post, it was suggested that I was taking common human experiences, like love, beauty, art, and awe, and assigning them to God. It’s assumed in the accusation that there’s some inviolable separation between them. Interestingly, we owe a lot to the rise of Christendom for this assumption. But what if it’s the other way around? What if it’s all from God in the first place?