Our disagreements and discussions operate like the chisel of a sculptor. They are used to remove the stuff that mars the image that the creator sees in us.

Question 26 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “How does Christ fill the office of a king?“ The answer given is, “Christ fills the office of a king in making us his willing subjects, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.” The first thought inspired by this […]

Isaiah’s cry, “I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5) resonates with me this morning. I have wounded others and have been wounded by others through both speech and action. The question arises as to how to respond to the wounds. There are three possible […]

Perhaps we should hit the pause button and stop to think about what kind of disciples we are making. We would do well to remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7.

We need to emulate both Jesus and the leper in this story. We emulate the leper by coming to Jesus as the only means of curing our spiritual disease. We emulate Jesus by being the conduit for Jesus to show his love to others who are in desperate need of it.

I want to be blessed because it makes my life easier or more comfortable. That is how I often assess if I am being blessed. If I am uncomfortable or something is going on in my life which is difficult, I feel like the blessing switch has been turned off.

My point in all this is that we are broken people living in a broken culture and we are called to minister to people like us who have made a mess of life. We must invite them into relationship with Jesus without laying on them the impossible task of cleaning themselves up first.

Before we are quick to look down on the Jewish leaders we should stop to think about why this story is important enough to be in the Bible. It is important that it is in there because we are made of the same stuff and will fall into the same traps if left to ourselves.