Category: Bible Studies

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Living in the Neutral Zone

PhotobucketAs I started chapter 2 of Chasing Daylight, I was bombarded with some thoughts on living in neutral. I have read several blog posts lately concerning the church and Christians being involved with the issues that the world faces, but it was chapter 2 that brought it all to a head tonight.

I’ve read this section before in Erwin’s “Seizing Your Divine Moment” book before it was republished as “Chasing Daylight.” I never finished reading that book, so I re-read it in this one.

Here is the quote that stood out the most to me, I will post the others at a later time, but for now this one will do…“We have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for doing good.”

So when was the last time you stopped on the side of the road and helped that individual change their tire? Helped the elderly person unload their grocery bags or lift a heavy box into their car? When was the last time you walked all the way back into the retail store to tell the customer service desk that someone left their lights on? Sent a check for $20 to buy mosquito nets? Sponsored a child to make sure they would eat this month and get an education?

PhotobucketOpportunities to do good are all around us, but we have been so seasoned to avoid evil that we have allowed ourselves to live in the neutral zone. In capture the flag, the neutral zone is the inactive place to be in the game, no one could send you to prison, everything comes to a stop.
Life happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can idly sit by and do nothing…or as Erwin says in his book, we can do something.

Is it the great sin of the church that we have become so apathetic, so idle? James said, when we know to do good and we don’t do it…it’s sin! So, does that mean that in all of our effort to avoid evil, we position ourselves into a place where we still sin, if we move into the neutral zone? After all, its not evil to not help the elderly person put the box into their car, but if we know that it is an act of goodness and we turn the other way to avoid the situation, do we then in essence sin? Continue reading “Living in the Neutral Zone”

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Chasing Daylight Ch. 1 Thoughts (Part 2)

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Thoughts from Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus Chapter 1 Part 2…

  • The divine potential of a moment is unlocked by the choices we make. Each moment’s personal, historic, and eternal value is directly related to the choices we must make within it.

  • (Erwin writes about the Biblical account of the choices that God gave Adam & Eve. They chose to go the way of death) While Adam was hiding, God set out in search for Him. This is a great point of hope. Even when we are lost in the jungle, God in His great mercy pursues us and invites us once again to join His divine adventure.

  • No matter what kind of life you’ve lived, no matter how many wrong choices you’ve made, the next moment is waiting to give birth to new life. (Erwin writes about Rahab and uses her good choice to help God’s people as an example. She created a whole new future with one choice. Rahab is in the direct blood line of King David and Joseph the earthly father of Jesus.)

  • (Erwin uses Caleb and Joshua as an example. He writes that Joshua and Caleb through their faith was ready to take the land that God promised them when they spied on it, but because of the lack of faith of 10 other men, they were left to wonder in the desert for 45 years. When that generation died off, Joshua and Caleb were obedient and took the land.) There are things that God does for you and things that God waits for you to do.

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Final Thoughts on Messy Spirituality

I finished reading Messy Spirituality today. It was probably the fastest book I’ve finished besides “The Barbarian Way” by Erwin McManus. I could have finished it a couple of days ago, but I have been delayed from reading it over the past few days due to my schedule.

Here are my final thoughts from chapters 3-8. I have selected random quotes that stood out to me during my read. There were more than this, but I only have room for a select amount:

* “Christianity shows itself most powerfully in the unnoticed life, the inconspicuous servant, the unrecognized saint, the invisible disciple.”

* “The body of Christ can be mean.”

* “It’s ironic: we stumble into a party that we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus’ irresponsible love, we decide to make grace “more responsible” by becoming self-appointed Kingdom monitors…”

* “Religious people love to hide behind religion. They love the rules of religion more than they love Jesus. With practice, Condemners let rules become more important than the spiritual life.”

* “Rejection. The paralyzing experience of disapproval, repudiation, exclusion, ostracism. Religion has been good at rejection. Rejection keeps us at arm’s length and stamps us with the label “loser.” Which should be good news for you and me because, guess what? Jesus is attracted to losers. Jesus’ losers are great candidates for spirituality.

Continue reading “Final Thoughts on Messy Spirituality”

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Messy Spirituality Thoughts on Chapter 2

Here are some quotes from Chapter 2 of Messy Spirituality that stuck out to me or spoke to me:

* Sermons are not always amazing masterpieces of truth, wit, an insight. Sometimes the sermon just doesn’t work, doesn’t connect.

* Pretending is the modern grease for non-relationships…People who pretend have pretend relationships.

*Jesus understood un-finishedness very well, which is why he was comfortable leaving eleven unfinished disciples. When he died, the disciples were confused, depressed, afraid, and doubtful.

* Jesus cares more about desire than about competence.

* Christianity is not for people who think that religion is a pleasant distraction, a nice alternative, or a positive influence. Messy spirituality is a good term for where desperation meets Jesus.

* It’s amazing how few of us believe in the unqualified grace of God. Oh, yes, God loves us, as long as we’re clean and whole and fixed. But it turns out that what disqualifies you and me from “spirituality” – the mess of our lives and our crippledness – is what most qualifies us to be chosen by Jesus.

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Random Bible Thoughts

My Community Group started doing the NOOMA video series with Rob Bell a few weeks ago. We are on the 4th video, called “Sunday.” This is the first video I ever saw of his when they first came out, and it is one of my favorites. In the video Rob talks about Jesus when he dealt with the Pharisees from Matthew 23. I’ve been thinking a lot about that since Sunday. Have you ever noticed how impatient Jesus seems when it came to dealing with the religious leaders of his time, yet he was extremely patient with those who were unbelievers. Check out these verses from Matthew 23 to see for yourself (13, 15, 16, 23, 33 All in one link). He called them hypocrites, Sons of Hell, Sons of Vipers, Snakes, Blind guides…just to name a few.

Now compare that to Jesus’ patience when he was being crucified on the cross, by the non-believers, his famous words were, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) That is one of many examples that I could use, others being the woman at the well, Nicodemus, and others. I don’t know what made me even make that comparison, however it is clear to see that there is a huge difference in his attitude towards the “religious leaders,” who knew better, and the non-believers, who were acting in ignorance, as Paul said he did when persecuting the church (1 Timothy 1:13). I wonder how angry Christ must get at some pastors, churches, church leaders, and Christians with the way they act, the way they treat their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and most of all those who do not yet believe in Christ? Continue reading “Random Bible Thoughts”