The Wake-Up Call

To grow in maturity as a follower of Jesus means to grow in the anointing.

This psalm foreshadows the great vision of the new covenant, where men and women from every tribe, tongue, and nation will be adopted into the family of God.

The metric for Christian maturity is not competent skills or great gifts, but humility and holy love.

When you boil it all down, the problem is never out there in the so-called world. The problem is in here, in the broken world of my inmost self.

The love of God could bring them into relationships with other people in such a way that their lives exuded the joy-filled, holy love of God, which is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that can take a broken world and transform it into a new creation.

To the extent that I am not actively putting my self-interest aside and serving and helping and looking out for the best interests of the people around me, I am walking around in the darkness, lost as I can be.

When Jesus taught his disciples the meaning of love, he didn’t render an interpretation. He became the interpretation.

Love is not about playing nice. We are talking about nothing less than taking on the supernatural nature of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can live a new life.

What a great assurance is ours that however unstable and rebellious the world gets, God is going to intervene and set things right.

Is it possible to not sin? What if we flipped that question on its side and asked it like this: Is it possible to love?

To be made perfect in love means growing in the love of God for other people.

Confession doesn’t begin with naming our sins. It begins with claiming the truth that we are sinners.

I’m beginning to think our biggest problem is the way we deceive ourselves about sin.

Perhaps the biggest misconception we have is that our relationship with God will determine our relationships with other people. It’s just the opposite. If you want to know what kind of fellowship I have with God, examine my relationships with other people.

That Jesus was raised from the dead can never be proved, only believed.

It is the empty tomb which finally fulfills this psalm, granting us joy in his presence and eternal pleasures at his right hand where Jesus Christ is seated in glory.

Fill us with your Spirit that we might be your ambassadors in all places.

Send your Holy Spirit that my life may always be oriented around the beauty of who you are.

Though you were abandoned to suffer the worst humanity conceived of, you offered me your best gift—eternal life.