Tinkering or Totally New

The birds are back. The ones that chirp incessantly early in the AM before the sunrise. A harbinger of the warm weather to come. So, instead of wanting to don my elmer fudd hat and rifle, I just embrace the noise as good news - time to work on my stroke. My golf game has been in hibernation, until last year, and someone gave me a golf book for my birthday so I have been reading - tinkering or using a new grip. Often, we try to keep our core practices and add on bells or whistles or small improvements. That is easy. Hard is tearing up your old strategy or habits, like a golf grip that works for you, and spending a little more time with a new grip. More work and time to get to a better game. As is with the Gospel...the Gospel does not improve you or help you make small adjustments. It is changing everything about how you looked at life and how you carry yourself. And it is not easy and will not be short. But one day, you will stand on the green and sink in that putt and feel pretty good about the hole that you played.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Sexy and Greedy?

It only took a few days into this new blog to talk about 2 things sure to catch people's attention. I was prepared to write about something else on this cold wintry morning but on my way from the subway, I passed by two ads that made me "think". Both advertised warmer climates - and of course featured bikini-clad women. Proper context. So it goes that sex, like money, are wonderful things given to us by God the Father and anything God has created is certainly not unclean. What society and the sin of Man (and woman) has done is to make it "dirty" in its use and message. Sex is not a thing to "consume" and certainly not meant to be taken casually and neither is money. Both in the proper context - sex in a marriage and money being handled carefully in stewardship - is what God intended for us. As believers, in community, these are things we can talk about and work through the Biblical approaches for both. We know these are 2 important topics that we cannot and should not ignore.

Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because they are improper for God's holy people.