Thoughts & Musings on
Freedom & Family
Jill, the fab four (our kids), and I are on vacation this week in the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania. Taking in a change of scenery and pace, with the same loved-ones, is good for the soul. As city folk, we don’t do a lot of hiking. Give us a busy sidewalk or crowded intersection and we will crush it -- but we aren’t all hikers.
Read More“All world’s a stage,” my mom would tell me. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized my mom’s philosophy of life was a quote from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Agree or disagree with the sentiment, there are things we can learn about relationships from the theatre.
Read MoreFor all of the joys and even successes you may experience in life, living life well cannot save you. I am sorry to be the bearer of such negative news. No amount of perfect living is going to save any of us. Paradoxically, it’s actually in dying to the myth of salvation by achievement that we find life and hope.
Read MoreIf you’re going to be in relationship with someone, being present is important. It sounds kind of ridiculous to say that, doesn’t it? I mean, isn’t it assumed that relationships involve presence? I guess we‘d have to define “relationship” then, wouldn’t we?
Read MoreI tend to spend a lot of time in coffee shops. It’s probably for the obvious reasons: I like coffee and I enjoy talking with people. The whir of the grinder and the hissing of the milk steamer stimulates my creativity. But I’ve noticed a significant change happening in most coffee shops in our city.
Read MoreRemember that classy invitation you received? The one that said:
“You are invited to enjoy and extend the freedom and family found at the table Jesus has prepared.” Notice that it didn’t merely offer for you to enjoy freedom but also to enter into a family as well.
Read MoreOf the many characteristics of Jesus I admire, the one that I find the most astonishing is that he never seemed rushed or in a hurry. Here he is, the God-man who took on flesh to “seek and save the lost”, and he doesn’t seem pressed for time.
Read MoreImagine receiving an ivory colored envelope with your name neatly written in calligraphy on the front. You peel back the the corner to reveal a beautiful invitation that simply reads:
“You are invited to enjoy and extend the freedom and family found at the table Jesus has prepared.”
From the beginning, God has loved and created us without needing something from us in return. His love truly is the very example of what (in this series) we’ve been calling one way love. A love that is extended from one direction (God) to another (us) without regard for what comes back.
Read MoreIn this brief series, I’ve said that love finds its root in a Person, not merely a feeling. Through faith in this Person, Jesus, we are free to focus less on ourselves and to love others without seeking our own way -- our desired outcome from loving someone. This kind of love can seem dangerous, reckless even. It's also true, I admit, that outcome-based love is dangerous, but the danger is doubled; our love may always be rejected, but in the case of outcome-based love, we also run the risk of having our expectations dashed.
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