On Attending to the Light in Darkness
Donald Miller has posted a reflection on his Storyline blog about highlighting goodness and thereby pointing to Jesus in the aftermath of events such as the bombing in Boston this week. We want to emphatically declare together that “an enemy has done this” (Matt 13:28). But we also want to be a people who will attend to the light shining in the darkness, the hands and feet of Jesus bringing help and comfort. Where are you noticing the light of God in the darkness?
From Donald’s blog:
The real idea is that apart from God, true purity does not reside in us. Without His light shining through us, we are dark inside. But we often take this too far, devaluing the true goodness that is, while earthly, in every human being. We all reflect the goodness of our Maker, whether we know that Maker or not. When we shine a light on the courage and bravery, kindness and altruism displayed by every human being, we say to the world, “See that goodness inside of you? That comes from your Father. You got that from your Father,” and as such invite people to know their God.
Category: General
Tags: Boston Bombings, Donald Miller, Evil, Jesus
Related Reading
Why Did Jesus Curse a Barren Fig Tree?
While no one argues that the NT advocates violence explicitly, many allege that some passages reflect violent attitudes toward outsiders, and especially toward non-believing Jews, while others detect an element of violence in some of Jesus’ teachings and behavior. Some scholars argue that this violent aspect of the NT laid the groundwork for later Christian…
The Cruciform Center Part 2: How John’s Gospel Reveals a Cruciform God
In the previous post, we looked at how the Synoptics illustrate the centrality of the cross. While the Gospel of John varies in its structure and language from the Synoptics, the cross remains at the center. This centrality is expressed in a number of different ways. 1. The role that Jesus’ death plays in glorifying…
Divine Wisdom
Why doesn’t God end it all and stop the slaughter? Why does God allow suffering and evil to go on so long? Here, Greg offers two possible answers to these questions. Option A is that all evil somehow is designed by God and somehow brings glory to him. But Greg thinks Option B is a better explanation, and it involves…
That Weird Episode with the Pigs
In my opinion, the single strangest episode recounted in the Gospels is the account of Jesus’ encounter with a demonized man that ended with two thousand pigs drowning themselves in the Sea of Galilee (Mk 5:1-10//Mt 8:28-34; Lk 8:26-39). Some find it morally objectionable that this mass suicide was the result of Jesus allowing the…
When the Last Few Moments Changes Everything
One of the central things ReKnew wants to accomplish is to challenge followers of Jesus to accept that the self-sacrificial love Jesus revealed on the cross is the definitive, and even the exhaustive, revelation of God’s character. Everything about God, we believe, should be understood through the lens of the cross. For most Christians, Jesus…
Myth Become History
The Gospel of John tells of the coming of Jesus in an unusual way. John writes: In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him. He was the source of life, and…