I wonder... #6

I wonder...
Is my confidence that I am connected to Christ based on my faith, works, church attendance, scripture reading, prayer, studies in biblical studies, etc. of is it based on Christ's faithfulness? Do I I keep myself in God or do I simply give myself in devotion to God as a response to His preserving grace? (Jude 1:1, 24-25) How do we mediate the tension between God's preservation and our devotion?...To make this all more personal...was my friend who has recently renounced Christ ever a Christian? Will he ever confess Christ again?...Is this a useful question? Can it be answered?...I wonder if some questions are not useful because they can be answered, but simply because they can be asked.

Thank you for letting me ask. Let me hold my silence where all I can hear and speak is silence.

I wonder... #5

I wonder...
Do I care more about knowing or being known? 1Corinthians 8:1-3; 13:12

I wonder... #4

I wonder...
How many of us think we are above influence?

I wonder... #3

I wonder...
What sort of discretion should we have with truth? (1Corinthians 8:1-4) Does being right always mean that you are behaving rightly or that even in saying what is true you are loving others? I wonder how we can be sensitive to our hearers while not compromising the message which is often naturally offensive (i.e. Christ crucified)...basically, what is love's measure for our tongues in matters of teaching and preaching God's truth?

I wonder... #2

I wonder...
Wednesday in General Letters, Dr. Lockett focused on 1Peter 4:1-19 and I, along with him, wonder if we have too simple a view of what Peter is saying in 4: 7. He states, "the end of all things is at hand." End here is the Greek word "telos," which can also be translated "goal" or "completion." Lockett, I believe rightly, understands Peter to be saying that the climax of God's purposes in the cosmos is coming to its fulfillment. In this context, he exhorted us to have sanctified imaginations. We often live in a way that just accepts the way things are. Rather than using our imaginations to picture the perfection of God's purposes and living in the anticipation and pattern of those purposes, we settle for what we have in almost a "pessimistic realism" ignoring the reality of Christ's cosmic triumph. To the question, "How are we to live out the reality of Christ's victory while we wait for His return?" Scripture instructs us to ask, "How will it be renewed?" and then tells us, "Live out the answer."

I wonder... #1

"It is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize"--Aristotle, Metaphysics.

I have decided to start a new series of posting called "I wonder..."

Each post will consist of a brief reflection or question, ranging from 1 sentence to 1 paragraph...but never more.

Allow me to demonstrate/start:

I wonder...
Do we underestimate/neglect the affect our liberties in Christ have on our brothers who do not share such freedoms? I recently read one of the most sobering and compelling passages of the subject, 1 Corinthians 8. Paul ends the section with three verses that I will quote here for your own reflection--go read the whole chapter.

"And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed,
the brother for whom Christ died.
Thus, sinning against your brothers
and wounding their conscience when it is weak,
you sin against Christ.
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble,
I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble"
(8:11-13).