Topic: Pentecost

Christ’s example of willing obedience, as extolled here in the hymn of Christ – is the ultimate demonstration of God’s divine love. True love cannot be separated from the freedom of our will.

God’s justice is perfect and His generosity inexhaustible. If God’s justice and mercy do not align with our own limited understanding, therefore, then we should challenge ourselves to think differently. In so doing, may God increase our trust in Him, even when we do not understand His ways; increase our love of heavenly things; and increase the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

God’s forgiveness is offered freely to us in His Son – the free gift of Salvation. But you need two hands in order to reach out and grab the gift being given to us – and you won’t be able to open your hands and receive that gift if they’re both clenched, tightly holding on to some offense someone has made against us. “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

We might say our love is genuine. We know what Paul means, and we know it sounds good. But our love is not free of pretense. Our “genuine love” is a lot more like “genuine leather” than the standard to which Paul exhorts us. We want to have the appearance and the benefits of authentic love without any of the responsibilities and discomforts it puts upon us.

Recently I watched the movie “The Truman Show” for the first time. For those unfamiliar, the “The Truman Show” is a movie from 1998 starring Jim Carrey. Going in, I was surprised to find out it was more of a psychological thriller than comedy. I was also surprised by how stunningly it criticized our present day, some 25 years later.

Let us thank God for keeping us safe in the midst of trouble and let us not forget how He comforted our waste places in the past. Perhaps today you still find yourself navigating the wilderness. Whether now or in the future, when we wander through those desolate places, we must never forsake to answer the question that matters most: “Who do you say that Jesus is?”

Keep justice. Do righteousness. Keep the Sabbath. Keep your hand from evil. We acknowledge our failures in all these things as we worship every Sunday, and once we are made clean, we all receive the same wafer – same size, same shape – and drink the same wine, receiving the same Grace from Christ Jesus. This is the source and summit of our Christian lives.

Think back to all of life’s storms you have endured in the past. How often, in the heat of the moment, when you are being tossed around by the waves, does it seem like there’s no way you will ever make it through? Yet every time, Jesus is there to catch you with his strong arm. So why do we refuse to step out in faith when he calls?

Disquietude is an unusual word, is it not? Certainly not one you hear every day. Disquietude refers to a state of anxiety or uneasiness. Understood this way, today we together pray for eyes of Faith to behold the Transfigured Christ, in light eternal, to transport us from the anxieties and trials of our daily lives, the darkness of our temporal world.