Sunday review: November 15-20

Read these excerpts as a reminder of the hope and challenge available at this site every day. Choose one or two of these posts to read again. And decide who else you know who’d like to know more about this blog.

November 15
More than once Jesus called us to demonstrate the faith and openness of a child. Not a stingy and spoiled child, but the complete trusting, curious, and loving child who can abandon the ordinary and consider the extraordinary when it comes to God. Childlike faith doesn’t hold back; it gives its all. Childlike faith doesn’t wonder if the father will provide; it knows he can and will.
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November 16
If serving those around us is not becoming more and more natural for us, maybe we are reading and thinking about spiritual things more than practicing them. It might be time to get out of our chairs of importance and practice serving others with the heart of Jesus.
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November 17
The psalmist had confidence that God would listen to sinners. We know that, too. If God didn’t listen to sinners, there would be no hope for anyone. God’s response to sinners is well documented. Psalm 130 says, “But with you there is forgiveness.” Romans 5:8 reminds us that God’s forgiveness is prompted by his great love for us. If God’s love is so great that he sent his Son to die for us, then certainly he will listen to our prayers when we call to him from the depths of pain, loneliness, sickness, financial stress, injustice, and every possible dilemma that exhausts us and leaves us hopeless.
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November 18
One aspect of our recovery when we experience various traumas and losses is to experience grief. And grief always comes. Sometimes we believers attempt to be dismissive about it. We sometimes think our faith is weak if we find ourselves struggling with psychological pain brought about by trauma and loss. Yet the Scriptures are filled with the stories of our heroes of faith who walked through these very same experiences. Old and New Testaments alike have hundreds of stories and psalms that record not only the traumatic events but also the prayers and the lament that help us get through the pain and experience recovery.
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November 19
At some point you have to decide if Jesus is king, and if the answer is yes then you must become his disciple. And being a disciple means Jesus has authority over your life, your decisions, and your behavior. And sooner or later you will be forced to break rank with your groups and their decisions and rules.
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November 20
Scripture reminds us that “every good and perfect gift is from above,” but I’m pretty sure the first-century apostle who wrote that wasn’t thinking about houses, cars, or vacations. Likely not even healthy bodies or warm relationships. No matter how good, none of those is perfect, and all of them are temporary. Instead, I think he was hearkening to the psalmist’s encouragement to come before God with thanksgiving simply because “the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:3). Most and first we praise and thank our God because “the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:4). 
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