Claimed, gathered and sent

It has been a week of being recreated from the inside and that is painful. God has brought me to the Spiritual Formation course through Regent University for "such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). The means of being taken apart and put back together by God has been spending more deliberate time in his presence by the use of an ancient method called lectio divina or divine reading. More about that in another post. Of course, living the truth God shows you is quite another matter. For me this week has been difficult at work. We had a staff meeting followed by individual meetings with our supervisor where we each got "our ears boxed" so to speak. My prayer all week has been that God would make me more like Jesus. The means however, is through the school of hard knocks. The kicker was the verse I was meditating on yesterday, "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer" (Ps 19:14)....

This is an interesting post by Scot McKnight on his JesusCreed.com blog. Women, Mary and Jesus Class 1 Filed under: Women and Ministry — Scot McKnight @ 2:20 am On the first day of my new class — Women, Mary, and Jesus, we looked at pp. 14-15 of William Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals. We read these verses and I asked the students to “vote” for each verse: A, B, or C. That is, “A” means “universal and transcultural,” and “B” means “Christians don’t agree” and “C” means “Cultural and not for Christians today.” Now it’s your turn. (read more…) We voted for each verse and then we got in groups and discussed group “C.” And we discussed “why” we decided the “C” items were not to be practiced today, or why we thought they were “cultural” and not “universal.” Try it yourself. Vote for each, and then ask yourself what leads you to see the “C” verses as no longer the things Christians need to do. The reasons you give are essentially what the “redemptive trend” is all about. Now I’m curiou...

The Worst of Sinners One extreme statement must still be made, without any platitudes and in all soberness. Not considering oneself wise, but associating with the lowly, means considering oneself the worst of sinners. This arouses total opposition not only from those who live at the level of nature, but also from Christians who are self-aware. It sounds like an exaggeration, an untruth. Yet even Paul said of himself that he was the foremost, i.e., the worst of sinners (I Tim. I:15). He said this at the very place in Scripture where he was speaking of his ministry as an apostle. There can be no genuine knowledge of sin that does not lead me down to this depth. If my sin appears to me to be in any way smaller or less reprehensible in comparison with the sins of others, then I am not yet recognizing my sin at all. My sin is of necessity the worst, the most serious, the most objectionable. Christian love will find any number of excuses for the sins of others; not only for my sin is there n...

I just got an email from Christianitytoday.com mentioning a new blog for women in leadership. the URL is: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/giftedforleadership/. There are a number of churches and denominations that do not encourage women in their callings unless it's motherhood. It looks like it will be a tremendous resource.