Thursday, January 19, 2012

James, Mercy Triumphs, Beth Moore


this is the study we are doing at church right now. ive always been fond of james blunt writings. i know its early church context, but it feels easily applicable now. that appeals to me. beth digs when she teaches bible study, and gives home work. one of the questions asked last week was in the context of paul and james. they were called to bring the gospel to what seemed to be opposite ends of the world, james to the jews and paul to the gentiles. they had different views about the jewish law and how it ought to be kept (see acts 15) and the teachings focused in different areas. with that in mind, how do you think they got along? how do we get along with believers that dont share our every opinion? do we think the work of God is only accomplished when we are working with people who see it our way? we have all fallen and failed, we are all graced and forgiven.

i can think of several friends who belong to different denominations than i do, and who believe different details. it came up the night before i did this homework assignment in conversation with jason even. he and a coworker who is also a good friend were out on a run and talking about revelation and the rapture. his friend believes strongly that a pre-tribulation rapture ought to be taught even though we dont have scripture that tells us any detail about the rapture. his reasons are good too- no excuses from people who want to wait to change their hearts and lives until they "see it coming" from all the end times signs. its a good point, but i disagree. i think we ought to teach what the bible tells us and leave it at that. i think there is evidence that we may be called up before things get really rough here on earth, but im also not sure that we would really be aware that end times events were happening. our human nature is weak. we are so caught up in our own lives, even when those lives are serving God, that i think its possible we may overlook the larger significance of the destruction and plauges and distress that is prophesied. we give little thought to these things now, so i wouldnt be surprised if we miss the big ones later.

but thats not my point. my point is, jasons coworker and i dont see eye to eye. but i am SO thankful for him as a man of God to come alongside my husband in his day to day life and offer fellowship, accountability, and support through prayer. he is a precious jewel to me because of his heart for God. we do not have to agree on every point in our theology in order to function as a larger body of Christ. we do to need agree that our salvation comes from Him and not of our own doing, and have a yearning for the truth of the scripture and God will provide the rest. (matthew 7:7-8, james 1:5)

my insecurities wants to clarify all the above saying i hope its clear enough, or makes sense, or im sure many others could have said it better, but my homework from last week taught me comparisons like that are not a good use of my time and instead i ought to simply live my life in the spirit and do my part "in love and humility, variety and diversity." (mercy triumphs pg30)

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