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Exodus 21:14 "If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him craftily, you are to take him {even} from My altar, that he may die.”

On June 18, 2010 a prisoner was executed in Utah by firing squad. The event was national news since this type of execution is not a normal process in America any more. The event of course has brought with it national controversy. Human rights groups have condemned the execution, seeing it as barbaric unreasonable treatment. Others on the opposing side have debated that it was best to kill the inmate since his crimes warranted the death sentence.

“The flowers are springing up, and the time of singing birds has come, even the cooing of turtledoves.” (Song of Songs 2:12)

It’s finally getting warm enough (at least for me) to open my windows and let the fresh air in. I love this time of year, and I enjoy listening to the frogs croak by the creek near our house and hearing the birds chirping their joyful songs.

As I was opening my windows this morning, my son, David, asked me, “Mom, why do the birds sing?” I told him that I think God made the birds to sing to remind us to sing His praises. I believe God uses all of creation to remind us of Him:

"Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. They all know that the LORD has done this. For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of all humanity.” (Job 12:7, 9, 10)

Whose fool are you?

1 Cor 4:10 "We are fools for Christ's sake…"

I recently posted this verse to my facebook account. I was surprised by the responses I received. One of the responses was negative…not unusual for my posts on facebook actually. So I responded to the comment about my belief being an increasingly unsupported premise:

If an increasingly unsupported premise means holding to, believing in, or otherwise grasping something that has no proof or validity; then I am not a fool in that sense. I would be a fool to believe that Obama is a good president who is doing good things for the country...this is increasingly an unsupported premise.

If I were to believe that God is not there; I would have to believe that nothing produced something, or that random chance produced something as perfect as an eye that functions in a way that is not reproducible by human science with long years of deliberate efforts...truly I would be a fool to believe this.

Have you ever, because of certain events in your life, stumbled upon a Bible verse and winced as you read it? During a very difficult season in my life, I was unable to read Psalm 139 without hurt, anger, and frustration. So, I chose to avoid it, because every time I read “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (v 13), I could only think of the pregnancy losses I had experienced.

Until one day, when forced to read it as part of a Woman’s Bible Study, I realized something. This verse not only applied to my losses, but to me personally. God knew when I was in my mother’s womb the struggles I would have. He knew how the struggles would draw me closer to Him. What a difference it made to know that! It’s still a section of scripture that pulls at my heart when I read it, but the bitterness is no longer there.

Acts 18:24-26 “Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”

What a description that is given about Apollos. He was eloquent and mighty in the scriptures. Who better to have speaking the gospel to the community, especially when he was also fervent in spirit and accurately taught about Jesus? Oh that it could be said about all of us. If someone were to describe you, what would it sound like? “Well, he loves the Lord…” or “Well, she tries…” or maybe even, "Wow, that dude really says it well."

In Revelation 3:1-6 there is a letter which is written to a church located in the city of Sardis. In part it reads as follows:

"I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent."

Like the people in Sardis, we run the risk of forgetting what we have received and heard from God. It can be easy to let all of the other tasks and responsibilities of life take priority over the things that God wants us to do. After all, if we have been saved, doesn't God just need us to live a good life?

To the contrary! The letter says that the people in Sardis had a reputation of being alive. They were living a good life. But God says that they were dead. God still had something for them to do, and they were asleep to the things they should have been doing.

1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

Maturity lives out the reality of the life within us because it is not theoretical methodology or simple philosophy. Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “When all is said and done, there is far more said than done.”

Ephesians 4:13 “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

As we consider the idea of maturity I think it is best to have some sense of what this should look like overall. By knowing what the overall goal is, we can know where we are headed.

Christ becomes the image of the mature man. It is his earthly life that provides for us a standard by which everything else should be measured. In this way it is not the demands of our family and friends, or even the measure of a particular church group or denomination. How does the life of Christ translate into my world and my culture and how do I apply it to daily living.

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28a)

I enjoyed the challenge Pastor Mark gave us on Easter Sunday. He challenged us to find three things that amazed us about God and then tell them to three different people. I am taking on this challenge and would like to share my thoughts with you.

1 Cor 14:20 "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature."

The apostle uses the word "infant" here in regard to how our thinking ought to be about evil. Not the word toddler or even child. An infant has so little consideration about their world; it generally consists primarily of eating, comfort, and sleeping… and also pooping I guess. The point is that it is limited thinking, non-extravagant thinking on a subject. About the issue of sin then, we are encouraged to maintain limited thinking about it and avoid sinful thinking. While it is a backwards manner of saying it, nevertheless the believer demonstrates spiritual maturity by maintaining this limited thinking about sin.