Days 10-13 of 2024

Wow. Life comes at you fast. 

What a week. Baby arrived Saturday. Each day she changes. Each day she does something new. Each day she adjusts to the "cold, cruel world" a little more, but not without a fight. She doesn't like swaddling--she wants her arms and feet out (I don't blame her). Her deep blue gray but likely to change eyes are focusing, She has grown an inch. Her parents are exhausted, so I will go over and hold her to give them a break.  They think she is fussy. No, she is just being a baby.

And the semester starts. I have 170 online students, but no physical presence classes. Not sure about this.  

And I have little time for deep reading right now, which is frustrating, except in the New Testament. Matthew's picture of Jesus radicality amazes. 

Back to the theme of awareness of the reality of what it means to be a Christ-follower in 2024. Expect to be misunderstood, rejected, sidelined, unpopular, questioned, mocked, overlooked despite quality work, good intentions, and work ethic.  Some--a lot of people--just won't get it, won't get you, won't get Jesus working in you.  That's not an excuse to be weird. You can reticent, quiet, unobtrusive and still misunderstood for being true to Jesus. They just won't be comfortable around you. 

For me, I have a big mouth and a lot of opinions. I am sure many of them are not appreciated but if they knew how I really felt--ha!  God is teaching me to keep it zipped. The world needs my opinions less and less. 

To live as a Christ follower in 2024 is to know how desperately we all need God's grace and how desperately we need to be conduits of it.  

So I draw your attention to Matthew 11 and the passage about the Sabbath. The Pharisees (who must have just followed Jesus around like anti-groupies) criticize the disciples for eating when it involved "harvesting" (seems like a real push there). Jesus answers them, and to make it even more clear, goes into the temple to heal a disabled man. He didn't do it just to make a point--He would have healed the man under any circumstances. He wasn't being passive-aggressive--the God of the Universe does what He wants and pleases. Just to be clear: if you use religious regulations to keep you from doing good, from loving, you are in the wrong. Some don't like Jesus phrase, "the poor you have with you always," but it's really the flip side of the same coin. He knew His audience held back from helping the poor and found religious reasons for it.  Don't use your religion as an excuse for doing what you really want, because you are probably just using your own desires as an excuse not to listen to the Holy Spirit.