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Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world...But now my kingdom is from another place." John 18:36 There aren't many trees on the plains of the upper Midwest, but what varieties there are are sturdy. They are quite strong and able to withstand the constant winds that blow across the wide open spaces. Harsh prairie winds serve as strengthening exercises for these trees, ...
Keep Reading"My kingdom is not of this world." (John 18:36) The kingdoms of this world; what do they look like? Each has its unique set of operating principles whether Pilate's kingdom with its political and military priorities, America's kingdom with its emphasis on success and status, or my kingdom with its unrelenting busyness to provide the best for my family. Each kingdom natura...
Keep ReadingJesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place" (John 18:36). It started when I started to question the limited gospel I'd heard for the beginning twenty years of my Jesus-following life. I remember driving home from church back then, intent on digging into the Ne...
Keep ReadingPilate summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?""Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" (John 18:33-34). For a busy Roman procurator of a restless, troublesome province, this was one more annoyance. Early in the morning, way before "office hours," a band of religious leaders requests an audience. They have with them...
Keep ReadingI have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19) Why is identity so important, and sometime so difficult? Identity is important because it is the way we live: I live according to my understanding of who I am. If I know myself as a zero, a nothing, a mistake that should not have happened, I live one way. If I see myself as A#1, the Center of the Universe, I live accord...
Keep Reading"Do not set aside the grace of God" (Galatians 2:21) Real ID is the TSA-compliant identification needed to board a flight beginning late 2021. It is proof, stamped with a gold star, to validate I am who the government ID says I am. Real ID is freeprovided I have offered proof of birth and residency, driven to the DMV, and waited in an interminable line. It is simply a gi...
Keep ReadingI do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could begained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21) Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now I'm found, Was blind, but now I see! Amazing Grace was one of the first hymns I memorized as a child. Looking around the sanctuary of my childhood c...
Keep ReadingFor through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatian...
Keep ReadingGalatians 2:19-21 What prompted Paul to write "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me"? It was not some abstract theologizing done on a sunny afternoon; it was prompted by Peter's screw-up, a screw-up that had everything to do with true identity. The risen Jesus graciously gave the "keys of the kingdom" to Peter, who use...
Keep ReadingBut whatever was to my profit I now consider loss ... But I press on ...But this one thing I do ... (Philippians 3:7, 13). If our true identity is in Christ, how do we actually live our way into that identity? How does "in Christ" move from an idea in our heads to a reality we are living into? Paul'sbuts in Philippians 3 point the way. First he writes, "But whatever was ...
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