Galatians 1:6-10

Ever since the very beginnings of the Church, there have been wolves amongst the sheep, spreading dissension and false teachings. Some of the major false teachings in the New Testament include sects known as Judaized Christianity, legalistic Christianity, and lawless Christianity, all of which fall short of the message of Christ. While Judaized Christianity isn't such a big deal in the United States, legalistic Christianity and lawless Christianity are. It is especially the latter which is beginning to thrive and grow in many churches.

A false gospel known as cheap grace is emerging. It basically says, "Since we're saved by grace, we can do whatever we want. No life-change is needed. No obedience is needed." This doctrine develops because of a faulty understanding of the New Testament and is no doubt also driven by the desire to do whatever we want. It misses entirely the gospel message of Christ, especially the gospels, where Christ demands us to become His disciples and follow Him in His Way. Cheap grace says discipleship is for the super-Christian; Jesus says there's no salvation outside discipleship!

Anyone who spread false gospels, such as cheap grace, is cursed. He or she is cursed because not only is he or she distorting the message of God, but he or she is leading others astray, pointing them down dead-end avenues and turning their eyes from the real and living God.

Galatians 1:1-5

We miss something--something huge--when we convince ourselves that Jesus' sole purpose for coming was to forgive us of our sins. When we believe this, we cling only to a half-truth. Did Jesus' death on the cross forgive our sins? Most definitely! The cross brings redemption to the table. But if we stop there, we miss something that is, in my mind, even greater: the resurrection! We often spend so much time contemplating His death and sacrifice that the resurrection is slighted. The cross is the prelude to the resurrection, for while the cross brings us forgiveness, it is the resurrection that holds the greatest blessing!

Verse 3 and 4 tell us, "Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue." It's clear, isn't it? Christ's ultimate goal was delivering us from this evil world and placing us in the arms of God. That is Jesus' mission, not simply forgiveness. Through Christ's forgiveness, we are reconciled to God. Reconcilation is symbolized by Christ's bodily resurrection, and all of us can take part of this resurrection by entering the Kingdom of God: renewed intimacy with God, intimacy with others, and intimacy with creation!

We're Coming Back!

O.K., so it's been a while. That's okay. The little contemplations and meditations will be coming back tomorrow and onwards as I study through Paul's letters. I have concluded a theological survey of Galatians and plan on throwing contemplations up on this site. I would love feedback and conversation. I'm in college now and life is a little crazy--but fun--and over the summer and spring last year, life was even crazier, if it can be believed. Perhaps that has to do with why the contemplations seemed to fizzle out. Nevertheless, I am excited about exploring God's message to us, and I hope you join me for the ride. I should have one contemplation/meditation up every day or every other day, so just check in every now and then.

Blessings in Christ to all who are His disciples!

Romans 8:35-37

Last night as I crept to bed, I stopped beside Doogie as he lay sleeping in his little doggie bed. I knelt down next to him and started petting him; he woke from his sleep, looked up at me with weary eyes, and with all the effort he could muster, gently pawed my arm, silently begging for me to lie down with him. So I lay down next to him and he leaned against me and closed his eyes.

Doogie does a lot of bad stuff, but it isn't anything extreme. It's the usual stuff you expect from any household dog. Emptying trash cans, leaving footprints over the carpet, clawing at the doors, sleeping on my bed when I ask him not to. But in all of it, not once do I stop loving him. Even when I yell at him and boot him outside my love for him never fluctuates. If I'm punishing him, I don't stop loving him, and sure enough an hour or two later, I'll let him back inside and he'll be happy again. Not once, in all the bad stuff he does, does the thought ever cross my mind, that thought being getting rid of him. No matter all the bad stuff he does, I won't ever stop loving him and I won't ever consider getting rid of him. He's mine, and nothing he does is going to change that.

I think it's the same way with us and God. He loves us unconditionally; it isn't based on what we do right or what we do wrong. He doesn't love us more when we're doing good than when we're doing bad. And even when we screw up and get locked in bad habits and sinful situations, he isn't going to abandon us, and the thought never crosses his mind: he won't ever abandon us, won't ever get rid of us. We're his, and we are the only ones who will do the abandoning. We may abandon God, but God will never abandon us.

Matthew 19:27-30

Jesus has just finished his little speel saying, "If you really want to follow me, give up everything you have." Our friend Peter, being ever headstrong, elbows his way to the front and asks, face-to-face, in a way that most would declare ignorant and even foolish, "So we leave everything and follow you; now what do we get out of it?" Those around him gasp, others flinch, still some lean forward, waiting for God to rain fire and brimstone upon this infidel. Peter's eyes blaze: he has to know.

Jesus does not rebuke him, does not tell him to be more spiritual, does not chastise his deser's. Jesus says, "In the re:creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields - whatever - because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

What do we get out of it? Whatever we give up for God, he'll give it right back to us, with unbelievable interest. And we'll be able to enjoy eternal life: that doesn't just mean life lasting forever, but also life lived to the fullness. We won't spend eternity playing harps and singing in choirs in the clouds. We will dance, run, fly, swim, laugh in a new world, with new canyons and forests and oceans and wildlife. We will live a life of worship, a life of laughter in the Trinity, with no worries, no cares, no deadlines - only joy, happiness, excitement, fun. This is the reward of the one who follows Christ.

Matthew 19:16-26

Sometimes God will set before us two dishes. On one is a charbroiled steak, garlic mashed potatoes, dinner roll with steaming gravy. Upon the other is a single piece of crusty bread, a slab of moldy cheese, and a glass of curdled milk. With one you receive a desert of cherry pie, apple fritters, pecan pie a la mode; the other leaves you with an empty stomach and famished muscles.

Every part of us desires the dinner of elegance, and it comes in many shapes and sizes. A wealthy home with a high-paying job, a luxurious sex life even though you aren't married, the pleasure of being 'high' or drunk, even something as simple as trying to live life unhindered. Yet Jesus shows us this plate and says, "See this? Do you see the steak, the potatoes, the roll and gravy? I know it's appetizing. But you have to give it up. You have to feed it to the dog. If you are going to follow me, you must take the second platter: it is the platter I have taken." He says, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have trasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

Jesus' platter is humility, selflessness, love. It is loving everyone no matter what, and sharing your life with others. It is getting rid of short-term pleasure, trading it in for long-term satisfaction. It is being content with the lot God gives you, and not being jealous of everyone else's share. It is fighting off all the temptations and seductions of a world up in arms against God, and not sugar-coating the battle (it won't be easy; it's hard, rough, and painful). But Jesus says, "This is MY way, THE way. It's the route I've taken." We follow Jesus no more than when we truly become like him.

Matthew 19:1-6

A smile heightens over the painter's face; the brushes waver in shaking hands as the excitement pulses through his entire being. The brushes splash in oily drops of paint, then throw themselves against the canvas. Hours pass, the day wanes, night begins to creep through the large bay windows, crimson moonlight dancing over the rough yet exuberant contours of the aged painter. The once-blank canvas has become a masterpiece, evolving from manilla parchment to a landscape of waterfalls and canyons, mountains and valleys, rivers and oceans, teeming with wildlife, a sparkling sun the radiant backdrop. He leans back in his chair, lets out a sigh, admires his work, his own creation.

The door to the room bursts open and a man rushes in. The painter jumps up, spilling his paint all over the cobblestone floor, and he cries out, but to no avail: the intruder grabs the drying parchment, gives out a sinister laugh, mockery of everything pure and right and noble and true, and rips the painting, right down the middle. He does not stop there. He tosses it to the floor, douses it with gasoline, and the painter, now bound in chains, is forced to watch as his painting ignites, smolders, and becomes ashes and dying embers. The man laughs and exits, his mockery bouncing over the rock walls of the pristine garden. The painter rolls into a fetal ball and cries.

This is the handiwork of divorce.

Matthew 18:21-35

Much of the time we make the mistake of majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors. We speak so fervently against gambling or dancing, smoking or drinking, an entire plethora of do's and don't's, often making them the center-pieces of our Christian lives. This has been happening for centuries upon centuries, for thousands upon thousands of years. We become experts in the realm of the fine print of religious faith, and yet so often we neglect the bigger, more important things of God.

We minor in things like sin management and tithing and what kind of worship music is best for the congregation. Whatever happened to the call to love? Most of the world doesn't see Christians as loving because we are judgmental, condemning and piously arrogant. Whatever happened to the call of mercy? If you double-cross most Christians, they'll double-cross you and seek revenge like it were a cure for cancer. Whatever happened to forgiveness? We hold so many grudges against one another that it would fill more hymnals than we care to read.

Jesus calls us to love others more than he calls us to obedience (I am not saying obedience isn't important!). Jesus calls us to mercy more than he calls us to throw off the yoke of dancing and gambling. Jesus calls us to forgive others, and then he adds a tagline: If you don't forgive others, you won't be forgiven. Major in the majors and minor in the minors. Everything, then, will fall into place.

Matthew 18:15-17

None of us get through life without hardship. It is impossible to live in complete harmony with everyone around you. There is no utopian society that has worked. All attempts at such have failed. The reason is simple: we live in a world where corruption and ruin have the dominant hand, spreading its fingers over everything from geography to politics and even to the vast expanses of the human heart. A very optimistic sort could say, "Love everyone and you will find perfect harmony." Only one person in this world has ever been perfect at loving everyone, and those he loved tortured, mocked, spit upon and crucified him.

Yet just because the world is an unfriendly place doesn't mean there is no chance at harmony. There will be harmony. We will love and be loved, enjoying friendship and loving companionship. But there will also be times when we want to scream, rant, hurt and maim. It is human nature. Jesus speaks to such situations. He tells us what to do when we have difficulties with another person, whether it be difficulties from the minor to the major. A biblical outline for approaching each other.

First, we need to confront the person we are feeling a little tension between. Try to talk some sense into them, lovingly and gently. An entire year of sermons could be spent on what it means to be loving and gentle, but there's no room - nor desire - for that here. If no ground is made from that, then gather some other people and, as a group, approach this person. If no ground is made even then, take it to the church - in my opinion, take it to the leaders of the church. Ministers, deacons, priests, what have you. And if no reconciliation has been discovered, gently break ties with that person, loving them all the same and forgiving them at the same time. This is the biblical way.

Matthew 8:11-14

Walk into most church buildings, whether it be those mega-churches with high-tech media screens, or the rich ones with gold-plated pews, or the out-in-the-woods hillbilly/redneck churches, and you'll most likely find someone saying, "Seek the lost! Find the lost! Draw the lost back to God!" Yet sometimes, in the fray of these words, we lose touch with reality, we forget that we, too, were lost once, and somehow we forget how much God has made our lives worth living. At some churches you will even find, and this compliments my utter astonishment, a preacher screaming into the crowd, "If you haven't made Jesus Lord of Your Life, then you are going to burn in Hell, you miserable sinners!" This fire-and-brimstone theology, let me point out, isn't very effective.

Somewhere along the line we've seen those who do not know first-hand the love of God as "lost," "sinners," and "unbelievers." Yet I look into the Scriptures, at the beautiful words of Jesus himself, who is the very embodiment of the love that all disciples of Jesus cling to in their hearts, and he doesn't only refer to those who need him and yet do not have him as "lost," "sinners," and "unbelievers." Yes, he does make these statements sometimes, don't get me wrong, but they aren't exclusive.

I imagine Jesus' eyes burning with a mysterious passion, his muscles gushing with divine adrenaline, as he speaks of those he loves and calls them such names as "missing" and "treasured." I think that, maybe, if we got away from the us-and-them mentality, got away from the miserable sinner and hell-and-brimstone theologies, if we looked at people in the lens' of Jesus - seeing them not as ungodly sinners on a high road to Hell, but as missing and treasured children of God who are lost and seeking direction - and we are there to show them their Father once again, evangelism will mean something new to us, and more importantly, we would be ever closer to imitating Christ.

Matthew 18:8-9

A co-worker told me of his cousin who was deeply religious – he would lock himself in his room and study the Bible for hours upon hours. One day the cousin’s father knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Another knock, and another. Nothing. Worried, he smashed the door open: the cousin lay hunched over, his throat slit and blood emptied all over a pile of sand. I am sure the color drained from my face, as this is a true story, and my co-worker told me, “You gotta be careful with the Bible. You can’t go mistranslating all that stuff.”

Here is a passage of scripture that goes mistranslated over and over. Jesus is saying, “If your eye causes you to sin, gauge it out. If you’re feet run to do evil, cut them off. It’s better to enter Heaven blind and paralyzed than fully-seeing, fully-walking, only to be burnt in a lake of fire.” His speech is figurative. He is not commanding us to stab out our eyes every time we happen to chance upon a lovely girl and lust creeps up – if that were the case, I’d been blinded years ago! No, Jesus is saying, “Don’t get involved with stuff that will lead you to sin.”

This ‘stuff’ that can lead us to sin is not a defined list. It varies with every person. Is it the people you hang out with, or the television shows you watch, or you the music you listen to, or the girlfriend or boyfriend you spend all your time with? Jesus says that when we follow him, we must live lives that glorify God, and if we spend all our time in habits that turn us away from God, our following won’t be getting too strong. Jesus recommends that we toss out – or at least trim down – all those habits that may lead us to sin (habits that in themselves may not be sin) and replace them with habits that will deepen our roots of faith. This is one aspect of self-denial and taking up our cross.

Matthew 18:1-5

This is one of the most widely-known phrases Jesus ever said: "Have faith like a child." But in our modern day and age - and certainly, in Jesus' day and age - what does this, really, mean? What is Jesus hinting at? He pulls a little child close to him, and as he laughs and holds the child close, he looks at all those around him with those wonderful, fiery eyes and says, "Unless you become like little children, you will never see the Kingdom of God!" So what is Jesus hinting at?

In taking on the faith of a child, we throw everything up into Daddy's arms - we give him our hopes, our dreams, our pains and our hurts. We acknowledge that our life is in his hands. We know that if we get disconnected, we will become lost, disoriented, confused, and end up hurting ourselves or getting snatched by a shadowed phantom. We trust that he will take care of us, trust that he knows what is best for us, even when none of it makes sense; we will trust that he has the cards stacked in his favor. And as we walk through life, we hold on to his hand, squeezing tightly; at times, he will pick us up and carry us. We do not fear him as we would fear a stranger, but we love him and respect him because we know he could leave us on the side of the street if he so decided (he won't). And when life gets hard, or when we're celebrating, when our emotions flare in any direction, we look into his eyes and cry out, "Daddy! Daddy!"

The words were engraved in Matthew's mind: "Unless you become like little children, you will never see the Kingdom of God!"

Matthew 17:24-27

A friend and I sat around the cafeteria table discussing the never-forgettable 'Bush or Kerry' for the 2004 election. My friend's dad said, "John Kerry is the antichrist." Upon hearing one of our friends, also a follower of Jesus, was going to vote for Kerry, my friend disgustedly spat, "What's going on with him?" Another friend said matter-of-factly, "All Christians vote Republican."

The fact is, Jesus holds no political party. I know that's one of the most-used slogans during presidential election year, but let's look at it a little deeper. Jesus doesn't say, "Vote this way, vote that way." What he does say is, "Give to the government what is the government's." In other words, honor the government. Whether or not you like it, it's been set there by God. Maybe God will allow a brutal dictatory to take the presidency and start committing horrible crimes against Christians; even still, that person was allowed by God to take that place!

This may sound far-fetched, but it's already happened once, and has happened many more times. In the first days of the early church, much of the world was under Roman rule. The Roman Emperors often beat, persecuted, hunted and killed Christians. At the time, the Christian leaders are fervently saying, "Honor the government." They're not saying, "Revolution! Revolt! Uprising! Riot! Protest!" They're saying, "Honor the government. It's been set there by God." The early Christians did honor their government - and the faith of Jesus spread faster than the speed of light!

Matthew 17:20,21

We have forgotten, don't you think? As I sit here I think of Jesus sending out the seventy-odd followers, commanding them to perform miracles, cast out demons, and humbly spread the good news of a new life. I remember how they returned, excited and overcome with awe that they were actually able to do it! I remember how Jesus jumped up and down, completely foolish before them all, and I remember Jesus falling to his knees, and praying out loud, unashamed, to the Maker, "Thank you!" Have we ever wondered why Jesus thanked his father? I think it's because Jesus saw that SOME people understood. Some people finally understood that they weren't just mucky two-handed creatures, but living and breathing life-forms with whom the Creator is in communion. They understood that they had power at their fingertips - power not of their own, but of God. This power is faith.

No magic spell, no magic wand, no incantations or rituals were able to cast out the demons. No chanting of confusing tongues healed the sick. It was faith, simply faith. Faith - belief that you stake your life on - that God is bigger than the world, he isn't contained by the world, and so let's rely on him. These people understood that it was faith in God that made it able for the deaf to hear and the lame to walk.

Faith is often forgotten in our world. Amidst politics and business and busy day-to-day lives, we chant the name of faith but it's not something we really know first-hand. I am speaking from what I have seen, and am sure there are numerous exceptions. But what I've seen is this: we lack faith. It isn't going to be healed with a quickie formula or a hit on the head. Faith is something on the inside, something that can't be made through molding clay. It is rooted both in the consciousness and the subconscious.

If we had faith as 'small as a mustard seed' we could do things that we see as impossible in our 'enlightened' day and age. Things like healing broken hearts, setting captives free, and even seeing the lame walk again. I believe this with all my heart. Faith. It's a lot powerful than we think, eh? No wonder Jesus was dancing like a madman!

Matthew 17:5

Jesus takes three of his best friends on a weary mountain journey. Peter, James and John are panting, chests heaving, legs bursting apart under their tunics, the latest fashion fad of the day. They soon forget their own sufferings when suddenly their friend Jesus starts glowing like a candle. The fact that Jesus was speaking to two ghosts didn't much help with their own stubborn fear and well-deserved amazement. Heaven's PA system throws them to the ground as the Creator bellows, "Jesus is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him."

It's easy to hear Jesus. Open your Bible and you can hear him day or night, you can peek into the stories of his life, the conversations he had, the great words he preached here and there during his ministry. But it is so easy to not really listen. Jesus is constantly saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Another translation reads Jesus crying out to the people, "Are you listening? Really listening?"

Listening is different from hearing. I hear my mom all the time. I hear her tell me to clean the dishes, to take Doogie outside, to clean the shower mirror and wash my clothes. But not always do I listen. Listening has a trademark that sets it off from run-of-the-mill hearing. That trademark is obedience. Mom's plaintive requests have become hollers and yells and that makes me skip. Then I listen. God is saying, "Listen to my Son. Don't just hear what he says, don't just observe what he does. Really listen - hear, see, and do." Don't just hear - hear or see - and DO.

Obedience may be an acquired taste, but so is coffee - and Starbucks is very good.

Matthew 16:24-26

There are some people you'd never believe even if you met them. One man wakes up three hours early before his office job every morning and serves breakfast to the homeless in the city. A woman and her family give up several bedrooms in their home to those looking for a warm bed, nice food, and some loving company. A man forfeits a relished job and an amazing paycheck to rent out a dumped-on food joint so he can just spend time getting to know other people and hopefully tell through a developing friendship the story of God and his love for us.

These aren't the people you meet on the streets. They're different, somehow, from most of society. They love the unlovables, touch the untouchables, embrace the social rejects and social pariahs of our day. They enter the modern-day leper colonies and love with a passion unlike anything the world has seen before. These people make heads turn. They're hard to find, but you bump into one every once in a while.

One man asked such a person, "Why is it you do what you do? Opening your house to strangers? That's dangerous. Serving breakfast every morning at 5:00! How could you get up that early?" The answer given was this: "If we aren't willing to die to ourselves every morning when we wake up, maybe we ought to question whether or not we are really following Jesus."

Jesus tells the disciples, "Self-help is no help at all." Worrying about yourself, your comfort, your own interests, thinking ME, ME, ME, ME and ME all the time isn't going to do you or anyone else any good. "Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self." Sacrificing your time, your comfort, your energies, your interests, your sleep - this is the way of God.

Our selflessness and obedient sacrifice reveals to us who we are: it brings out our God-colors and our God-flavors, brings out the salt and light that we are when we follow Jesus. It reveals our true identity: patriots of God, followers of the Messiah, sons and daughters of the Creator of the Universe.

Matthew 16:13-16

Who is Jesus? Everyone has different answers. Walk onto a college campus and start asking around. "Who is Jesus?" Some would say, "A philosopher," others, "A scholar." Many more might throw out, "He was a great moral teacher." How nice. Few will say, "He is the Son of God." A handful might even say, "Jesus never existed. He's made up." We can ask this question on a campus, but it wouldn't be the first time it's been asked. It's been asked millions of times, all around the world, but it all originates in the ancient texts.

Jesus asks his disciples, "Who does the average Joe say I am?" The disciples tilt their heads back and start rattling off answers: "John the Baptizer, Elijah, Jeremiah, a prophet..." They are cut short, though, as Jesus looks all of them in the eye and demands, "Okay, so what about you? Who do you say that I am?" They all look at each other. You'd think by now they'd know what was up, that God was in their midst. I imagine an awkward silence, and then someone speaks. It's the runt, the guy who never shuts up, the one so rambunctions he would jump out of a boat thinking he could walk on water (really, who does that?). He says, "You're the Christ, the Messiah..." As if to add some potency, "The Son of the living God."

I don't think Jesus just asked this question to see where loyalties lay. It rests much deeper than that. Why else would Matthew include it in his gospel? When Jesus asks this question, it's as if he is saying, "Look: you have to figure this one out, because you're going to havta put the stake of your life down somewhere. In the rock, in the sand, your choice. You can't ignore me, you can't pretend I don't exist, you can't write me off. So who am I? Your life depends on it." If he is only a philosopher, why should we really follow anything he says and does? If he is only a teacher, whether or not we follow doesn't matter that much.

But if Jesus really is the Son of God, the Messiah - what does that change?

Matthew 16:5-12

Brian and Jessica both have hearts for God. They both serve on the praise team at their church. They started dating about three months ago. Nothing really hot and heavy at first, but things kind of heated up. They started thinking, "We love each other." Brian tells his friend, "She's such a blessing to me. She's been put in my life clearly from God." Jessica says, "We're perfect, we're meant to be together - we will be together." It isn't long before the back window of the Caddy is steaming. Brian says, "It's okay - God marries us. We love each other. It doesn't matter."

The girl gets pregnant. Their relationship breaks apart. Jessica's relationship with her parents crumbles; Mom is silent and Dad is cold. The youth group, shocked, are turned off. Those kids are our leaders? Brian's own parents have turned against him. He leaves the church in shame and doesn't return. Lots of the kids who looked up to these star models are torn apart inside and dealing with trials of faith. The youth minister has a hard time trying to get everything under control, and is unable to do it. Kids just stop coming, wondering, What's all this about anyway? They're a bunch of hypocrites. The community snaps because of two kids' false beliefs about God marrying them.

This really happened.

False beliefs are poisonous. As Jesus and his disciples are rowing across a lake, he says, "Be careful not to follow into the Pharisee-Sadducee teaching - teaching that leads people from God. Because of their false beliefs, the Pharisees and Sadducees led many people astray.

Jesus calls this false teaching "Pharisee-Sadducee yeast,' and for good reason. Only a little bit of yeast will make a whole loaf of bread dough rise. Only a little bit of false teaching, only a little bit of clinging onto false beliefs, can make a huge situation out of something that we were just saying ten seconds ago, "How could this little wrong really affect anyone?"

Matthew 15:32

Jesus says, "I hurt for these people." Why? It isn't something political. Jesus doesn't "hurt for us" - he doesn't love us - because he has to. Really, Jesus loves me because there's something inside me that he likes. He really like us! He finds each and every one of us interesting and fun and really likes hanging out with us.

I imagine that if I were to walk up to him, his eyes wouldn't just graze over me. He would focus on me, and his eyes would light up, his energies would burn, and a giant, excited smile would cross his face. He would beg me over, and we'd talk. I'd tell him my stories, and he'd tell me his. He would laugh at my stories, and I would laugh at his.

We would do all sorts of crazy things together - like sledding into creeks, practical jokes of all shapes and sizes, flipping over porter-potties with friends inside, doing donuts in the snow. We would talk about deep, spiritual stuff as well, and he'd energize me with his words on just about anything. I would tell him about all my problems, frustrations, struggles and angers, and he would listen, and when I'm done, he would give me loving advice and help.

We would hang out all day, then I'd have to go, but he'd beg me to stay, and I would, and then I'd say, "See you tomorrow," and he'd say, "Not yet!" I'd get home late and Mom would yell at me.

Jesus likes you. He likes me. He wants to laugh with us, cry with us, live life with us. The Creator of all you see and all you don't likes you!

Matthew 15:29-31

Jesus' compassion is like nothing else. Our compassion isn't even a petty rival to his. It is no small wonder that he spent so much time just healing people. The crippled, the blind, the maimed, the mute, the sick - they all came to Jesus because he was willing to heal them. They would throw themselves down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them all. It is Jesus' passion to heal. It's been said that the Gospel of Jesus is a Gospel of Healing.

Sometimes we get so caught up with the forgiveness of sins that we forget that that's not entirely why Jesus came. He came for a host of reasons, one of them being to heal us. If we think it's all about being forgiven, where is the healing, the life change? Jesus healed more people publically than he forgave people publically; I think this says something about his passion to heal us. I may not be crippled, blind, maimed, mute or sick, but I'm in need of healing just as much as they. My own shortcoming and pitfalls - the lust, the greed, the hot-headedness, the lies - speak volumes of a sickness of which I need to be healed. Jesus wants to heal us; we must let him, and bear through the chemotherapy.

When the people saw the mutes speaking, the maimed healthy, the paraplegics walking around, the blind looking around, they were astonished and made sure everyone knew that God was blazingly alive among them. It was not so much Jesus' words - "You are healed" - but the fact that they were healed that sent this Kingdom-news flying around Judea. When I read this, I am reminded once again that it is not so much our words that stick to peoples' hearts, but our actions - in that sense, it is our changed lives that show the world that there is something big with Jesus.

Matthew 15:3-9

Two college students sit down in the library. It's quiet. They grab study materials - books, pens, pencils, highlighters - and get to work. The hours clock by. Both lean over their work. One keeps looking at the clock. The other loses himself in his studies. They both leave at the same time. The kid who kept eyeing the clock gets a D, and the other student flies home for Christmas break with an A for the semester.

Remember in high school when all the teachers hung up posters of good study habits? I tried some of them; they didn't work. God has a poster up, too. The poster includes such spiritual disciplines as prayer, fasting, worship, meditating on the scriptures. The high school posters weren't lying - their outlines were of great quality and if you really applied them instead of just copying them, you'd get somewhere. Why is it any different with God? If we simply pray without our hearts, if we fast because we want to lose weight, if we worship just because the song is pretty or out of obligation, if we open our Bibles only because we have to go to a Bible study the next morning, how can we expect to grow spiritually?

Prayer, fasting, worship, meditating on the Bible - all that is great when you do it with your heart turned towards experiencing God, hearing from God, conversing with God, loving on God. But when we just go through the motions, we end up empty-handed, sometimes even more hollow than we went in. The reason why is simple: God isn't interested in our obedience to spiritual disciplines, but our growing closer to him through them. The Pharisees were just going through the motions - and if you read through the rest of chapter 15, you can see how much he didn't appreciate this.