I’ve been praying this a lot lately for myself and my family:
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. – Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with how much power? All power.
According to whose might? God’s might.
What kind of might? Glorious might.
For how much endurance? All endurance.
Just meditating on this text makes me feel strong.
Posted in Bible, Prayer | 2 Comments »
When I was in college, God used The Holiness of God by RC Sproul to rock my world. It was the first book of any theological substance that I had read. Before reading that book my theological understanding of God was about an inch deep. That book was like a meteor that crashed into my world and left a theological imprint a mile deep. It was seeing the holiness of God through this book that started my love for theology. Once I had seen a glimpse of God’s greatness I wanted more. Since then I’ve studied the biblical languages, read the Bible many many times and read lots of other theology books. But it all started with The Holiness of God.
This month you can get the audio book for free from Christianaudio.com.
Posted in Books, God | 1 Comment »
Are you looking for some Muslim blogs? I found a list of “50 Magnificent Muslim Blogs.” I saw it through Svend’s blog, “Akram’s Razor.” Svend and I’ve never met, but I count him as an online friend through our occasional comments and emails. I was happy to see he was listed as #2.
Posted in Muslims | 2 Comments »
Mezba commented on a post I had written and had included a link to his blog, “Teaching Kids the Holy Quran.” After I looked at his blog I knew I wanted to post a link. He creatively uses Legos to teach the Quran.
Here is a link to Surat Maryam, which tells of the birth of the Messiah. Many Christians don’t realize that Muslims also believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. This is a good example of commonality between us. The second part of his Lego rendition of this Surah (chapter) of the Quran is a good example of one of our differences.
Let’s enthusiastically embrace our commonalities and never be afraid to make clear our differences. We don’t have to be offended when people make plain their disagreements with us, especially since we already knew we didn’t agree anyway!
Posted in Qur'an | 2 Comments »
In Peter Hong’s guest post at Eboo Patel’s blog, Hong makes the case for loving, tolerant fundamentalism. In fact, he argues that if Christians really understood the cross it would be impossible to be intolerant.
What is the truth that all Christians say everyone must know? Ought to believe? It’s Jesus Christ on the cross. And what do you see on the cross–the Son of God dying, bleeding, serving and loving his enemies. If you take into the very center of your being as the absolute truth this Jesus, dying for people who oppose him, hate him, could that possibly make you intolerant, arrogant, and judgmental towards opposing people? Of course not! If it does, then, you haven’t grasped Christianity. You have a veneer of it, not the essence.
Read the whole thing.
Posted in Christians, Jesus Christ, Love | 2 Comments »
There are many similarities between Muslims and Christians. In fact, as a follower of Jesus the Messiah, when I am with Muslims I often feel more comfortable than when I am with Americans or other Westerners. My values are much closer to an average Muslim than to a secular Westerner. We especially noticed this several years ago while studying Arabic in Syria. There was a big difference between us and some of our European classmates (I only remember one other American, though, interestingly, we did meet a Somali who lived about a mile away from us in America).
As similar as many of our values are, there are differences in our theology, especially regarding our beliefs about Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? What did he do? It is the answers to these questions that separate us (the separation is theological – it doesn’t have to be relational).
This morning as I read my Bible I came across a passage that defines the differences between us. When I read this text my heart fills with praise to God and gratefulness for his mercy and compassion. I am really happy that I am reconciled to God, that I have peace with the Lord of the worlds. Here are the verses:
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. – Colossians 1:19-20
Posted in Christians, Contentious Issues, Jesus Christ, Muslims, Peace, Theology | 4 Comments »
Richard Nixon was the 37th President of the United States. If you know anything about him, you know that he was the first and only president to resign from office. His legacy has forever been scarred by the Watergate break-in and the subsequent cover up.
Most people (even Americans), however, don’t know much about the remarkable foreign policy breakthroughs that he accomplished during his time in office. This included ending the Vietnam War, opening relations with China (he was the first president to visit China), and negotiating the first nuclear arms treaty with the Soviet Union.
In 2009 my family visited Disneyland in Southern California. Afterwards we were traveling to Hemet, CA to visit friends. I love presidential history, so when I mapped it out and saw that we would go through Yorba Linda and be a couple of miles from Richard Nixon’s birthplace and Library I convinced my wife we had to stop.
It was great seeing all the memorabilia from his life and teaching my daughter, Lucy, about Nixon and other presidents. We got to go in Marine One, which is the helicopter he left the White House in on the day he resigned. But the thing that stood out most to me was his tombstone. Here is a picture:
“The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker”
The phrase on his tombstone is a line from his first inaugural address. Whether we think of Richard Nixon as a peacemaker or not, it is interesting to me that being a peacemaker must have been very significant for him since he had it placed on his tombstone. It is how he wanted to be remembered.
I’m not working in the arena of foreign affairs between governments, but it is how I hope I will be remembered.
Posted in Peacemaking | 2 Comments »
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