The View from the West Mesa

John 3.16 is the most well known verse in the Christian church, and rightly so. This verse tells us of the Father’s love for us, as Paul will say, even while we were yet sinners. This verse, and the one that follows it, form the core of the Gospel, explain why God was interested enough to send Jesus to earth, and establishes the basic expectation of Man’s return to God. It is that basic expectation with which I want to deal in this essay. The expectation is “…he who believes....” But what is that belief that is spoken of in this passage? If we go to our Greek dictionaries we will find words that deal with the apprehension of facts, or assent to a proposition. Many people will take that simple definition and expand it to include a following through on that belief. Namely, repentance is often included in a rightly understood belief. After all, if we really believe that Jesus is who He said He was, we must be compelled to make ourselves look like Him. While I acknowledge the foregoing def...

If there are things that together compose the sine qua non of the disciple’s life, Scripture is surely one of them. Scripture provides our primary physical revelation of both God and our purpose. It is with Scripture that we can measure our transformed being as we mature. Scripture is the authoritative record of God’s interaction with Man. But Scripture, simply learned, memorized, parsed, and critiqued in an academic sense is powerless and fruitless. Approaching Scripture as an interesting product of Man’s existence is to miss its import. Scripture’s purpose is to lead us back to where we started; back to who God made us to be. Scripture reveals in its opening verses that Man (male and female) was made in the very image of God. Unlike the other animals, there is something different about Man and his being. It is not that we have physical bodies, or legs, or lungs, or blood. That we have a spirit is closer to the mark, but does not quite grasp the image concept. That image of God that w...

As we begin a new year, we are reviewing our belief statement. Here's a draft of mine.... ___________________________ I believe first and foremost that God is, that He created everything that is, and that He sustains the creation by His power. I believe that God loves all people, that He seeks to commune with them, and that the separation of people from Him causes Him sorrow and grief. I believe that God sent Jesus to reveal the character of God, to heal Man, and to make a way for Man to return to his original relationship with God which He did by living a faithful life and dying on the cross in submission to God. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven where He mediates between God and Man. I believe that God remains active in the world through His Spirit who is given to all believers and who transforms Man by working in them and interceding between God and Man. I believe that Scripture is the divine physical record of God’s revelation of Himself and as such...

The Jesus Prayer is a very old prayer used by Christians to keep God in mind and keep themselves aware of His presence. It is very short, having a pretty much fixed content for centuries. The prayer is essentially a prayer for mercy but includes acknowledgement of Jesus's relationship with God and the Christian, and acknowledgement of the Christian's dependence on mercy as a sinner. Worded variously, an Orthodox version reads "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Worded or thought in this form, the prayer is easy to say and can be used to focus us on our mission and place in God's plan. In the middle of chaos or around distractions, this short prayer can serve a useful purpose. During periods of more extended quiet, the prayer can be expanded by reflecting on its words. The following is an example of using the prayer in this manner. "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." "Lord, master, king. I don't k...

Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of God is an interesting and rewarding read. A collection of letters, observations, and reflections by a Parisian lay brother associated with the Carmelites that lived in the second half of the 1600’s, the book represents a departure from many “standard” works on spirituality and contemplation. In fact, having read many other books, this one seems to be a bit too simple. But therein lies its value. It calls us back to where we are to be headed. You see, its easy, being human, to grasp hold of a new system of spirituality, learn its techniques in and out, and then proceed to structure our lives by it. We tend to major in living that system rather than using the system to get us where we want to be. Brother Lawrence’s advice is simple and straight forward: Decide to love God and live in His presence, and all the rest falls into place. Not that we will have an easy life physically, or that we will always enjoy what we are assigned to do, but det...

She was early forties, the wife of an up-and-coming preacher, mother of three sons, a great disciple, and a wonderful mentor and teacher. Her approach to life and commitment to God had garnered her respect and devotion from many women both younger and older than she, of the congregations she had attended. She had spoken at national conferences and University presidents attended her funeral. So why did she have to die of various abdominal cancers at her age? In six months of being diagnosed? This question has been raised a number of times and my current responsibilities require that I address this question to members of my flock. It isn’t an easy question to answer, and I’m pretty sure that whatever answer I could devise would be sufficient for some and leave others wanting. Nevertheless, I need some sort of response. It might be easier if she had died suddenly in a car accident. But she didn’t and so we’ve had our congregation and more than a few folks around the world praying for her ...

The book of Ruth is set in the time of the Judges which means that the society was characterized by everybody doing whatever they thought appropriate. There was very little national political or cultic control. We also know that God would let the Israelites have some slack, and then when they got too far out of hand, He would either send a famine or have some other tribe or country attack somewhere, so that the Israelites would appeal to God, elect a judge over them, and return to God. When they had returned, God would set right whatever was lacking in His blessing of them. It is in this atmosphere that we have the story of Ruth and we know that there is a famine in the land so that Naomi's family moves to another land for food. And it is there that Naomi's son finds a Moabitess for a wife. This is interesting since good Israelites weren't supposed to marry outside of Israel, but he does. In this place of shelter, Naomi loses her husband and her two sons, and she decides to...