The View from the West Mesa

Saul it seems, was instructed to have the Israelite completely destroy the Amalekites – people and animals. Rather, Saul allowed the Israelites to capture the Amalekite king, and to bring back the choicest live stock. When Samuel returns to visit Saul, the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle are clearly audible. Assuming that the Israelites had done what had been directed, Samuel finds this noise to be somewhat unexpected, and so he asks Saul to explain what has happened. Saul’s response is a two-parter. The first is that the people have brought back the best of the plunder to sacrifice it to God. The second is that Saul was afraid of the people and so he let them bring back the plunder [and in this explanation, we don’t know why]. Samuel’s response is his mission for God, and he will complete it. Samuel tells Saul that he has failed in his mission to destroy the Amalekites and as a result God has rejected him as king of Israel. In Samuel’s discussion with Saul, he says:...

I don’t know much about her, but I do know that the media has said “she captured our attention,” and “she wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe,” or other silly things. While she was breathing, she had a lot of attention, even a pretty poor television show for a while. But really, did anyone care? What do we know about her? Oh, that she married some rich guy, was in the middle of fighting for millions with the rich guy’s children, apparently slept with a number of weird and rather opportunistic guys, resulting in a laughable-if-not-tragic episode of one after another claiming to be the sire of her little girl, just to find out that she had left all her money to her now dead son. Unfortunately we knew much more about her than we needed to know. We know that she had little self control, loved attention, and led a life style that was unthinking and dangerous. She apparently taught her son to live the same style of life, using drugs, being unproductive, and dying early by mixing drugs in a reck...

What was Jesus asking when He looked at His disciples and asked, "Who do you say that I am?" He had gotten a few answers surrounding what the people at large had been guessing; primarily some famous prophet from Israel's history. But the people hadn't gotten it right. Jesus wasn't the reincarnation of some long-dead prophet. We may want to offer answers such as 'the messiah,' or the 'Son of God,' or some other such title. But I don't think Jesus was asking "What's my title." He wanted to know if the disciples had had their eyes openned to the working of God. And so His question is more than "Who am I?" I think He was asking something like "So, after running around the country side with me, watching me care for people, and hearing what I have said, do you think you can see God in me?" He wanted to know if the presence of the Divine among them awakened their hearts to who He and they really were. The question rem...

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...