Grains of Sand

The clay jar from Venezuela arrived in Canada slightly the worse for wear. A chunk of the spout didn't survive the trip. As I read this morning's reading from 2 Corinthians, I remembered the jug. As what we know as 2 Corinthians 3 closes, the Apostle Paul writes: " And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit " (3:18, NIV) Paul is adamant throughout his writings that we, as believers must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the renovation process that began at the moment we came to faith in Christ. Being declared holy because of Christ's redemptive work in us, now demands that old habits be laid aside to make room for the characteristics of Christ. However, in 2 Corinthians 4, Paul acknowledges that believers are very much like my clay pot and that being so is not entirely a bad thing. He writes: " But we have this treasure...

I'm not sure why I have always had a fascination for books about war—fiction and non-fiction. Could it be that my latent aggression needs some way to express itself? I'd like to think it is more due to some uncanny ability born in me that recognizes that life is a battle. I'd like to think that, honest, though the first statement might be truer. When I read this morning's verses I was reminded again that the believer's war is not with sticks or stones, rifles, tanks, submarines, or fighter jets. The believer's war is an internal spiritual battle with physical expressions. Paul writes: " For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ " —2 Corinthians 10...

Last night a friend emailed me asking for prayer for her mother. Marion has just found out that her cancer is growing. The fear of pain and death, the reluctance to leave her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren behind, has left her anxious. She is only one on my list of people who, for various reasons, are suffering. Suffering takes many forms, but usually we think of it in terms of the physical. So when Paul writes in Romans 8:17: " Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory ", our natural inclination is to think of physical death. But not everyone will suffer a painful death—certainly not death on a cross. Such suffering wouldn't be a prerequisite for sharing in Christ's glory. But Paul clarifies the statement in the verses that follow. He writes: " I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be...

Just as we take the long way around a puddle in our path, we shrink back from looking too closely at some bits of truth. We don't want to be harsh, or judgmental. We look at our own lives and admit that we struggle and don't always succeed in being all that God meant us to be. How can we point a finger when doing so means there are several pointing right back at us? All truth needs to be walked through, not walked around. " The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks " —Luke 6:45. Just prior to this verse comes another, reminding us that a good tree doesn't produce bad fruit. The lesson? If the man acts consistently like a pagan, that's what he is—a pagan. Harsh? Yes. But truth is like that. A Christ-follower will struggle, but therein lies the key: He struggles. He may not always succeed in being Christ-...