Today: Acts 24-26
When I was in college writing classes, the professors--especially those who taught journalism courses--taught us, "Everybody has a story." They're right.
In today's passage, it struck me just how many times Paul had to tell his story...the before and after story of his life with Jesus...while on trial.
You and I probably aren't in a courtroom today, but our stories are on trial. People watch who we are, how we struggle, what we're like under pressure, how we treat others and how we respond to success. Does your story hold up in that kind of court?
To be totally honest, no one's could every single day. But that's the good thing about our
stories--they're continually evolving.
Tomorrow: Acts 27-28
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
To be continued...
Today: Acts 1-3
We just finished reading the book of John, the last Gospel and account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. But the story isn't over.
One of the Gospel writers, Luke, wrote the next book we're about to study starting today. I love the Introduction to Acts found in the Message version of the Bible. Here's a little part of it:
Tomorrow: Acts 4-6
We just finished reading the book of John, the last Gospel and account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. But the story isn't over.
One of the Gospel writers, Luke, wrote the next book we're about to study starting today. I love the Introduction to Acts found in the Message version of the Bible. Here's a little part of it:
"The story of Jesus doesn't end with Jesus.
It continues in the lives of those who believe in Him.
The supernatural does not stop with Jesus.
Luke makes it clear that these Christians he wrote about
were no more spectators of Jesus
than Jesus was a spectator of God--
they are in on the action of God,
God acting in them,
God living in them.
Which also means, of course, in us."
(Introduction to Acts, The Message)
In the opening chapters of Acts, some pretty major stuff happens--the disciples see Jesus ascend into Heaven, the Holy Spirit comes and transforms them, thousands of people start to believe in Jesus, and Peter and John are part of a miracle where a crippled man is completely healed.
But what stood out most to me was the story of Peter himself. His story is pretty incredible. At the end of the Gospels, we saw Peter as the guy who denied even knowing Jesus when He was on the cross. Then, Jesus saw Peter after the resurrection and charged him with being a "fisher of men" and "feeding the lambs"--basically, reaching people with Jesus' story and love and guiding them in their faith.
In the first chapters of Acts, I saw a little bit of how that change happened--mainly through the Holy Spirit and the power it gave to Peter. After he receives the Holy Spirit, the same guy who denied Jesus is bold enough to tell His story to thousands of people (with no microphone--he had to use a loud, booming voice!) whose lives were changed because of it. Talk about transformation!
After He received the Holy Spirit, Peter (with John) witnessed a miracle where a crippled guy was healed...and then, Peter proceeded to use the miraculous story to tell even more people about God.
I think that's pretty incredible. I love that Jesus' story didn't end on the cross or even with an empty tomb. It continued with people like Peter...and continues today with people like us.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Seeing the story
Today: Mark 4-5
Telling stories was a skill Jesus mastered. Most often, I think that His stories were designed to give people a tiny glimpse of what the kingdom of God means, what God is like and how God desires people to respond to Him.
In these two chapters, the Story of the Scattered Seed really exemplifies that. But it's interesting how some people just don't get it...even after Jesus explains what the story means. He tells the disciples:
Sometimes I think Jesus could have been frustrated. If I would have been in His shoes, at times, I would have wanted to say, "HELLO? Don't you people get it yet?!?"
But He had this overwhelming love for people. He had insight and understanding to try and meet them where they were at. I think in some cases, He felt saddened by their disarrayed states of blindness, deafness or stubborn pride. He made an effort to connect with these people through stories...hoping that the simplicity of examples would help them to see, hear and turn toward the truth.
Tomorrow: Mark 6-7
Telling stories was a skill Jesus mastered. Most often, I think that His stories were designed to give people a tiny glimpse of what the kingdom of God means, what God is like and how God desires people to respond to Him.
In these two chapters, the Story of the Scattered Seed really exemplifies that. But it's interesting how some people just don't get it...even after Jesus explains what the story means. He tells the disciples:
"You've been given insight into God's kingdom—
you know how it works.
But to those who can't see it yet,
everything comes in stories,
creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight.
These are people—
Whose eyes are open but don't see a thing,
Whose ears are open but don't understand a word,
Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven."
Sometimes I think Jesus could have been frustrated. If I would have been in His shoes, at times, I would have wanted to say, "HELLO? Don't you people get it yet?!?"
But He had this overwhelming love for people. He had insight and understanding to try and meet them where they were at. I think in some cases, He felt saddened by their disarrayed states of blindness, deafness or stubborn pride. He made an effort to connect with these people through stories...hoping that the simplicity of examples would help them to see, hear and turn toward the truth.
Tomorrow: Mark 6-7
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