Perplexed, but not in despair … 2 Corinthians 4:8
This is not about victorious living — this is about ordinary life lived out through the surpassing power of God. It’s not about you (or me). It’s about the all-surpassing power of God through us.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is 2 Corinthians 4:8-12. It immediately follows the famous “jars of clay” verse, and confirms why God would want to put a valuable treasure in an ordinary clay pot. But more on that later. First, I need to tell you why we’re here again looking at this passage. If you’ve been with the Catch for a while, you may know that this is not the first time we’ve had our Bibles open to 2 Corinthians, and I guarantee not the last. That’s because this passage is central to all we do here at the Catch; it’s what we call the New Covenant.
God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:10-11
Yesterday we found out God’s ultimate plan is to bring everything together under the authority of Jesus Christ. Today we find out that another part of His plan is to show off the rich variety of His wisdom as expressed in the church, to “unseen rulers and authorities in heavenly places.” Now who are those guys? Do we even know? No we don’t, but right now that’s none of our business. That’s God’s business, and we only need to know that it’s going on and pay attention to our walk with the Lord, because we are not alone. Someone outside of our earthly realm is looking on. And what God is doing through you and me is being noted. I bet you didn’t know you were that important.
God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. Ephesians 1:9-11
In our International Bible Study last night, we were reminded about the overall administration of God’s will for us and for the world which is to bring everything together in Christ. Everything. People, ethnic groups, religions, nations, politics, genders, races … everything that currently divides us will be gone and everything will find its proper place under the authority of Christ.
We’ve got so many of these — the Gospel According to Peanuts, The Simpsons, Biff, Mary Magdalene, and of course, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But of all of them, the greatest of them for each one of us is our gospel. Think of it as The Gospel According to You.
You are here
And so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
(Sha bop sha bop)
“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” Matthew 6:22-23
There is something to seeing only people’s eyes because of this pandemic — something mysterious, intriguing, sensual, even captivating. Seeing only people’s eyes leaves the rest of the face to the imagination. But in some strange way, you might end up seeing people more deeply, because you focus on a person’s eyes more when eyes are all you see. Continue reading
At a time when you would think no one would be very hopeful about the future, it turns out that a high percentage of 18-29 year-olds in America are. Not only that, they are involved in politics more than have been in the last 20 years. Maybe that’s why they’re hopeful — they feel like they can have a say in the future of this country.
For sure, the millennials are the future of this country and that’s why we welcome them with open arms and have been ever since they started turning up here in large numbers. Millennials are not afraid to ask the hard questions; and that is what faith is all about anyway. It’s not about the absence of doubt; it’s about faith in the midst of doubt.
The mind of man plans his way [Decision], but the LORD directs his steps [Action]. (Proverbs 16:9 NASB)
Ever hear the story of three frogs on a log? One decided to jump down… how many were left? Three… because deciding to do something and doing it are two different things. In order for a decision to mean anything, you have to do something about it. You don’t just decide to get married; you buy the ring, set the date and plan the wedding. You don’t just decide you’re going to get a job; you get your resume ready, fill out applications, make phone calls, pound the pavement. You don’t just decide you’re going to make some changes in your life; you make them. Decisions mean nothing without actions to back them up. It’s a little like hearing the word of God and not doing anything about it.
That means that once you decide for door #3, you have to open the door and walk through it into whatever it is that door holds for you. You back up your decision by taking whatever steps that decision requires you to take. And the amazing promise is that the Lord will direct your steps as you go.
This verse tells us a lot about how this works. It says that the Lord directs our steps, but who takes those steps? We do. The Lord doesn’t take them for us. We don’t stand there and wait for him to move our legs. We step out—we take action—and the Lord somehow directs our steps as we go along. Strange, mysterious, but true.
So that means you can’t just wait around for God to do something. You do it. You step out, because God will do something through your steps. He directs as we walk. He works as we work. He talks as we talk.
It’s a little like a cartoon I saw once of an artist painting a picture, except that he himself was being painted at that very moment by a very large brush in a very large hand.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2: 12-13)
If there was ever a time for prayer, it would be now when we are in the middle of a pandemic. One of the most important reasons for praying in a pandemic is our isolation. So many people suffering from loneliness and anxiety, and often we are not even aware of it. We’re surrounded by the familiar, but we lose track. The days pile up and you suddenly can’t tell one from the other. I’ve got alarms going off all the time on my phone because of phone calls and zoom meetings, but I missed a very important meeting this morning because I lost track of what day it was.
Isolation can disconnect us from people and from God. It’s not good. Prayer can connect us back up, rather like plugging back into a switchboard after the plugs have been pulled out.
The Catch is a community, and because of that, we are the body of Christ. The body of Christ is a community. But there are other communities we live in, too. A community is a group of people sharing something in common and interdependent on one another. As a community, we have come to need each other.
John Fischer The Catch 