Baby Talk

I made numerous trips to the hospital yesterday. It included good news and bad. The day ended holding a baby close to my chest. As I held her I thought about the heart that was healing from surgery one floor up, the cancer that was claiming its home two floors up, the snow storm that was coming, the stuff going in Syria, the fact that the sign needs to be changed again, the gas pric….

No I didn't. To be honest, reflecting back, I don't remember thinking about anything.

Holding that new life did something. That one day old girl didn't erase everything else, make pressure go away, or protect me or anyone else from anything. But, somehow for 5 minutes she captivated my thoughts from everything else. Tons of potential in a 7 pound body.

Innocent. Needy. Helpless. Holy. She opened her eyes a few times. She grunted. Then she helped me with my sermon for Sunday.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, you're not anywhere near the kingdom unless you're "born again." (John 3) Innocent because of the grace of God. Needy for the direction of God. Helpless without the Spirit of God. Holy through of the presence of God.

I've been thinking. We're following the Lord into a ministry of growing people in Him, but we need to hear the call to be born again. Some of us may have tried to learn to ride a bike in the womb. Birth - then bike.

For some, it may be that's why sin is so hard to leave, empty religion has such a tight hold, faith is shallow, forgiveness is impossible, and transformation has been reduced to self-adjustment. Maybe we've turned being born again into being a better person. Maybe we've surrendered those words to the abuses of the past or sacrificed them on the altar of "there are no absolutes" - I want them back. Born again. Born from above. New Life. Saved. Words that reveal the changed life of following Christ.

I don't hunger for them because they are relevant or old fashioned, but because Jesus said "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." I'm glad that baby and I had a talk. She had a lot to say.

OK with Baby Talk,

Pastor Dave

Other

Last week we asked people at our church what they worried about.

The point of the question was not to get information so I could pull out the Jesus gun of Matthew 6 and fire off, "Jesus said not to worry."  I wasn't setting people up so I could sweep in with a Paul hammer and hit them with, "Do not be anxious about anything."  Worry is a topic that requires grace, teaching, and the Holy Spirit's work.  It's not the place for a surprise attack.

We gave four options to choose from; future, money, health, or other.  Of those who answered, it turned out that "other" was marked more than the other three.  Future was next, followed by health, and last was money.

Do you know where my mind went when I was told that?  I can imagine the issues of the future - I've got a bunch of those concerns.  I can imagine what someone might have been thinking with health things - I'm in the middle of some.  I can imagine money issues - I have a house and car payment too.

My mind was caught up with the "other" and what that represented.  Then I thought about the fact that we all have areas of life that don't fit into someone else's three neat categories.  Maybe we all have "other" in our worlds.  Those life elements that seem to bring us the challenges that we didn't expect and don't feel equipped to handle.

Even the ones who identified a specific area on Sunday have an "other" that doesn't fit in anyone's category.

Maybe that's what Jesus was doing when he invited the people who were "weary and burdened" to come to him.  Maybe he was reaching to the people who had the "other" stuff in their life that gets heavy.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  (Matthew 11:28-29)

Jesus didn't preach against the causes, he spoke to the result - weary, burdened.  He gave them the answer, "Come to me, take my yoke, learn from me."

Resting from the other,

Pastor Dave