Posts by Chuck Webster (Page 5)
God’s family
I’m sure there’s enjoyable fellowship outside of God’s family, but I honestly can’t imagine what it would be like not to have the church. These are my people. Oh, they’ve got their problems, of course (don’t we all?), but people within the household of faith are my support group. I grieve and rejoice with them, I depend on them, I need them. Where does everyone else find this? At a local bar? With their bowling club? I’m thinking it’s a…
Look ahead
It’s a cliché, I know, but it became a cliché because it’s true. Don’t live in the past. Is that you? Are you beating yourself up over something you did years ago? I think the apostle Paul struggled with that. In some of his letters he mentioned the terrible things he’d done to Christians years earlier, referring to himself as the “worst” of sinners and the “least of the apostles” (1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15:9). It bothered him. I’m…
Cut flowers
Note: I wrote this article before the governor of New York signed a bill on Tuesday that legalized abortion up until birth in some cases. He also directed the One World Trade Center and other landmarks to be lit in pink to celebrate the passage of the “Reproductive Health Act.” How exactly the law will be interpreted and applied remains to be seen, but it seems like another step in the deeply discouraging direction of becoming a nation that delights…
One day soon
I’m looking forward to the resurrection, aren’t you? There’s a sense in which we’ve already been raised, of course. When we were brought up out of the baptismal waters, God raised us from our spiritual graves. We were dead, and now we’re alive. We were lost, and now we’re found. But the resurrection isn’t over yet. Sometimes I get sore muscles, and my head hurts (“in this tent we groan,” 2 Cor 5:2). I struggle with sin way more than…
Do you know him?
About 32% of the people in the world identify in some sense with Christianity, which is about 2.5 billion. I have no idea how many of those truly walk with Christ—God does, of course—but it seems that if there were 2.5 billion dedicated Christ-followers in the world, some of our problems wouldn’t exist. Right? Part of the answer is obvious—there’s a difference between what we call ourselves and what we actually are. There’s a difference between checking a box on…
Inviting
I’ve heard of people who have led thousands to Christ in their lives—through preaching to huge audiences or writing books or tracts that reach thousands. That’ll never happen for most of us. Paul established dozens of churches, and Peter preached to enormous crowds. Both of them wrote letters about Jesus that have been read by hundreds of millions. My circle of influence is considerably smaller than that. Once we’ve realized that, we’ve got two options. We can resent our situation,…
Chest-thumping?
Maybe there’s a little bit of a my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad spirit in many of us, but most of us also recognize it’s not much fun being around someone who’s always one up. Is there a braggart or two in your world? It might actually intimidate kids on the playground, but it’s wise not to try it in God’s house. Read Paul’s boasting below, but don’t miss his point: For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory…
He’s serious
It’s pretty easy to develop a cavalier attitude toward sin. We’re saved by grace anyway, right? “Everybody’s got sin problems,” we say, and, “After all, nobody’s perfect.” And a few other platitudes like those make us feel better. But they shouldn’t. We shouldn’t ever become relaxed about sin. The Old Testament has a lot of scary passages, and we’ve got to be careful when we apply them to our time. But they’ve got something important to say to us. Here’s…
Stiff-necked
Ever dealt with someone stubborn? I mean really stubborn, as in talking-to-a-wall stubborn? [Some of you are thinking, Yes, I’m married to him . . . :-)] I’ve even heard some folks describing themselves this way as if it were a compliment. It’s not. Or at least God never uses it that way. In fact, sometimes it’s translated with a word that creates an interesting image: And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it…
Beware of Dogs
At the risk of shattering your image of the Apostle Paul, I need to let you know that he wasn’t a dog-lover. Our man’s-best-friend image actually hinders us from understanding how intense these words are: Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh (Philippians 3:2). Along with most of his contemporaries, Paul viewed dogs as packs of ravenous creatures who roamed the countryside eating whatever they could find. So, to…
Rejoice
I suppose a certain level of anxiety is part of living on this fallen earth. I haven’t yet met the person—even among those following Jesus—who lives a completely carefree life. Do you worry at times? Get stressed out? Lie there staring at the ceiling in the wee hours of the morning? I doubt we’re the first ones to struggle with it. It seems like every page of Scripture says something about it. Take this one, for example. To one of…
Who in the world is Epaphroditus?
You’ve got big names in Bible history, and then you’ve got Epaphroditus. We know a lot about Abraham, Moses, David, and Paul. They’re the movers and shakers on the human side of God’s story. But Epaphroditus? He gets six verses. But as one of my old Bible teachers used to say, they’re chock-full of meaning. Try not to hurry through them. I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and…