January 2nd

Our hope resides in Christ. So how much of me does He have? My prayer then is Colossians 1:9-10 Lord, fill me with the knowledge of your will. Help me to walk worthy of You, fully pleasing to You.

When I look at this passage written from Paul to the Colossians encouraging them in their faith, it reminds me to look to other christians for prayer and support and to pray for others. Colossians 1:9 "we have not ceased to pray for you..."

Sorry everyone I have been reading December 1st and December 2nd... I will get on track tomorrow.

Sometimes the most basic principles are forgotten. Today's author encourages us to rejoice with new Christians in their enthusiasm. It reminds me that we can all learn from each other. No matter how experienced we are, God has made us equally important in His kingdom. At times we get the feeling of inadequacy but we need to remember that we all have a role. It is when we spend time studying God's word that we better start to understand what our roles might be. This helps us overcome our daily struggles.

Eric: I'm excited about being a Christian.

Haley: Christians should be excited because our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for us.

One of the many aspects I enjoyed about the Bible, and we see in today's verse, is Jesus' use of analogies... this time with sheep.

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Interesting, I'm just surprised there are 99 people out there who don't need to repent!

We are the 1%! Funny how that can have so many different meanings.

Well, this passage proves 2 things: 1) I don't know the first thing about shepherding actual sheep. Jesus said, "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?" Um, me. He says this as if everyone would leave the 99 for the 1. Maybe I don't know enough about herd mentality, but I'd be afraid of losing the whole 99 and I'd just figure the 1 was lost to the wolves already. I'm glad everyone in the crowd knew to leave and go after the 1, clearly my 21st century 3-pound-fallen-brain would not have gotten his point.

2)Metaphors can be well intentioned, but still miss the mark. I cringe a little bit over metaphors like this t-ball story because I know what unbelieving colleagues or friends would say and ask. I agree we should share in the "unrestrained exuberance" of the 1 who was brought home, but why confuse the matter with a backstory about 9 who forgot the point was to throw to home?

I let Denise borrow a book a few years ago, so maybe she can help me out here. I think it was called Growing Up Christian. The author tells these really cheesy stories, but over the course of the book he drives home a really good point: Sometimes those of us who "grew up Christian" become jealous or even resentful of the "unrestrained exuberance" of new Christians. Instead, he suggests that the road while "growing up Christian" is actually a more difficult one to maintain lifelong and that we should find the same "unrestrained exuberance" in having beat the odds, AND we can "borrow" the abundant joy, excitement, and passion of new believers to energize ourselves. Like today's passage, he says: Why not let joy in the Lord rub off on you? I think that is the mutal edification we are supposed to find in the body of Christ. He puts new and old Christians together because we both need each other and can be blessed by the other.

Anthony wrote:Interesting, I'm just surprised there are 99 people out there who don't need to repent!

Me too!