When we call Jesus King, we may not know what we’re saying.
Jesus calls us to accept forgiveness and get on with a life and faith that do not revolve constantly about trying to make up for mistakes.
Love is both command and promise and is what gives meaning to all our offerings to God.
Summing up the previous section of the gospel, Bartimaeus is a model disciple – one who sees who Jesus is, has no pretensions to power, leaves everything, and follows Jesus on the way.
Christ is our high priest, the sole mediator between the world and God, but as the body of Christ we share in Christ’s task of reconciling earth and heaven.
Because of who Jesus is, we are both naked and vulnerable before him, and confident to approach God. Our only fear is of ourselves!
Jesus is not calling us to self-mutilation, but he is saying that our efforts to root out sin in ourselves need to be as rigorous as it takes, even if it means appearing like a fanatic.
The challenge of relinquishing selfish desire is a crucial key to a deeper journey into the life of Christ.
The Bible highlights the consequences of the world’s unjust economic system, and we, as the church, are called to find ways of living out our prayer for justice.
The sexy bits of the Bible point to an understanding of the sacramental nature of sexual intimacy.
The forces seeking to destroy any chance of real Christian living are formidable, but so are the weapons God gives us.
The measure of the value of our worship is the measure of the transformation of our lives.
Praise and prayer enable us to find our true identify in Christ, and it is as we find out who we are that we find our true strength.
What God has done and is doing is cause for celebration.
We need to be willing to hear truth whether it comes from an expected source or an unexpected source.
Self sacrifice and asceticism are not incompatible with the call to care for oneself and live life to the full.
You can’t define or dictate how people will experience God, even within the service of worship.
The extent of God’s grace constantly astounds us as it floods over ever social barrier we erect.
Encounters with the risen Christ open our minds rather than narrow our theology.
Jesus will meet us where we need to be met in order to inspire our faith.