Fall Study - Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes

    First and foremost I to apologize for my lack of posting and not putting in the time and discipline to hold up and post like all of you. With that I love reading all your insight on what Bailey is saying and I have a lot of fun seeing where you are all at.    Reading through this noticed a lot of the time I have to go back and reread something because I don't understand what Bailey is saying the first time around. Reading through the words from Bailey I when I don't understand or when I look at some in depth post I let doubt and my feeling of being sub par seep in. Reading through what Bailey says about the lost sheep and the more I tend to realize more times than not I am the lost sheep.     I know this is a basic idea that gets hit alot of times in chriatian circles but especially lately it has been coming up more and more in my life. I start to see that areas in my life where I am the lost sheep: (ie: sin, way I talk and act at times, lac...

First I would like to apologize for my lack of discipline in blogging.  I absolutely love reading the posts, but when it comes to writing, that is something I dread. This loathing stems, I believe, from not wanting to share (I would much rather just keep things to myself - will tie in later). This is not the right mindset to have, and I am praying that God would change my attitude about it. I am currently sitting on a Greyhound bus typing this on my phone. It is pitch black and they have all the overhead lights disabled so people can sleep. I can't see the book for reference (again, should have written this a long time ago), so I will attempt to go off of memory. What resounded the most while reading Bailey's dissection of Luke 15, was his examination of the second through sixth stanzas in the parable of the father and the two lost sons, particularly when he talked about the younger son living in isolation. In this particular stage of life, I am finding myself in deep ...

One line that stood out to me in the reading was (in reference to the father’s response to the son’s request), “It is difficult to imagine a more dramatic illustration of the quality of love, which grants freedom even to reject the lover, than that given in this opening scene”. Freedom even to reject the lover. As acknowledged in the chapter, this quality is so rare, so counter-intuitive – and when we see it, we know it is divinely inspired (as all love is). As my friendships grow in their relational depth, I continue to see new layers of the love that Jesus calls us to. And much like learning a new language, the more I learn, the more I realize that I do not know. I clearly see the father demonstrating a love that is so far from being self-seeking, a love that replicates the love of our Father. Boy, we’ll never tire of contemplating God’s love, of contemplating His mercy in continuing to love us even when we reject the lover. I’m so looking forwa...

Unexpected humiliating love evokes a response. To one son, it evoked an acceptance of an identity: fully known, loved, unworthy, yet belonging to the Father. To the other son, it evoked rejection, a choice to live the way he wanted. Either way, the catalyst for the response was the Father's unexpected humiliating love. I admit that in my mind, I expect how God will love me, my friends, and my family. I expect for him to sacrifice, to be working things together for good, to be faithful, merciful, forgiving. I expect him to love me. But Luke 15 is riddled with unexpected love. So, the question I asked myself as I read these pages is: where are you settling for earthly love? Where am I settling for a watered-down, un-mighty, small work of God. Though in many areas and aspects of life, the area I feel most weary is in the life of my family. I have been praying for them to experience the humiliating love of Jesus for them for many many years now. And here, I read through the parabl...