introduction to reformed theology – Jesus @ 2 am blogs and podcast

Loving God 301, Part 10: Finding Trust Amidst Doubt – Psalm 117

March 25, 2016March 22, 2016Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Why do we stay on this crazy path of faith? At least some part of me is always asking. And while my theology is of some help (it’s broken world, God is making all things new, faith will be vindicated at the end of the age…yadda, yadda), I sometimes need a more immediate and personal answer. Perhaps even more, I need a short, cogent encapsulation of the truth that I can offer to myself in times of doubt.

In this episode, Jon Saur continues our honest exploration of the temptations and doubts by looking at Ps. 117.

One of the shortest of the psalms, it nevertheless contains the deepest of truths. Why do we stay the course of faith? Because my heart of hearts knows that God is love. I have experienced that love in my own life. And my history says that God’s love will not fail. So I will celebrate love even when circumstances are not going as I wish…

Loving God 301, Part 9: Acknowledging Temptation – Psalm 73

March 22, 2016March 22, 2016Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Why do bad things happen to good people? And why do good things happen to bad people? And when such things occur, are they signs that I’ve been a fool to follow the virtuous path???

Temptation in the life of faith has to do with far more than just the momentary impulses to break the rules. While such moments come, and must indeed be resolved, the far bigger struggle is facing the road not taken, the path we abandon when we commit ourselves to the Jesus way of love.

To place love and faith and righteousness at the center of one’s life is to actively choose a difficult road, and one the world does not always reward (and almost never on the short term) – a choice (to follow the Jesus Way) that becomes all the more challenging when those on the “other path” appear to prosper.

In this episode we confront the truth that vice often pays better than virtue (or at least seems to). In a broken world, some cheaters do prosper – not only with wealth and luxury and power, but with reputation and accolade (how many times did Enron make the cover of business magazines?). And we are tempted by what we see! Who wouldn’t be? And yet, we somewhere deep within our soul we know that love is the name of the game and we must tarry on the path that Jesus walks.

How will we make peace with the difficulty of the narrow road of love when the rewards of this age feel so close at hand? Short answer: By acknowledging the temptation to ourselves and to God and leaning more fully into our relationship with Christ (vs. leaning merely into our theology!).

I hope it’s of help…

Loving God 301, Part 8: A Cry for Vengeance – Psalm 69

February 29, 2016February 29, 2016Kirk WinslowLeave a comment

Anger is a core human emotion – a healthy response to injustice. But like all primal responses, anger can turn on us in an instant, and what begins as a proper defensive impulse transforms into the desire for retribution, even revenge. And when it does, we transition from victim to perpetrator-in-the-making – a position we cannot take if we are to share in the divine work of loving evil out of existence.

But injustice is real, and anger is a necessary element of a mature life. Without it, no injustices would ever be confronted or corrected. (And the NT contains many stories of Jesus himself being properly angry.)

In this episode, Mike Regele explores the experience of intense anger through the poetry of Psalm 69 and how voicing our anger to God – in all its passion and desire for vengeance – can bring us to consolation and stir God to restoration in his way.