In this season of extensive military involvements it may seem to some that a failure to formally support the war is somehow unpatriotic. G.K Chesterton once wrote that to say,”‘My country right or wrong’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case.” He said, “It’s like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober.’”
Easter week gave us casualties in this present conflict in Iraq nearing 27,000 with 4000 of those being fatalities. Wars leave wounds that in some cases never heal. Our finest young men and women are being “voluntarily” called into service with monetary incentives and promises of educational opportunities. For many it is a means of escaping reality of educational opportunities too far removed and the high unemployment rates of local communities. States such as our own have been disproportionately affected. Is it that we are more patriotic, or that our young people are desperate for work?
Some may well benefit from the experiences of training, discipline, and cooperation instilled by time in military service, but we would do well to remember the cost to those who leave dreams behind on the battlefields. It is time for an accounting that few of us are seeing or thinking about. Who benefits? Is it those of another nation now entering 5 years of daily fighting in its streets? The neighboring countries whose communities are filled to overflowing with war refugees seeking safety? Those who have been released from the oppressions of a strongman dictator that our own government once helped to gain power? The questions are hard ones, and already too late, but what beyond the greed for oil lying beneath this distant nation, do we really believe is the legitimate justification for the prolonged presence of US forces?
This war is neither revitalizing our economy nor encouraging positive developments for the future. We are undermining our relationships with allies as a nation and showing little more than stubbornness in our refusal to comprehend the internal conflicts within the country we have occupied that have been present for generations. Jesus said, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” Everyone recognizes, “Its complicated.” But I for one think it is time for patriotic persons to understand the importance of sharing their convictions about legitimate reasons for war in such a way that we require a qualified demonstration of necessity before military engagements are initiated. Forcing our fine military to take on the task of “policing” the failures of diplomacy is a sad mission statement for our military, especially when that diplomacy has not been elevated to a priority before war. Too often, we are dealing with international conflicts of our own making, created by our own misjudged actions. Too often, we are sending armed forces without any declaration of war at all.
“War on terror” may be a rally cry for those whose vision is telescoped exclusively to the painful memory of 9-11, but the realities of “pre-emptive” conflict initiated toward a country with NO ties to that event have been disastrous…economically, ethically, and spiritually. There was also this month a full report from the Pentagon noting no evidence of any ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq prior to the war. We have made a mess; we have initiated a regime change, but only to offer the prospect of a long line of conflicts to follow.
I commend every soldier who has taken up the tasks requested on behalf of our nation and its security. I am proud of each of them. But I am also prideful enough of our nation to expect better of those who decide such matters as taking up arms…to do so apart from the manipulations of those who see war as a business to be encouraged for the sake of windfall profit-taking rather than a necessary sacrifice for national defense and the true freedoms we espouse. Nations that are “bought and sold” by corporate actions will never be the nations of the people, by the people or for the people. That includes our own.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Word Warrior
I took some kind of a test once that when I was finished described me as a “Word Warrior.” I can’t remember if the test was worth the time to take it, but it did to some degree give credence to my frequent awareness that words are much the common ground for my daily life’s work. The words on the other hand may be spoken or written or in some sense both. As a proclaimer of the Gospel, I find myself highly conscious of the tremendous differences between spoken and written language. There is a flow to speech that few have ever captured capably in written form. Likewise, the written word can be powerful and pointed, and moving all at once, but unyielding in spoken form to ready hearing. So between the two we move, as readers and writers, speakers and voices of witness. There is for all of us the words that tell the story, point the truth, share the dream, create the conflict or allow the opportunity for peace. Words continually allow our thoughts to move and to be challenged and more.
As I think of words that speak to hearts, I realize the necessity of shared experience as the basis for understanding. Likewise, there is the power of a truth that when applied and learned by the experience of a chosen response, builds the capacities for growth and progress. I have seen faith mature and hopes grow in the face of many challenges by the power of words to guide and shape perspective and understanding.
Words are truly gifts to us all. It’s too bad that so often words have a way of piling up around us, unconsidered or never heard, when for a season they would be like a steady rain to a parched field. But in order to mean much at all…the word must be heard or read with contemplation of thought and meaning. Likewise, the force of speech bears little semblance to value if only the volume of words is perceived. It is the voice of reason matched with a passion for truth that unleashes discourse for gain and blessing.
Sadly, even in some religious contexts, the message of truth is forsaken for hucksterism and pep rallies, evoking more passion that purity, more adrenalin than dreams, more fleecing than shepherding. The words do matter.
It matters that our words can potentially heal or destroy. Our words can move mountains or rally riots. Our words can compel or comply, respond or reject, relieve or bereave. Words are full of power…for good or ill. But for effect, there must be the words and the hearing. Both are essentials for blessings of strength to life and living. Count me in as a “Word Warrior”…but I pray the words will do what God would be pleased they do in and through me.
As I think of words that speak to hearts, I realize the necessity of shared experience as the basis for understanding. Likewise, there is the power of a truth that when applied and learned by the experience of a chosen response, builds the capacities for growth and progress. I have seen faith mature and hopes grow in the face of many challenges by the power of words to guide and shape perspective and understanding.
Words are truly gifts to us all. It’s too bad that so often words have a way of piling up around us, unconsidered or never heard, when for a season they would be like a steady rain to a parched field. But in order to mean much at all…the word must be heard or read with contemplation of thought and meaning. Likewise, the force of speech bears little semblance to value if only the volume of words is perceived. It is the voice of reason matched with a passion for truth that unleashes discourse for gain and blessing.
Sadly, even in some religious contexts, the message of truth is forsaken for hucksterism and pep rallies, evoking more passion that purity, more adrenalin than dreams, more fleecing than shepherding. The words do matter.
It matters that our words can potentially heal or destroy. Our words can move mountains or rally riots. Our words can compel or comply, respond or reject, relieve or bereave. Words are full of power…for good or ill. But for effect, there must be the words and the hearing. Both are essentials for blessings of strength to life and living. Count me in as a “Word Warrior”…but I pray the words will do what God would be pleased they do in and through me.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Crude
I had to look at the number and I had to think about it a little…$40,610,000,000. That is the amount of profit recorded for 2007 by Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company. Those profits by one company were more than the gross domestic product of more than 120 countries. That alone should remind us who carries economic clout when it comes to many political decisions. Many choices will go to the highest bidder. And now we know who has the money to pass out.
Some might suggest that any critique of such profits simply disregards “good business practice”…so I will look back a bit. The previous year, the same company reported $39.5 Billion in profits, which was up from the previous $36.13 Billion in 2005.
But now we have done it! The current price of a barrel of oil ($110.60) this morning, is now higher than at any time in the history of US oil production since the 1860’s (adjusted for inflation to 2007 dollars). Strangely in almost all of that time…most oil was well under $40 a barrel (in inflation adjusted 2007 dollars). Today the price of a barrel of oil was ten times what it was less than 10 years ago. Every dollar higher for oil will automatically create inflation for the economy as a whole. The costs of goods and services will largely be escalated by the movement of those products and the rising costs of moving them. Suddenly domestic production may become more favorable than international transport of goods to and from distant ports. But wait, we just sent our factory contents overseas!
Is there a moral issue to be addressed in times like these? I would suggest several. Does it help or hurt people to increase their costs of living without also creating an environment for increasing their capacity to earn higher wages? At what point does mobility become less of a value worth pursuing in favor of other humanitarian goals, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing decent housing, educating our children, providing basic health care to everyone interested in pursuing health and a quality of life in healthy relationships toward others. Mobility is a need in these contexts, but it may also be a less important need if we prioritize in light of environmental consequences and basic requirements for clean air, and clean water, and uncontaminated food sources.
For too long, we have accepted the idea that government is the solution to our problems. Government has not been particularly effective toward that end. Efficiencies are derived from local activity addressing local needs in specific ways with local responses. Jesus had it right when he commended us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have got to start thinking about things more cooperatively and collectively in community. Better ideas happen in the places where people know one another and know how to best meet needs in light of those circumstances. We have seen it work before; it can again. Carpoolers unite! Shop less frequently, but with greater intensity and efficiency. Spend your extra time helping those near you. Plant a garden, take a walk, ride a bike, cook a favorite recipe and share your efforts with a friend or two. If economic recession is to be experienced by the force of poor economic decisions in the past, it would stand to reason that some progress might be made if we pitched in together to do what we could to help one another through it. Whether that will be helping someone next door or around the world, it ought to be an effort of joy from a heart of love. Somehow that wolf of greed needs to be held at bay some way or another. And maybe, in the process, we will become a little more human.
Some might suggest that any critique of such profits simply disregards “good business practice”…so I will look back a bit. The previous year, the same company reported $39.5 Billion in profits, which was up from the previous $36.13 Billion in 2005.
But now we have done it! The current price of a barrel of oil ($110.60) this morning, is now higher than at any time in the history of US oil production since the 1860’s (adjusted for inflation to 2007 dollars). Strangely in almost all of that time…most oil was well under $40 a barrel (in inflation adjusted 2007 dollars). Today the price of a barrel of oil was ten times what it was less than 10 years ago. Every dollar higher for oil will automatically create inflation for the economy as a whole. The costs of goods and services will largely be escalated by the movement of those products and the rising costs of moving them. Suddenly domestic production may become more favorable than international transport of goods to and from distant ports. But wait, we just sent our factory contents overseas!
Is there a moral issue to be addressed in times like these? I would suggest several. Does it help or hurt people to increase their costs of living without also creating an environment for increasing their capacity to earn higher wages? At what point does mobility become less of a value worth pursuing in favor of other humanitarian goals, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing decent housing, educating our children, providing basic health care to everyone interested in pursuing health and a quality of life in healthy relationships toward others. Mobility is a need in these contexts, but it may also be a less important need if we prioritize in light of environmental consequences and basic requirements for clean air, and clean water, and uncontaminated food sources.
For too long, we have accepted the idea that government is the solution to our problems. Government has not been particularly effective toward that end. Efficiencies are derived from local activity addressing local needs in specific ways with local responses. Jesus had it right when he commended us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have got to start thinking about things more cooperatively and collectively in community. Better ideas happen in the places where people know one another and know how to best meet needs in light of those circumstances. We have seen it work before; it can again. Carpoolers unite! Shop less frequently, but with greater intensity and efficiency. Spend your extra time helping those near you. Plant a garden, take a walk, ride a bike, cook a favorite recipe and share your efforts with a friend or two. If economic recession is to be experienced by the force of poor economic decisions in the past, it would stand to reason that some progress might be made if we pitched in together to do what we could to help one another through it. Whether that will be helping someone next door or around the world, it ought to be an effort of joy from a heart of love. Somehow that wolf of greed needs to be held at bay some way or another. And maybe, in the process, we will become a little more human.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Need for a Sound Biblical Christology
As the observations and instructions of Jesus are ignored; as the exercise of Jesus’ initiatives are abandoned; as the truth made known by the Gospel is ignored in favor of political posturing, distorting gender preferences, patronizing of the lesser educated, and in general ignoring the “great commandments,” the church finds its influence being sidelined and diminished because it is moving outside of the way of the Lord.
Such behavioral traits, while seemingly foreign to the Gospel, nonetheless find their way into the practice and “vociferous dialogues” of churches simply because we see the neglect of scripture as the preference rather than the rule in many contemporary church models. Scripture with sound theological interpretation is very accessible, to those who would pursue finding it, but in large measure, missed because of the preponderance of other “political” agents holding the “outlets” of opinion-making hostage to less than biblical agendas.
For some, the breakdowns lie in the false supposition that scholarship will always be speaking with integrity. Without casting a pall of suspicion over all academia, we do find that some “scholars” approach biblical study from a secularist position and make havoc with their intentional efforts to highlight the minutiae, to the neglect of the primary and central witness of the scriptures. While these might view biblical studies from a “faithless” position, citing their rigor in maintaining an empirical view of every text, it strikes me as obvious that deriving spiritual insight with no view for that intention, will yield only on occasion, an accident of awareness.
The pursuit of spiritual principles, when sought with a focus on their value, anticipated with openness, and with a consideration of purposeful witness to the community of believers is an approach to scripture with greater integrity for its intention than to presume upon it a “bankruptcy” of value from the start. The Holy Spirit will guide us in understanding as we anticipate the witness we are blessed to receive.
On the opposite end of the “interpretation spectrum” are those who adopt the positions of well publicized advocates of predetermined theologies whose “footnote analyses” of many passages have forged the theological thinking of many. Contrary to biblical content, numerous speculations of footnotes, while in some ways interesting and in other ways frightening, can detract rather than enhance the central message and the biblical story.
Still others hold to certain translations as the key to integrity of doctrine and interpretation. Some with no regard for the original languages quickly propose that the English versions of certain years are exclusively the “WORD OF GOD” and must be embraced in that singular language and form. For the most part, this view is propagated out of a lack of understanding regarding the biblical material and the sources of scripture. To negate the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek language sources of our earliest biblical materials is to miss the treasure of insight to be gained from their study and use in translation efforts of the modern day.
Still others, largely from a superstitious stance toward the Bible, regard the Bible as sacred, but treat it as an object to be held, rather than to be read, and furthermore, applied. Such behavior is to create a “Teddy Bear” kind of function for the bible…comforting to have around but assuming the content is to be treated as just a “bunch of stuff-ing.”
Jesus spoke of “following Him” and of “hearing Him” and “learning from Him” and “doing” the good things he taught. All of these activities were to be undertaken in the context of a personal relationship of faith in Him. All of these efforts were to be recognized as the opportunity of living a life “in Him.” All of these experiences were to be the outcomes of a relationship of “divine presence”, the Holy Spirit, within us. God abides with us…His Spirit in us, and we in Him. That newness of life that He brings is the transforming experience we should celebrate daily.
When Jesus Christ becomes the center of our attention, the center of our personal
faith and trust, the Lord of our lives, we discover in Him all we need…forever.
Such behavioral traits, while seemingly foreign to the Gospel, nonetheless find their way into the practice and “vociferous dialogues” of churches simply because we see the neglect of scripture as the preference rather than the rule in many contemporary church models. Scripture with sound theological interpretation is very accessible, to those who would pursue finding it, but in large measure, missed because of the preponderance of other “political” agents holding the “outlets” of opinion-making hostage to less than biblical agendas.
For some, the breakdowns lie in the false supposition that scholarship will always be speaking with integrity. Without casting a pall of suspicion over all academia, we do find that some “scholars” approach biblical study from a secularist position and make havoc with their intentional efforts to highlight the minutiae, to the neglect of the primary and central witness of the scriptures. While these might view biblical studies from a “faithless” position, citing their rigor in maintaining an empirical view of every text, it strikes me as obvious that deriving spiritual insight with no view for that intention, will yield only on occasion, an accident of awareness.
The pursuit of spiritual principles, when sought with a focus on their value, anticipated with openness, and with a consideration of purposeful witness to the community of believers is an approach to scripture with greater integrity for its intention than to presume upon it a “bankruptcy” of value from the start. The Holy Spirit will guide us in understanding as we anticipate the witness we are blessed to receive.
On the opposite end of the “interpretation spectrum” are those who adopt the positions of well publicized advocates of predetermined theologies whose “footnote analyses” of many passages have forged the theological thinking of many. Contrary to biblical content, numerous speculations of footnotes, while in some ways interesting and in other ways frightening, can detract rather than enhance the central message and the biblical story.
Still others hold to certain translations as the key to integrity of doctrine and interpretation. Some with no regard for the original languages quickly propose that the English versions of certain years are exclusively the “WORD OF GOD” and must be embraced in that singular language and form. For the most part, this view is propagated out of a lack of understanding regarding the biblical material and the sources of scripture. To negate the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek language sources of our earliest biblical materials is to miss the treasure of insight to be gained from their study and use in translation efforts of the modern day.
Still others, largely from a superstitious stance toward the Bible, regard the Bible as sacred, but treat it as an object to be held, rather than to be read, and furthermore, applied. Such behavior is to create a “Teddy Bear” kind of function for the bible…comforting to have around but assuming the content is to be treated as just a “bunch of stuff-ing.”
Jesus spoke of “following Him” and of “hearing Him” and “learning from Him” and “doing” the good things he taught. All of these activities were to be undertaken in the context of a personal relationship of faith in Him. All of these efforts were to be recognized as the opportunity of living a life “in Him.” All of these experiences were to be the outcomes of a relationship of “divine presence”, the Holy Spirit, within us. God abides with us…His Spirit in us, and we in Him. That newness of life that He brings is the transforming experience we should celebrate daily.
When Jesus Christ becomes the center of our attention, the center of our personal
faith and trust, the Lord of our lives, we discover in Him all we need…forever.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Living Out of Bounds
Culturally, it seems that we are in an increasing struggle to justify a healthy balance between personal freedoms and the necessary obligations of responsibility in community and relationships.
Many individuals have cited their own need for freedom as a justification to enter the realm of license to such a degree that many individuals find themselves imbedded in patterns and actions that are both personally self-destructive and likewise a detriment to the health and well-being of others.
Whether we cite the rise in crime, the frequency of substance abuse, the instability of marriages, the entrenched apathy toward community endeavor, or the spiraling outcomes of environmental abuse…the realities of living without healthy boundaries are clearly evident.
For example, the glorification of certain physical types and the obsessive inclination to “control” in the midst of many otherwise uncontrollable factors leads some to compulsively starve themselves or to eat and purge in patterns that leave them physically debilitated and detached from the realities of their true state. Some die because they cannot find a balance between their awareness of reality and their own necessity for living in the midst of realities that require engagement in ways that are both necessary and nurturing for life.
“Cutting” is a pattern of behavior seen among some groups of youth who do so as an aggressive, though often disturbingly hidden display of self-loathing. It has been suggested that some cutters do so strictly to create a crisis by which they can gain some desperately needed attention. Terrible loneliness and physical depression are often tied to these behaviors. Death has resulted from those who go too far, who put themselves beyond the care of others, and who do not discover the help they hunger for.
Socially, such displays seem at the extreme, but nonetheless other similarly destructive patterns have become mainstream in socially shared behaviors like binge drinking…an all too frequent cause of death among young adults who simply disregard the fact that alcohol in sufficient quantities is toxic and can stop your heart, kill large quantities of brain cells, have a permanently debilitating effect on the liver, etc. Not the least influential “killing factor” lies in the coupling of alcohol with motor vehicle use resulting in threats to the lives of passengers, pedestrians, and anyone else who happens to be headed down the road at the same time.
Sadly, we endorse alcohol use as socially unacceptable for minors, and at the same time promote its use in front of every major sporting event imaginable. The double standard is what it is…ethically bankrupt and from a standard of health, poorly supportable. Most of my colleagues in ministry display a hearty tolerance for alcohol use because of the intensity of social pressure to except it as embedded culturally. Germans drink beer for breakfast they say. The Irish need whisky to sleep. A Baptist minister invented bourbon. Others suggest that the biblical record of wine production and use was a reasonable sanction for its allowance as normative. If we would agree, then we might also cite the clear realities that in the biblical context excessive alcohol use never was cited with positive results. Thus, we come full circle. Freedom without boundaries is destructive.
Many today are failing to identify positive models of relationship. The preponderance of media that subject us to pervasive models of “less than positive relational models” exacerbates the problem for many. Even within faith communities, the frequency of broken marriages is almost as frequent and in a few groupings higher than the general public. That discounts the fact that many in the larger population are choosing to omit marriage altogether. Those who choose in the name of freedom to betray the commitments of marriage or to enter social partnerships outside the protections of relationships endorsed by family, community, and legal responsibility, too often discover the weaknesses of such decisions.
Parenthood is challenging for supportive loving couples. When individuals feel pressured to go it alone, without providing positive environments for the support and well-being of children, without consideration for matters of health and work, and without the benefit of supportive family, church, and community ties in place --- it is not a matter of freedom; it is a matter of painful consequences for all. It is not accidental that the poorest of our society are single mothers with children. Living outside of boundaries may seem like a choice of freedom, but too often it is an indication of poor judgment and too frequently a predictor of negative outcomes.
Jesus suggested a new kind of freedom that is defined by a relationship of love, best understood in the context of His love for us. It was a self-giving, sacrificial, love you no matter what kind of love that called us to an awareness of our personal worth in the sight of God, our value to God, and our identity as a child of God, welcomed into the family of God. Such a relationship of significance redefines both the capacity of our lives and the opportunities of freedom, because those opportunities are bounded by the love of our Heavenly Father who extends to us forgiveness and grace, while calling us into fellowship with Him that will renew us and restore us and will redefine our future.
The range of this new freedom in Christ is the discovery of the boundless opportunities to love in the way that Jesus showed his love to us. The boundaries are the arms of God… the possibilities for blessing and goodness and joy are unlimited in His provision for us and in His presence with us.
Many individuals have cited their own need for freedom as a justification to enter the realm of license to such a degree that many individuals find themselves imbedded in patterns and actions that are both personally self-destructive and likewise a detriment to the health and well-being of others.
Whether we cite the rise in crime, the frequency of substance abuse, the instability of marriages, the entrenched apathy toward community endeavor, or the spiraling outcomes of environmental abuse…the realities of living without healthy boundaries are clearly evident.
For example, the glorification of certain physical types and the obsessive inclination to “control” in the midst of many otherwise uncontrollable factors leads some to compulsively starve themselves or to eat and purge in patterns that leave them physically debilitated and detached from the realities of their true state. Some die because they cannot find a balance between their awareness of reality and their own necessity for living in the midst of realities that require engagement in ways that are both necessary and nurturing for life.
“Cutting” is a pattern of behavior seen among some groups of youth who do so as an aggressive, though often disturbingly hidden display of self-loathing. It has been suggested that some cutters do so strictly to create a crisis by which they can gain some desperately needed attention. Terrible loneliness and physical depression are often tied to these behaviors. Death has resulted from those who go too far, who put themselves beyond the care of others, and who do not discover the help they hunger for.
Socially, such displays seem at the extreme, but nonetheless other similarly destructive patterns have become mainstream in socially shared behaviors like binge drinking…an all too frequent cause of death among young adults who simply disregard the fact that alcohol in sufficient quantities is toxic and can stop your heart, kill large quantities of brain cells, have a permanently debilitating effect on the liver, etc. Not the least influential “killing factor” lies in the coupling of alcohol with motor vehicle use resulting in threats to the lives of passengers, pedestrians, and anyone else who happens to be headed down the road at the same time.
Sadly, we endorse alcohol use as socially unacceptable for minors, and at the same time promote its use in front of every major sporting event imaginable. The double standard is what it is…ethically bankrupt and from a standard of health, poorly supportable. Most of my colleagues in ministry display a hearty tolerance for alcohol use because of the intensity of social pressure to except it as embedded culturally. Germans drink beer for breakfast they say. The Irish need whisky to sleep. A Baptist minister invented bourbon. Others suggest that the biblical record of wine production and use was a reasonable sanction for its allowance as normative. If we would agree, then we might also cite the clear realities that in the biblical context excessive alcohol use never was cited with positive results. Thus, we come full circle. Freedom without boundaries is destructive.
Many today are failing to identify positive models of relationship. The preponderance of media that subject us to pervasive models of “less than positive relational models” exacerbates the problem for many. Even within faith communities, the frequency of broken marriages is almost as frequent and in a few groupings higher than the general public. That discounts the fact that many in the larger population are choosing to omit marriage altogether. Those who choose in the name of freedom to betray the commitments of marriage or to enter social partnerships outside the protections of relationships endorsed by family, community, and legal responsibility, too often discover the weaknesses of such decisions.
Parenthood is challenging for supportive loving couples. When individuals feel pressured to go it alone, without providing positive environments for the support and well-being of children, without consideration for matters of health and work, and without the benefit of supportive family, church, and community ties in place --- it is not a matter of freedom; it is a matter of painful consequences for all. It is not accidental that the poorest of our society are single mothers with children. Living outside of boundaries may seem like a choice of freedom, but too often it is an indication of poor judgment and too frequently a predictor of negative outcomes.
Jesus suggested a new kind of freedom that is defined by a relationship of love, best understood in the context of His love for us. It was a self-giving, sacrificial, love you no matter what kind of love that called us to an awareness of our personal worth in the sight of God, our value to God, and our identity as a child of God, welcomed into the family of God. Such a relationship of significance redefines both the capacity of our lives and the opportunities of freedom, because those opportunities are bounded by the love of our Heavenly Father who extends to us forgiveness and grace, while calling us into fellowship with Him that will renew us and restore us and will redefine our future.
The range of this new freedom in Christ is the discovery of the boundless opportunities to love in the way that Jesus showed his love to us. The boundaries are the arms of God… the possibilities for blessing and goodness and joy are unlimited in His provision for us and in His presence with us.
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