Toyah

today was a good friday. one where 2 of the 3 bosses were gone for the day, and the 3rd was involved in the same nonsense as me. i shouldn't say nonsense, though, since we were talking about starting a company softball team for the summer. i haven't played softball regularly since the summer after college. that was one wife, one baby, two jobs, and almost 50 pounds ago. my glove sits in my car just wishing that there was someone that would get me to at least play catch. now there is a chance that i will have a weekly appointment with the sporting activity...woo hoo hoo. now i just have to find 5 or 6 girls that aren't completely awful. irony: we have a couple of girls that played in college and were excited to hear of our attempt to get a team together, but they are both pregnant (both due in july).

talking about softball makes me think of "breaking the speed barrier" and "wooland" and other remnants of past glory!

I’m teaching Matthew 19 tonight at church: no, we aren’t studying marriage and divorce. It just happens to be the next chapter as we go through the Matthew DVD (which I highly recommend). In my experience, Christians of today are mostly interested in this chapter because of the marriage and divorce teachings, but in our discussion tonight, I want to look at the bigger picture.

The Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce, but whether it is permissible or not is not Jesus focus: it’s theirs. Instead, he twice refers them to the beginning, when it was not so. They bring up Moses, and Jesus dismisses Moses and the Law by essentially telling them that God’s purpose from the beginning is more important even than the Law.

The key is God’s design from the beginning. That’s the level Jesus wants from his people, which is consistent with all of Matthew: Jesus constantly calls people to be better than the Law, better than the Pharisees, but not by doing more righteous acts. Rather, his followers need to be devoted to being like God---and his plan---from the beginning, when marriage was about closeness, not separation.

Labels: Bible