steps – Page 3 – 300 words a day

Descriptive

[Matthew 3:4-5] We want to know what to do. Some of us, anyway, when we become part of a group or we have a new identity or we are starting fresh, we want to know what to do. We want to know what the rules are, what it takes to fit in, to measure up. […]

by Jon Swanson

Do something.

(Matthew 3: 1-4) The first word that John (the baptizer) says, as recorded by Matthew anyway, is ‘repent.’ I’m guessing that it wasn’t the first word he ever spoke, mind you. John was fully human. He would have done and said everything that a child says and does. But John grew up knowing that he […]

by Jon Swanson

urgent isn’t always solemn

I thought about my past two posts. I’ve talked about urgency. And I realized that we often confuse urgent with frantic activity. We confuse urgent with serious faces. We confuse urgent with loud voices and high blood pressure. I realized that can’t always be true. The urgency of becoming like Christ, of following Jesus isn’t […]

by Jon Swanson

more urgent

I heard this today: “Forming people in Christ as a slow work, so it can’t be hurried; it is an urgent work, so it can’t be delayed.” Eugene Peterson said it. He’s the pastor and teacher who “wrote” The Message. It’s a paraphrase, taking the Bible and telling it in contemporary language and images. I […]

by Jon Swanson

God with us

We’re past Christmas. We want to be done with it. But one word lingers because of Christmas. Immanuel. In the middle of Matthew 1:17-25. Matthew quotes Isaiah (a prophet) who uses the name Immanuel and then helpfully explains it: God with us. This quote is an aside to the audience in the middle of a […]