Deus Misereatur

This morning it was beautiful as I read my Bible. In the dark right before dawn, I sat on my patio under the lamp – with birds singing, mild skunk smell wafting on the breeze, cicadas rattling, etc. – and read two passage. At first they seemed to have no relation to each other, but later, while running my 3.3 miles and reflecting on them, it hit me how well they went together. Maybe a few of you reading this will profit by these considerations. Steadfast in Your Faith (Colossians 2.1-5) Paul wrote, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, // that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.\\ I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, ...

In my previous post , I dealt with Jesus’ own desire that we are to bring the brephos (infants, little ones) to him, and that Jesus establishes the pattern of New Testament discipleship: the Mommas and the Papas come to Jesus and they bring their little ones to Jesus. I then asserted that this New Testament pattern of Discipleship was, surprisingly, the Old Testament pattern. In this post I will unpack this last concept a bit. To do it right, you’re going to need to lay open a Bible in front of you and follow along. The first thing to do is read through Genesis 17.1-14. Read it out loud (yep, even if you’re sitting at Starbucks sipping your Latte). I’ll wait while you read….Nice job. Anyone ever told you that you read well? Now listen while I read Colossians 2.11-15 and see if you hear the connection. “In him [Christ] also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands , by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried...