First Word(s)

The alarm screams for your attention. You hit the snooze. Once. Twice. Even three times. But eventually, your eyes open and your bodies rises in defeat yet once again. Your day begins. And before you know it, you’re assaulted with words. They fight to get to the front of the line like kids in gym class. They come from every which direction. T.V. Radio. Facebook. Texts on your Droid or Iphone. Maybe it’s the kids in the room down the hallway or the noisy neighbors upstairs. Whatever the case, it has begun and your first words will affect you for the rest of the day. So who wins the war of the words?

Jesus is The Word. He is the first Word. He is God’s word to us, spoken in flesh and blood. A word with bones. A crucified and suffering word. A triumphant resurrected word. A priestly word. An interceding word. An incarnate word. An eternal word. The perfect and holy word. Of all the words, Jesus is the most important word. He is the preeminent word. He is before all other words.

Which word(s) win the morning battle? Which words stick? Which word(s) shape your heart and prepare you to understand and to respond to all of the other words that will come your way today? Which word will define all of the other words? Which word(s) do you say no to? Which word(s) will you say yes to?

John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

Thoughts on Sex and the Glory of God.

Thoughts on Sex & The Glory of God.


Last night at the Forum, somebody asked about sex in heaven. Will there be sex in heaven? If not, why not? The question lead to a conversation about the nature of heaven, God’s glory, and the purpose of all pleasures. Here is summation of what was shared.

• Marriage is a signpost that points us forward. Ultimately, it tells the story of the covenantal love between Jesus and His Church. Marriage on earth is a foretaste of the relationship we will enjoy with Jesus forever in heaven. Because it points forward to a greater reality, once that reality has come, the signpost is no longer needed. In fact, the signpost is inferior to the reality much like the sign directing you to the beach is inferior to the beach itself.
• Sex is the climax of pleasure. We experience this pleasure emotionally, physically, chemically, biologically, relationally, and personally. And yet this pleasure is simply a hors’ devours of the pleasure of enjoying God in His glory. That doesn’t make sex less. In fact it elevates it. But, we must not fall in love with the sign that is intended to wet our appetites for the even greater pleasure of communion with God in heaven.
• The material world matters. Often, Christians speak against materialism. But God, in at least one sense is very materialistic. He spoke the cosmos, (material) into existence. When He wanted to make himself know to people, He chose a physical world, a physical garden, and gave humans, the unique bearer’s of His image, physical bodies. When He came to rescue His people, He Himself came in a physical body. Heaven is not the escape from the physical world. Rather, heaven is the resurrection of the physical world, which is currently broken and groaning.

The Glory of God and Heaven make everything matter...