Purely & Graciously His

 Please, please hear my heart in this. Luke 10:25-37 “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ” “What is written in the law? ” he asked him.  “How do you read it? ” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor? ” Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compa

  Diane Langberg says    in Redeeming Power: “Abuse of power is a cancer in the body of Christ. How Christendom uses terminology regarding gender is sometimes an aspect of the disease. We need to let the light of a holy God expose us and our systems. A man named Jesus had nothing to do with these ways. He used his power without abuse, coercion, or complicity. A male named Jesus interacted with all kinds of women and protected, blessed, healed, encouraged, and lifted them up. He never told them to submit to evil or wrongdoing. He didn't silence them. Much of masculinity in Christendom looks nothing like Jesus. It has been contaminated by secular culture and sanctioned using theological terms. Any theology that does not produce the fruit of Jesus is false. We are doing great damage to countless vulnerable people and to God's church because people destroyed by abuse perpetrated by the powerful cannot use the fullness of their God-given gifts to bless his body. Those perpetrating t