how to overcome a condemning heart, a guilty conscience

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

1 John 3:16-24; NRSVue

If we take moral responsibility seriously in this life, we’re going to realize there’s always something that we did wrong and something else that we should have done, and something else we may have not done good enough in our minds. There are a host of ways that we can feel guilty and condemned.

We are told that laying down our lives for the believers in our midst means helping those in material need, doing what we can, be it big or little and everything in between. It is then evident that indeed God’s love resides in our hearts. Through adherence to the simple commandment to believe in the name of Jesus and to love one another, we can indeed overcome our guilty conscience (see helpful NET footnotes in link above), and condemning heart which can often plague us.

The commandments we’re to keep are again simple: believe in Jesus’s name and love one another. As we do that and seek to do all that pleases God, not only is our heart set at rest in God’s presence, but we have boldness in prayer that God will answer our simple, humble prayers. Our hearts set free to live in the love of God in Christ, a love intended for all.

“disqualified” (applicable to individuals and churches)

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might gain all the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to gain Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not outside God’s law but am within Christ’s law) so that I might gain those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.

Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:19-27; NRSVue

The church is essentially about one thing: the gospel and how that’s worked out in love of neighbor. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less.

What is the gospel? It is the good news of God in Christ of the reconciliation of all things in the way of the cross to bring about God’s will on earth as it is in heaven, beginning even now. Many other ways of defining or describing it. It brings about shalom, peace as in human flourishing in the new creation in Christ, and the end of all that is contrary to that.

Nowadays many make it out to be an iron-clad rule which even mandates death for those who break certain laws. Not at all the gospel, not at all the way of Jesus. Another gospel, a false gospel, to be nothing more than roundly condemned.

We see the primacy of the gospel clearly in Paul’s words in which he both defends the rights of an apostle, but also willingly gives up those rights for the good of others, to protect the integrity of the gospel. This was what Paul was about, period. His entire life given to others in his desire to fully participate as a partner in the good news, the gospel.

Lest we think this was only a Paul, or apostolic thing, note that Paul presses this on all of the believers:

I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I might become a partner in it.

Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:22b-27; NRSVue

This applies to all believers, and first of all, to churches. Are we all about the gospel, to work at understanding what that means for ourselves, for our community, for the world, or not? That’s the question. Note that Paul does not at all suggest force, but persuasion and love. And the reality of the gospel begins with us, in our communities of faith.

Whether or not that’s the case will determine our fitness for and eventual reception of the prize. Not that we’re after the prize, but like Paul, we should be fully given to the good news of God for the world. Nothing else can be in that category.

“remember Lot’s wife”

 When they had brought them outside, [the angels] said, “Flee for your life; do not look back….“

Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:17a, 24-26; NRSVue

Wisdom rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing;
he escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities.
Evidence of their wickedness still remains:
a continually smoking wasteland,
plants bearing fruit that does not ripen,
and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul.

Wisdom 10:6-7; NRSVue

“Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.“

Luke 17:32-33; NRSVue

One of the marks of the Genesis story of God raining down fire and brimstone in judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah because of an ongoing rampant, destructive violation of love for neighbor is the turning back of Lot’s wife. The story of Abraham and his nephew Lot begins actually in Genesis 12:4 (also 11:31), right at the beginning of Abraham leaving for Canaan, Lot with him. They separate, Lot soon getting into trouble from which he’s rescued by Abraham (Genesis 13-14). And then Lot and his family settle down in Sodom into what must seemed to have been a stable life, but amidst what probably amounted to troubling unneighborly wickedness (2 Peter 2:6-8).

Jesus referred to this when speaking about God’s coming reign. Unlike Lot’s wife, who violated God’s command by looking back, Jesus’s disciples were to press on in the way of Jesus, the way of the cross. Or in the context, with a heart and eye only on God’s coming reign in Jesus. All else is subordinated, even consumed under that. We’re to remember Lot’s wife.

What might tempt us to look back like Lot’s wife did? To understand that, we have to turn to the teaching of Jesus which ends up being in line with the prophets before him. This ends up being a matter of discipleship, of what it means to be true followers of Jesus. In the words of Jesus in this immediate context: Seeking to make our life secure. That seems rather harsh. It only seems natural that people in any place or situation would want security to survive and hopefully thrive. Just what is Jesus getting at?

I think to begin to have a complete understanding of this, we have to see what follows. First we have to consider Jesus’s life and teaching. It’s about living even sacrificially with the love of neighbor as top priority as the expression of love for God. Jesus is then crucified, dies and is resurrected. Jesus appears to his disciples in his resurrection body for forty days before he ascends into heaven, into another sphere. The Holy Spirit is poured out, and the church as the body of Christ in the world by the Spirit comes into being. After that, all of life is lived within that community, individual believers and followers in and as part of the community of the faithful.

We live our baptized, committed life in Christ within the community of Christ, yes as individuals out and about in the world, but as part of Christ’s body. This is all but lost in our individualistic western and especially American culture. Individual liberty is emphasized to the point that community is mostly all but lost, or at least quite secondary to that. But in Scripture, not so. Thus, there’s a tendency for believers to be on their own, more or less fending for themselves, yes in a personal relationship with Jesus, the church largely existing to help believers in that. Hopefully, but not necessarily some relationships come out of such church existence (church life too strong, unfortunately). The Spirit will be at work in spite of this to help churches be what by the Spirit they are. But the worldly way of existence and thinking ever presses against that. Not unlike what Lot’s own world did.

We’re not to look back. Instead, we’re to be looking ahead, another direction altogether. I don’t think we’ll do this as well as we need to, nor are we actually meant to just as individuals. We need to be in this together with other believers and committed followers of Christ. That doesn’t for a minute lessen our individual responsibility, but we are one body, together in this in Christ.

May God help us all to begin to understand, especially in discernment together what that means for us now.

the foot washing passage (and the Super Bowl ad)

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

John 13:1-17; NRSVue

Recently there was a commercial during the Super Bowl that at least in circles I’m a part of, was the most talked about. I just watched it for the first time. It was sponsored at least in significant part by groups who have promoted anti-LGBT campaigns which end up putting people’s lives at risk. The commercial itself was touching to me. It is under the theme: “He Gets Us,” referring to Jesus getting us. Although I’m a bit slow to pick up things like this, according to one source, it’s basically those considered superior in the establishment washing the feet of supposed inferiors. The response has been mixed, from positive to negative and everything in between.

Foot washing in Christian tradition has a link to Maundy Thursday of Holy Week which is the day when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. In the Mennonite church in which I grew up, every time we had communion, which was maybe like once a quarter (at the most), the women would head downstairs into the basement, the men remaining upstairs to wash each other’s feet. The symbolism was derived from an interpretation of the passage above, that we as Christ’s followers, already washed as in regenerated through Christ’s word, in need of cleansing along the way from Christ (an interpretation of the above passage), are in the ritual itself simply signifying our loving service to each other. I have not talked it through with our church or other believers, but it seems to me that such a ceremony would be for those who in that church have committed their lives to Christ through water baptism. If a stranger wanted to participate, then certainly they should be welcomed to do so. Or perhaps someone reticent who has been hurt by churches in the past. But like all such in a church, this is voluntary, never forced, and an expression of love by baptized believers to each other.

On the surface I like the thought of the commercial. But if you dig a little deeper, and especially into groups that sponsored it, and it was a hefty sum, I think it loses a lot of its power.

I doubt that we should stew and fret over it, but let’s put it to the test. Does it have any substance in real life? We can test it and find out. In spite of what one sees when one digs just a little deeper, I like the main point it gives. Christ’s death was for the world, for everyone, for the Gazans being killed right now in a relentless brutal campaign by Israel, for all on both sides. For Russian and Ukranian military engaged in that awful war. For everyone without exception, yes. God’s love knows no bounds.

The problem is that this message is either denied by too many churches through both their words and deeds, or simply put on mute and all but ignored by others who perhaps want to be exegetically (Biblically) accurate. And then again, it shouldn’t escape our notice the hypocrisy of those paying the money for it as if they live up to it because sadly, they don’t.

Yes, let’s accentuate the basic meaning of the passage in our thought and practice. A lot of Mennonite churches have abandoned the ritual ceremony, though perhaps symbolically it is a good reminder to us of the meaning that in life we’re to be servants of each other. And from that servant heart, we’re surely to see ourselves as servants to the world, to all in the sacrificial love of God in Jesus. That should be our focus. Certainly not to score points in a culture war. Not letting go of the main point: God’s love in Christ is for the world, for all. Which means all are received in God’s love in Christ without exception, our neighbor to love, a neighbor to love us.

giving from the heart

Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

I do not say this as a command, but I am, by mentioning the eagerness of others, testing the genuineness of your love. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my opinion: it is beneficial for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something. Now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,

“He scatters abroad; he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”

2 Corinthians 8:7-11; 9:6-9; NRSVue

2 Corinthians 8-9 is worthy of a careful read and study since it is written by Paul to the Corinthian church in regard to a special need among the poor of God’s people in Jerusalem. Fastforward this to the present day, and there’s no shortage of good endeavors which we can help. I am not at all against helping causes for humanitarian aid, urgent medical care, or whatever important, good services there are in the world which are not done in the name of Christ. But I like to begin with organizations which are ministries done in the name of Christ.

Good works need to start at home. When family is struggling, we have to be present for them as best we can. Neighborhood and community issues should matter to us as well. The goal should not be just charity, but systemic change. We need to be a voice for those who can’t afford to live, yes, even here in the United States, the wealthiest nation on earth. Yet too many of its citizens and people who live here can’t afford housing and may not be given needed healthcare available here. If we don’t pay attention to issues like this, and are happy just to give handouts, we’re frankly not doing well enough. At the same time, there are always great needs in the world for food, water, basic provisions for life in famine ravaged or war-torn nations, or whatever people are facing.

But now to some of Paul’s point in the matter of giving. Elsewhere in Scripture we read about systematic giving, say a tenth of one’s gross or net income, what a person or family may set aside to give each week for the ministry of church or of good works to help people in need. That is good. What Paul was referring to here was a special needs project. After letting the Corinthian church know about the poverty of the church in Jerusalem, they eagerly committed themselves to help. That was a good start, but Paul was writing to remind them that there needed to be a good follow through, a completion of what they had begun or at least had purposed. Paul points to the generous act of Christ in becoming one of us and all that followed, and he urges them to complete this work with that in mind.

Paul also lets them know that God wants this to come from the heart, not regretfully or under compulsion since God loves a cheerful giver. I think that we need to begin to see that giving sacrificially from the heart is part of what it means to be a follower of Christ and the point of that, what it means to be human. Humans have a tendency to be greedy and to hoard. In that is lack of faith in God and God’s provision. Idolatry in Scripture is often tied to gaining exorbitant riches at the expense of others. Paul’s vision we find in this passage (2 Corinthians 8-9) is that the churches will take care of each other. Giving certainly doesn’t stop there, but this is foundational to all other necessary giving done in the name of Christ. And from that we open our hearts to the needs of the world.

on MLK Day, sensitivity to the plight of others

And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

Luke 3:10-14; NRSVue

There’s no doubt that the entire system is wrong and needs to be changed. That was true in John the Baptizer’s and Jesus’s day and is no less true today. In the midst of that, what do we do? Yes, we advocate for needed change, here in the US, “liberty and justice for all.” We listen to the stories and struggles of the others: the people of color, the marginalized, those who face threats and rejection. And we stand with all such, for a better world, a just nation no less.

There’s little use of trying to change people’s minds on issues related to this. To say that public education in inner cities is underfunded and that there’s a lack of equality across racial lines is considered “woke.” Unfortunately nowadays in the US, everything is turned into a culture war issue. Those on the Christian side oppose a national effort to redress the harms and imbalance that our history has wrought on blacks and stand in favor of further marginalizing the marginalized, indeed canceling them out altogether in the name of godliness, even in the name of Christ.

They might say that helping others should depend on the church and voluntary good deeds. One of the questions, very much related to this entire subject is simple: Will such address the problem of a living wage and healthcare? I don’t know how people can deny that either is a right for people, but there are serious Christians who take ethics seriously who consider healthcare a privilege, not a human right, and who espouse a largely unregulated free market with too often low wages, and an unrealistic healthcare option. And you can’t entirely blame the businesses. “We the people” are not stepping up to make sure that everyone has enough to live and flourish.

The US military industrial complex against which President Dwight Eisenhower warned against has been in full sway, a large chunk of the US economy, many of our tax dollars going to that, and now US tax dollars going to the killing of Gazan children and women, civilians in the Israeli bombardment in the wake of the terror of Hamas. Two wrongs don’t make a right. The US, for what good it has done is complicit and implicated in too much that has proved wrong. Look no further in our recent history than Afghanistan and Iraq. God bless all the good wishes in that, and some good in the freedom and wellbeing of women in Afghanistan, happened for a while. And may all of those who wanting to do good sacrificed so much, be blessed.

A nation’s values are reflected in its budget. And Christians more than any other group in the US support war and the buildup of the military. And at what expense? What are we doing? What are we known for, as a result? I ask anymore not what is Christian because I don’t want to hear the answer on that, but what is human. Indeed the way of Christ is to be human, to love our neighbor as ourselves in love for God. To reject all that stands in the way and violates such love.

We can’t be dependent on systems to take care of all the injustice while we go on in our lives of overabundance. So many on the “liberal, progressive” side advocate for justice for the poor and speak against racism, but when push comes to shove, are no better than their political opponents. All too often they are advocates for what is just as long as they don’t have to make the necessary sacrifices. Yes, we do need better systems, but such systems depend on the good will of people. We all have to pull together in this. Words are cheap including all my words here; actions are what matter. And Christians, I would prefer to say those who profess to be followers of Christ ought to be among those who lead the way in this.

So yes, we need to do what we can, just as John the Baptizer said, and that is vitally important. But we also long for and welcome in a reign even now present, the reign of God in which no one is left behind, when righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psalm 85:10). Where Jesus is.

the desire to be useful

All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned will become special utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work.

2 Timothy 2:21

We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The question asked by Bonhoeffer in the tragedy of Nazi Germany, we may well ask ourselves. I certainly do. I’ve heard the idea that being useful, or used by God as something unworthy to suggest, as if God and from that ourselves, are to think in some utilitarian way. People merely being used. Of course we get that. But what we’re referring to here is something else, entirely different.

We want to be useful in the world in a subjective, participatory sense, out of love. We want to be a help to others, just as we ourselves need help from others. There’s not only nothing wrong with that thought, but so much right. We might say, beginning with the little things, but true as to who we are. We want to be a blessing to others in the blessing we have received from God in Christ. And we receive that blessing through others, as well.

Like the 2 Timothy passage above suggests, that will take some work and sacrifice on our part. Only then will we be ready for the good works of love, and be useful in the opportunities God gives us in this world.

opportunities to do good

…whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.

Galatians 6:10

Opportunities come and go. Doing good or working for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith should be a prime consideration in how we direct our lives. There is plenty of need and plenty of opportunities. And yet there’s often only a limited window to fulfill it.

When the opportunity is present we need to be in prayer and ready to help. I think it’s not only good to pray about everything, but to be in an attitude and in the practice of prayer all the time. But sometimes I wonder why we think we have to pray about certain things. Jesus already tells us that if someone asks for something, we’re to give it to them (Matthew 5:42).

That said it can be a step of faith, giving up something that has value to us, is even helpful to us, but giving that to someone who is often in much greater need than ourselves, who actually does need it, whereas we can get by without it.

As Paul puts it, it’s a part of our sowing to the Spirit, and hopefully helping others experience something of the same blessing we’re receiving in doing so. In and through Jesus.

losing one’s focus (and one’s mind)

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:34-38

The call to follow Jesus is singularly one of focus and then acting accordingly. Certainly within the entire picture is all of Scripture, sorting out what is Jesus-like and in accord with the fulfillment Jesus brought from that which is not. Just because some person of God did something in Scripture does not make it right, or at least not right for us today. Remember Elijah calling down fire from heaven, and Jesus rebuking his disciples for wanting to do the same?

How Jesus’s words to his disciples during that time translate into our day is no small order, though I think there’s surely some direct corollary. We don’t have crosses now, but we must embrace the path of suffering for following Christ, and not just in some kind of western religious, salvation kind of way where nowadays so much about that at least expressed is about religious freedom. No, the way of Jesus can often strike right in the face of religious leaders, and certainly runs against the grain of the world’s way of thinking and action. Might doesn’t make right in God’s kingdom in King Jesus, nor lording it over others. Sacrificial, even suffering servant love wins the day in God’s eyes.

I have to ask when I see the mess today: “Are we losing our collective minds?” It’s so easy for us to lose our focus. And then go off on all sorts of directions other than where the Lord is going.

If we’re going to be true followers of Jesus, we need to learn to put first things first, get back to basics in what we’re focusing on, thinking about, and then practicing. It’s a matter of unswerving devotion to Christ, nothing else having that same place. It is also about being changed by the renewing of our minds so that we do not live in the ways of the world. We are called to follow Christ with the difference God’s kingdom brings- into our world, into all the world. In and through Jesus.

what are we willing to die on a hill for?

This is not a put down to veterans and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. We rightfully honor and appreciate their service. What I’m referring to is a whole host of issues which divide people. Of course American politics comes readily to mind right now and the deep divide in the United States.

Like most everything else in life, this gets a bit complicated. There are a good number of life and death issues of varying pressing importance. I think of human trafficking, climate change, abortion which can’t be separated from concern and care for the mother, and other topics. We can be thankful for people who out of love major on these in ways which are helpful and constructive toward solutions and the abolishing of evil. So the question of what we’re willing to stake our lives on does not at all negate the need to address other matters which might be a matter of life and death for many, and of which we may be little aware of ourselves.

And there are those in particular fields who may have to defend their positions at times, since not only their occupations, but something even larger in terms of human understanding and flourshing may be at stake. I for one accept the scientific “theory” (meaning established on ongoing observation, hypothesis, and testing) of evolution, the scientific basis for human caused climate change, and surely a few more positions on basic issues which puts me at odds with most people around me. Not to mention what I think about American politics, which at times might put me at odds with nearly everyone, and maybe even myself.

My argument in this post is that there should be only one hill a follower of Christ is willing to die on, and that’s the truth claim of the gospel. The good news in Jesus, that God became flesh in him, fully human, was anointed to bring in God’s kingdom and thus the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel for the world, a kingdom which came through both the King’s death and resurrection, verifiable in history with sufficient evidence in what the Bible calls proofs. And Jesus ascended to the right hand of God from the Father pouring out the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. With the promise of his eventual, “soon” even if delayed for some time- return.

We are to give up our lives for Jesus and the gospel, as we’re told in the gospel accounts. If we sacrifice much in the course of some other responsibility in this life, that may be well and good, and right and necessary for us. But what all followers of Jesus must live for and from, and if need be die for as well is the good news from God of God’s grace and kingdom come in Jesus. That is at the very heart beat of our existence, a nonnegotiable for all of us who are in Jesus. We are occupied with the hill on which our Lord died, and all that followed from that: the resurrection, new creation life in and through Jesus, ultimately for the world in and through him. And of which we are to be a witness now in how we live, as well as what we tell others.