Author: Christine Wyrtzen

THRIVING IN CHANGE

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life.  Romans 16:3-4

         In a day when so many have lost their jobs and businesses and are trying to get any kind of employment to make ends meet (even something that has nothing to do with their field of education), it is easy to believe that life is over.  Watching their homes go into foreclosure, moving across state lines to live with parents and relatives, these undermine feelings of stability.

         It is always comforting to know the stories of those who have gone before us.  Priscilla and Aquila, invaluable in their work for the kingdom, lived on the run.  Stability was not measured by predictability but by learning to rest in a God who would use them and provide for them no matter where they went. Continue reading “Thriving In Change” →

IS IT REALLY INSIGNIFICANT?

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.  Romans 16:1

         A ex-murderer wrote a letter to a church in Rome.  A woman who was moved by his faith contributed extensively to his ministry and felt called to serve him.  When he needed someone to deliver his letter, she took on the burden of carrying it to the Roman church.

         Travel for women was dangerous.  Most likely, she had others traveling with her but Paul doesn’t mention them.  Phoebe stood out.

         She had no idea the power of the letter she carried on that trip.  The theological history of the church was in that letter.  The Reformation was in her satchel.  Continue reading “Is It Really Insignificant?” →

MORE THAN A MENTION

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.  Romans 15:30-31

         Some of you are struggling for your lives whether spiritually, emotionally or physically.  You know that you desperately need prayer but where are those who will cover your needs in a way that is more than just a quick mention?  Where are the ones who will get on their face before God to listen to the Spirit on your behalf, to invest time and energy and be spiritually intuitive as to your needs?  Who will cover your situation from every possible angle?  They are few.  And they are always the ones who believe in the power of God and the power of answered prayer.

         Someone who is having surgery today needs a more strategic prayer than this ~ “Lord, be with him in surgery today and be in control.  Amen”  This is pretty lame, lazy, and shortsighted.  Continue reading “More Than A Mention” →

OVERHAUL OF A MINDSET

At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.  Romans 15:25-26

         When charitable giving is the topic of a Sunday morning, I can tune out because I believe that I am already generous.  My mindset is skewed due to the fact that I am innately selfish.  Unless I am like Jesus, willing to give up everything for an enemy, I know little of generosity.

         Those in Macedonia and Achaia were non-Jews from wealthy urban areas in the Roman Empire.  Their mindset was that Rome taxes the weak in order to fund the empire.  Many of the Gentiles enjoyed their wealthy status at the expense of the Jews throughout Judea.  To give back to them charitably, instead of take, was an upside-down idea.  Jesus does that well.  He turns everything on its end, making our head spin, reinforcing the reality that kingdom thinking is the opposite of everything we’ve believed to be true.

         Who might be the last person I would consider giving to today?  Perhaps my mindset has closed off my spiritual hearing.  Continue reading “Overhaul of a Mindset” →

HOW A MINISTRY SURVIVES

Since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you.  Romans 15:23-24

         Those who lead ministries are dependent on God’s people to provide for what they need.  Paul made it clear that He was coming to Rome not only because he longed to see them but to ask them to provide for whatever he needed to travel to Spain.  His needs would include food, money, fares for travel, and traveling companions.

There is a balance when leading a ministry.  I know missionaries who feel entitled.  They have no trouble walking through homes, where they are guests, and ask for furniture and objects they admire.  They offend their hosts and leave a bad taste for missions.  The implication is, “I have given up everything to follow Christ and you haven’t!  Support me!”  Continue reading “How A Ministry Survives” →

OVER WHAT CAN I BE PROUD?

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.  Romans 15:17

         If you heard your pastor say that he was proud of the job he was doing, would that be a red flag?  Probably, the answer is yes. A toxic kind of pride is so rampant that when we hear the word ‘proud’, it has negative connotations.  Continue reading “Over What Can I Be Proud?” →

RELEASED TO BECOME GOOD

I myself am satisfied about you my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.  Romans 15:14

          “She’s such a good person!”  What is meant by that?  In circumstances when most would not be good, she is good.

         Paul didn’t write Romans to a disobedient and carnal church.  It might appear that way when I consider the depth of his message on law and grace.  He was really writing to a church who had embraced Christ deeply.  He reveals that he calls them good – inferring that their faith in the Gospel had translated to a goodness born of the Spirit.

         So what’s going on when I am stingy, unforgiving, vindictive, pessimistic, controlling, and hopeless about the future? I have not embraced the full impact of the Gospel in my heart.  Stressful circumstances don’t offer me an excuse from being good.  Continue reading “Released To Become Good” →

HARMONY – WHAT IS IT?

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Romans 15:5-6

         Before Jesus was arrested, he prayed at length over His disciples.  What He emphasized the most was their need for unity.  Harmony and unity.  Jesus knew what we would experience.  Relationships can get tiresome.  Relationships can get strained.  Relationships can grow argumentative.  Paul prayed that endurance and encouragement would fuel harmony.  And how many reasons there are to pull away from each other!

         I can disagree with someone’s leadership style and let frustration separate us.  I can struggle with someone’s opinion at the conference table.  I can be put off by someone’s personality.  I can disagree with how another is using their spiritual gift.  I can strain under someone’s abrasiveness and try to avoid them.  Continue reading “Harmony ~ What Is It?” →

WHAT I MUST DO IF I’M GOING TO MAKE IT

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.  Romans 15:4

            Scripture is more a heart thing than it is food for the intellect.  Yet, because of my early mentors, I approached God’s Word as if it were for my thoughts only. Meanwhile, my heart languished and I wondered if I could go on.

            While I am currently not in a place of hopelessness, I realize that you may be.  Life has temporarily come apart.  You are exhausted and out of the fight to survive.  You are waiting for someone to come along and impart supernatural strength.  There is no one offering it to you.  There can be no one to offer enough of what you need.  So what must a man or woman do to make it? Continue reading “What I Must Do To Make It” →

PICK A SIDE!

But Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”  Romans 15:3

         “Whose side are you on anyway?”  I remember the pressure.  I remember the question? Bullies in my 6^th grade class picked on the underdog in my class.  He had done nothing wrong.  I felt the pain of the afflicted and stuck my neck out to say, “Stop hurting him.”  With that, the bullies demanded that I pledge allegiance to one side or the other.  I did and would have paid that day if it had not been for the end of recess and teachers standing in the gap.

         In lieu of pleasure and ease, Jesus picked sides and stood with His Father.  He paid for that choice with His life and He gave His disciples a heads up.  “If they hated me, they will hate you.”

         Is a broader picture painted of the bias against me if I align with Christ?  It is.  The ‘reproach’ quote from this verse in Romans comes from one of the great Messianic psalms of the Old Testament.  Psalm 69.  If I read it with Jesus in mind, this foretells His suffering in detail. Continue reading “Pick A Side!” →