Spiritual Formation

Articles that address the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and for the sake of others (II Corinthians 3:17-18).

Can You Be a Christian and Not Accept Refugees?

By Asher Witmer Current Events, Spiritual Formation, Work Life & Ministry
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Without adding to the meaningless noise of opinions on the current refugee crisis, in this post I want to wrestle with some questions specific to those of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Can we say we are “little Christs” and not accept refugees?

Have we in the American church become so obsessed about the cares of this world and deceived by riches, and have we become so in love with other things that God’s word has been choked out of our midst and we are proving unfruitful?

If we do not accept refugees, can we claim Christ as our Lord? If we do not commit to suffering for the Gospel, can we expect to share in the resurrection?

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Plexus, modesty and other topics too dangerous to talk about

By Asher Witmer Ecclesiology, Spiritual Formation

Have you ever read one of my posts that left you asking more questions than before, or left you wishing I would elaborate more?

Last year’s two most-read posts were also perhaps the two most controversial posts. 7 Modesty Issues That Don’t Matter received over 4,500 views and 30+ comments. What Plexus Exposes about the American Church received nearly 22,000 views and 130 comments.

The thing about controversial posts is they are often incomplete. That’s probably what makes them so heated. In order to address some of the gaps in the original posts, I created a couple of videos elaborating more on each one. Check them out in this post.

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WAP! in 2017

By Asher Witmer Spiritual Formation
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Out of fifteen goals I made this last year, I really only completed three of them. Trust me, they were really good goals. I was bound and determined to actually do it when I created them, and it’s not that I didn’t try—I did. But the busyness of life creeps in so quickly, the worries and pressures we succumb to eat out passion for following through on our commitments.

Is there any hope for completing what we desire to do? Is there any point in setting goals or clarifying vision? What is it God really wants us to do with our lives, with each New Year?

In the Matthew account of the night leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, something happens with His inner circle that I believe reveals what God is calling you and I to right now in 2017.

 

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Does Modesty in Dress Really Matter?

By Asher Witmer Spiritual Formation
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What comes to your mind when you hear that we’re going to have “a discussion on modesty”?

Anymore, discussing modesty is almost like discussing music: we never get anywhere. People have their strong personal opinions and the focus isn’t so much on learning from each other as it is on convincing you that I’m right. But just like music, modesty is actually quite crucial to our lives, though not necessarily for the reason most people think.

In this post I point out three observations of our discussions on modesty and share a post with you that gives perhaps the biggest reason why I believe modesty in dress matters for everyone.

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7 Mind-Blowing Statistics About Christian Men And Porn

By Asher Witmer Resources & Reviews, Spiritual Formation
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Ever wonder how serious an issue porn addiction really is in the church?

When I was thirteen years old I made one of the worst decisions of my life: I chose to Google pornography to see what it was. I was curious. I had been told vaguely what it meant, but I wondered what it actually looked like. I wish I would have left it unknown, but I didn’t. As a result, I spent the rest of my teen years struggling with porn addiction.

I praise God for giving me victory over porn and lust, but am grieved by how many men struggle just as I did. Porn addiction is a growing phenomenon with the advent of digital media and it doesn’t seem to make a difference regardless of whether or not you’re Christian.

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Making Right the Failures of Our Past

By Asher Witmer Ecclesiology, Spiritual Formation
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Each generation has to find their place in history. For one, morality may be the trump struggle they face. For another, it may be poverty.

For us, there’s never been a more Christian time in history. And that’s making us ask questions. How do we know what we have been taught all these years is right? What do we do when it feels there are lots of extra-biblical rules and regulations we have to abide by?

Throughout the month of December 2016, I’m going to share the ten most-read posts of this year. Number nine is one I published in March and shares perhaps the biggest burden on my heart for my generation. I believe the way we make right the failures of our past is moving beyond pointing out the faults and doing something else instead. Here’s to. . .

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Why My Heritage Matters to Me

By Asher Witmer Ecclesiology, Spiritual Formation

On this blog I like to look at issues that people don’t normally feel comfortable talking about publicly–the white elephant issues in the room, so to speak. One of the reasons I like doing this is because if we are to grow and become better than we must make the undiscussable discussable.

Many “undiscussables” are negative: people don’t like having faults pointed out. At the same time, some undiscussables, especially when it comes to a heritage we see issues in, are quite positive: people are uncomfortable recognizing the qualities that, if let go of, could hurt them in the long run.

Throughout the month of December 2016, I’m going to share the ten most-read posts of this year. Number ten actually wasn’t even published in 2016, but remains one of my most-read posts. Here’s to. . .

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Everybody Has a Story to Tell and It’s Not the One They’re Writing

By Asher Witmer Spiritual Formation
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I used to think God wanted me to write a great story with my life, but I’m learning He actually wants me to be a part of His.

Nobody plans to fail. No one counts on having their dreams broken, hopes dashed, or loved ones lost. In our ideal picture of life, everything always goes well. And why not?

We expect great things in life: close friends, happy marriages, connected families, fulfilling jobs, effective ministries. God says he has great plans for us of prosperity and good fortune. Why shouldn’t we aim for greatness?

What we don’t expect is God ruining our story.

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Without Adam We Wouldn’t Have Eve

By Asher Witmer Current Events, Spiritual Formation
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If we didn’t have men like Adam, we might not have women like Eve. If Israel didn’t have a king like Ahab, they wouldn’t have had a queen like Jezebel. If America didn’t have a morally weak and selfish man like Clinton, it might not have a power hungry women like Clinton. In the same way, if we didn’t have Trump we might not have Hillary either.

Evil goes hand in hand, and if men want to be called the leaders than we should probably accept the fact that our sin comes first and sets the tone. We can be holy and set a tone of safety, security, and the pursuit of other people’s interests above our own. Or we can be lustful and set a tone of selfishness, pride, and putting ourselves before the rest.

Whatever we are as men we’ll get in return through the world around us.

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When Everyone Says It’s Wrong

By Asher Witmer Spiritual Formation
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Sometimes a man feels in his heart to do something he doesn’t necessarily know whether is of God or his own ambition. And if he actually does it, many will debate whether it was right or wrong.

When a man communes with God he will have passions laid on his heart that feel an awfully lot like personal ambition, but is indeed from God.

And when he feels that prompting, burden, passion—whatever you want to call it—he must do something about it even if it’s not going to be a popular move.

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10 Blogs Worth Following (and why you should)

By Asher Witmer Resources & Reviews, Spiritual Formation
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I’ve been writing on this blog for nearly three years and it’s awesome to see how God is using it to help others sort through tough questions they face so they can live more vibrant lives of love. My desire is to serve you as readers. To provide a platform for discussion as well as direction for where to go from here.

Part of serving you and giving direction includes spilling the beans on other blogs I believe you could deeply benefit from. If you enjoy following this blog, I’m going to share with you ten other blogs also worth following. This wasn’t preplanned with any of the authors–there’s no promotional strategy behind it. I simply want to let you in on valuable voices and excellent writing.

I’m excited to see more and more people take writing and communication seriously enough to start and intentionally maintain a blog because I deeply believe in the power of communication to influence the direction of generations, and blogging is one small, simple step we can take in communicating and influencing for Christ.

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Nonconformity: Does It Even Matter?

By Asher Witmer Spiritual Formation
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Because of grace, there are no excuses for sinful living. Only, God is for us. Not against us. Too often we live the Christian life expecting ourselves to be more perfect then even God expects us to be. As if holiness is something we are to accomplish before we have peace with Him. But that matter was taken care of by Christ on the Cross. We have peace, period. We can now live in relationship with God, and it is from that relationship we find the ability to live as He designed, to obey Him from the heart instead of obligation as they did under the Old Testament Law.

We still live in a fallen world, though, bound by a fallen nature. Living as He designed goes contrary to our nature. We have been grafted in—we’re not a part of the trunk that gave us root. It feels more natural to live without Him.

It is within this context that Paul is writing in Roman’s twelve.

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