We are all shaped by way more than we realize when it comes to how think about the Bible, about God, and about life.
How we think about the Bible is shaped by more than we realize.
Tag: Christ
Do You Actually Want God, or Just the Feeling of Being Close to Him?
There once lived three men. They lived full lives. Born at similar times, they also died at similar times. All three believed in Jesus and attended the same church. Each claimed to have a close walk with God.
How Can Anabaptists Spread the Gospel without Making Others Feel They Need to Become Like Them?
How can Anabaptists spread the gospel of Christ without making others think they need to become like us? Should their new disciples become Anabaptist? What’s the balance? Is what we do really important?
Why Most Churches Fail to Make Disciples
I stood there dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to say. These dear kids had been through far too much in their young life. How in the world do I connect with them?
What “All Things Work Together for Good” Really Means
People often quote Romans 8:28 when tragedy strikes. And while we can look at other parts of the Bible and see that God can work tragedy for His glory and use it for good, I do not believe we are being fair to the message God is speaking through Paul here in Romans. In fact, I will go so far as to say what Paul is talking about has nothing to do with tragedy. It might actually have more to do with porn.
10 Bold Predictions about the Millennial Generation of Anabaptists
The generation before us laid the groundwork for rethinking the way we do church—the way we do life, really. Because of our parents, many of us are free to question the status quo. We are free to revisit the methodology of church, romance, family, discipleship, and with that revisiting, comes radical possibilities. Some good, some not good.
What I Love about Pastors
A pastor is someone who shepherds people in the way of Truth. This includes caring for people, preaching the Word, confronting sin, and much more. Specifically, for the purposes of this post, I am referring either to those who the people of a local church have asked to shepherd them, or those who have nurtured new believers and, by default, have become shepherds. In this article, I address what I love about them.
Nonconformity: Where We Get It Wrong
There’s nothing wrong in and of itself with doing things different from the world. The problem comes when we spiritualize what we decide to do instead.
How to Know Your Calling
We all long for a sense of meaning. Until you and I get a picture for how we individually fit into God’s plan of reconciliation, we will always settle for lesser pleasures that give just enough fulfillment for us to sense deep meaning.
Knowing a lot about God and what He created us to do doesn’t motivate us to actually do it anymore than knowing how to churn butter motivates us to churn it ourselves. Knowing our calling isn’t so much about learning facts as it is discovering God’s work in our lives.
Until we discover His work in our lives, the pleasures that following Him requires us to give up will always have a greater pull on our hearts then Jesus Christ Himself.
Radical Love: how you can tell a true Christian from a fake one
If God did create, then His plan for my life is the plan that is most fulfilling. Because I am born with a fallen nature, I constantly trying doing life outside of His plan. I need saved. When I am saved, I become a part of a family that far transcends my immediate friends and connections. Experiencing more of God requires my continual engagement with His people.
Creation and salvation are absolutely fundamental for understanding life as God designed. Church, the body of Christ, is a critical part of going deeper with Him. But understanding creation, experiencing salvation, and participating with church are not enough to live a life that truly matters.
True meaning comes from radical love.
What I Believe About Salvation
God does not have a reverse economy. Satan does, and we chose to settle for his perversion of God’s economy, God’s perfect creation.
Nothing exists that God did not create. No creature, no desire, no ability, and no pleasure. He made it all and it is good. The normal way life functions is the way God designed it to. We are the ones who reversed the economy of life. We are upside-down from what God created.
Lust is not our longing of something Satan created, but our settling for his perversions as a way of fulfilling our longing for what God created. In order to live a life that truly matters, life as God intended, we need a supernatural salvation.
No Broken People Allowed
Within the Christian culture, we don’t do well at caring for broken people, especially in a church mainly filled with multigenerational believers. We’ve known all of our lives how to live appropriately and so Christianity becomes more about living rightly than faith and transformation in Christ.
Requirements for church membership focus more on outside sins (smoking, dress, habits of leisure) instead of internal sins such as gluttony, gossip, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, anger, rebellion, materialism and many more. The idea is, once you have your outside life altogether you can become a member. And then, don’t show anymore imperfections after that.
The problem is, that only cultivates fake Christians.
