The Biggest Battle of the Christian Life Is…
What is the biggest battle of the Christian life? Is it a search for meaning? The battle between conflicting possibilities? Is it a battle for relevance? That we make our mark vs being complacent and not getting off the couch…motivation? The biggest battle isn’t psychological. It isn’t about self-actualization. The biggest battle of the Christian […]
Jesus & the Paradox of the Narrow Way
The Hebrew way of thinking about life was that life is a walk. This is one of the primary ways the apostle Paul talks about how you live your life – how you walk. We are all on a path to something even if you aren’t trying to be on a path to something. The […]
The Power of the Peace of Christ Ruling Your Heart
In Churches of Christ Colossians 3 is best known for 3:16 where Paul writes, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.“ Paul has just spent three chapters […]
Erosion
We have a small (usually dry) creek that runs behind our house. When we first moved in, we noticed that we also had a significant erosion problem above the creek going up the hill from the creek to our house. This had been partially fixed by the builder with a retaining wall but below the […]
Having the Mind of Christ
In three places Paul talks directly about how God is transforming our minds, more specifically to be like the mind of Jesus. Rom 12:2 – “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will […]
“Open Your Eyes” – Seeing Things for the First Time
We see what we choose to see and are blind to what we choose to be blind to. Jesus constantly told people who had eyes that were physically capable of seeing that they weren’t seeing everything they needed to see…that there was more to life and God’s perspective on things than they were understanding. This […]
Shifting the Locus From Church Building to Home
We often think of Judaism’s worship as being centered around either the temple or the synagogue. What is missing is that the vast majority of the spiritual life in Judaism was in the home. The Shema (Deut 6:4-9) was recited daily. The 18 benedictions were recited or prayed daily (could well be “the prayers” mentioned […]
Favorite Books List: Spirituality and Spiritual Formation
Every now and then I see people list their favorite books of the last year or of all time. I want to take a crack at it as you might find some books in here you want to read and I would love to hear back from you on what would make your list. In […]
Gordon Fee’s Admonition to Preachers – Don’t Become “Professional”
Another post from Listening to the Spirit in the Text by Gordon Fee. Fee’s admonition is on the danger of ministers getting out of touch with God and their task becoming routine and “professional” rather than seeing ministry as a spiritual and vibrant activity, “I regularly tell students: Have the touch of God on your […]
The Real Agenda of Advertising & God’s Counter-Narrative
The goal of advertising is to convince you that you need something that is non-essential to your survival. 100% of commercials are about non-necessities. Why? Who has to advertise something everyone actually has to buy to survive? Right? So by the very nature of commercials, they are trying to sell you something you can live without, […]