Month: July 2012

A Prayer of Humility



“Lord – you’re here. You came, you died, you rose, you breathed your life in us. We want to be crazy about you. We’re not always good at that. Please help us, Lord. We’re not always there. But you’re always there. Draw us, keep us, explode us, change us. Help us to love you for the right reasons. You did some awesome things and we love you for that. But we also want to love you for you. That’s real. We want to be real. We want to be Faithful and True – just like you, Lord. We want to be faithful no matter what. We mess that up, but you knew we would. It’s why you lived. It’s why you died. It’s why you rose. Thank you. We love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. We can’t wait to see you face to face, every ounce of glory, to know you as we are known. We can’t wait.

In your name, your worthy name, we pray. Amen.”

Quote: Offense


Woe to the person who smoothly, flirtatiously, commandingly, convincingly preaches some soft, sweet something which is supposed to be Christianity! Woe to the person who makes miracles reasonable. Woe to the person who betrays and breaks the mystery of faith, distorts it into public wisdom, because he takes away the possibility of offense! … Oh the time wasted in this enormous work of making Christianity so reasonable, and in trying to make it so relevant!

— Soren Kierkegaard


Question: What’s With Female Head Coverings?

testmyconvictions asked:
After reading your post on women in the church I have to ask, do you still find the idea of headcoverings to be relevant and applicable to the church today? I know some people that believe women should wear them and some that believe it was a cultural thing and only for the church back then.

Referring to this post about female pastors, submission, and 1 Timothy 2:11. Originally posted here on my Tumblr.

The subtlety of the language here at the top of 1 Corinthians 11 — Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. — suggests that Paul was speaking on a cultural matter. Since the conflict in the Corinthian church was between men and women, he HAD to speak on genders too. 

Continue reading “Question: What’s With Female Head Coverings?” →

Quote: Brokenness


We’re broken people looking to broken things to fix our brokenness. Most of us buy more to feel better, when we’re just buying our way right into hell. We’d rather cover up who we really are with the price of hell than just admit, ‘Hey, I’m broken.’ Let’s get real. God already knows. It’s honesty that begins the path to healing.


The Psychological Propensity To Accept Jesus: Tricking People Into Salvation

‎”Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”
— G.K. Chesterton

Honestly, there are times I feel like I’m fooling people into Jesus.

I ask them, “Isn’t there something missing in your life?” Something is always missing.

I ask some more: “Do you know what you’re living for? Do you know what you’re dying for? Do you know where you’re going? Do you have purpose, direction, a story?”

Then I make a Very Convincing Case about Jesus. “He’ll give you all the acceptance, validation, and approval you need. You can quit performing; he did it already. He has your True Purpose.” Those are all true things.

Yet — I still have this strange guilt, like I’m selling snake oil. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m merchandising marketable goods, putting Jesus in a display window and dangling him with a false psychological allurement.

I know I love Jesus — so why the guilt?

Continue reading “The Psychological Propensity To Accept Jesus: Tricking People Into Salvation” →

Quote: Fortifies


To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.

— Timothy Keller


Quote: Body


‘You are always dragging me down,’ said I to my Body. ‘Dragging _you_ down!’ replied my Body. ‘Well I like that! Who taught me to like tobacco and alcohol? You, of course, with your idiotic adolescent idea of being ‘grown up’. My palate loathed both at first: but you would have your way. Who put an end to all those angry and revengeful thoughts last night? Me, of course, by insisting on going to sleep. Who does his best to keep you from talking too much and eating too much by giving you dry throats and headaches and indigestion? Eh?’ ‘And what about sex?’ said I. ‘Yes, what about it?’ retorted the Body. ‘If you and your wretched imagination would leave me alone I’d give you no trouble. That’s Soul all over; you give me orders and then blame me for carrying them out.

— C.S. Lewis

Quote: Correction


I always want to be open to correction. People don’t grow without that humility. Anyone who hasn’t said, ‘I’m wrong’ in a long time probably ain’t living right. I never want to be outside anyone’s jurisdiction. At the same time I want to stand on principle. We can’t compromise on justice when it’s convenient. We can’t get soft with all this wishy-washy relativist maybe-stuff. Speak with authority, with passion, for what’s right. Be real about what’s wrong.