You are discovering how hard it can actually be to follow God in a distracting world, and no one is blaming you for that. Don’t let a couple tough attempts shut you down. The evangelical church has been really good at making the Christian life a “one-time one-chance one-shot or-it’s-over” sort of thing. But the Bible most paints the Christian life as a walk, taking steps, to ask God for daily bread. And God has more than enough grace to build you forward.
Month: February 2013
Quote: Minimum
Christianity even when watered down is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags. The mere minimum of the Church would be a deadly ultimatum to the world.
— G.K. Chesterton
Gospel Reminders: Heart Transplant
The Christian knows that Jesus died on the cross in our place, beat up death, and gave us a great mission. But how does the Gospel fit into our everyday lives?
The very second you believe the Gospel truth, you have a brand new heart in Christ. This is now who you are because of what he’s done.
That’s the True Self — but it doesn’t always feel this way.
When Jesus made Peter the head disciple, Peter’s original name was Simon. The word Peter was a nickname which meant “rock.”
Jesus was telling him: Simon is dead. You are now a rock. You might not feel like it today, but this is who you are because of who I am and what I’m about to do. I’m inviting you into the True Story of Your Life — that you can’t do this yourself, and that’s why I’m going to the cross to do it for you.
B90X – 90 Day Bible Challenge
I started the 90 Day Bible Challenge, also called B90X, about two weeks ago. I’ve actually done it once before and it was awesome: you can definitely see the huge narrative scope of the Bible.
If you want to try the B90X, click here to download from Dropbox!
For daily updates about the reading, check out my new Facebook page (and please click “like”!)
— J
Quote: Allow
We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What is a Christian supposed to look like?
I know a few Christian dudes — several of them pastors — who regularly smoke cigars and drink beer and wine. Does this bother you? Because they’re some of the best Christians I know.
Some are into metalcore, wear huge lip rings and gauged earrings, have tattoos like a second skin, and spike their hair into stilettos. Some curse like crazy, don’t pray before their meals, love MMA, read Cracked.com, and watch Key and Peele.
Some read horoscopes, watch The Daily Show, watch rated R movies, despise Chris Tomlin, can’t stand Christian books, and could care less about your politics. Some, at times, even doubt the existence of God.
Does this mean they’re not Christian?
Is a Christian supposed to be nicer? Gentler? Well mannered? More polite? Happier? Holier? Rich and successful? Full of doctrine? Republican? American? Calvinist? Going to seminary? On the praise team? A regular tither? Anti-something? Pro-whatever?
All of those are totally fine of course — but they do NOT define a believer’s faith.
Continue reading “What is a Christian supposed to look like?”
Keeping Faith In Our Crazy Up-And-Down-Ness
This is a sermon I preached recently at a very lively church about the crazy up-and-down journey of our faith. The text is 1 Kings 18-19, about my favorite prophet Elijah.
Some things I talk about are: The time I tried out for a Nickelodeon TV show, feeling forced to say ‘Praise God’ to keep up the Christianese, the first step to quitting porn, and the best wedding kiss of all time.
You can stream it on my Tumblr here.
You can also check it out on iTunes or download it directly here.
Love y’all!
— J
Quote: As They Are
God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God’s Divine Art
It is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.
— C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Quote: Divine Art
We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art, something that God is making, and therefore something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character. Here again we come up against what I have called the “intolerable compliment.” Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child, an artist may not take much trouble: he may be content to let it go even though it is not exactly as he meant it to be. But over the great picture of his life — the work which he loves, though in a different fashion, as intensely as a man loves a woman or a mother a child — he will take endless trouble — and would doubtless, thereby give endless trouble to the picture if it were sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and re-commenced for the tenth time, wishing that it were only a thumb-nail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way, it is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.
— C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Quote: Horizon
“If God is infinite and we are finite beings, then encountering God is not some arbitrary standard or goal line and then you’re done. God is more like the horizon. What happens when you reach for the horizon? It keeps getting away from you. So reaching God in your life will always be to some extent an insurmountable process. Even in Heaven we will not fully, finally get there. On the way to that horizon, it’s going to be difficult — it’s a jagged, ragged, uphill climb, and God has grace for that. God had grace for the Israelites in the wilderness, God has grace for you today. And I know that it’s hard, but reaching for that horizon of God is the most awesome journey you could possibly ever be on. And I believe that when Jesus is center, when you have that intimacy with him, then from him is where the wellspring of all life flows.”
— from this message
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain 