Can we live the Word?
One of the great things about teaching Sunday School is that it has really forced me to study the bible more. As I have told my students, the best way to learn something is to have to teach it! What bothers me is that the more I read of the word of God, the more of a disconnect I see between what is written and what we live. Now, I have always known that there have always been hypocrites and failures among the church (heck, I just need to look in the mirror if I want to see a hypocrite!) Many of the the principles that are in the Bible are being twisted, ignored or misapplied. Look at how the bible tells us to treat one another as Christians. Paul does a great job throughout the New Testament describing how we should view ourselves as the Body of Christ...
God is Pounding on my Pride
The past couple weeks, God has really been showing me how privileged I am and how much of it has so little to do with my performance and so much to do with his immeasurable grace. It has led me to confession and even a bit of weeping. Here are the points that hit home - The movie Precious – Wow I only made it through about 20 minutes of this movie. The movie gives a view into the life of a young, overweight African American teenage girl that is truly horrific. To describe the depth of despair, her mother let her father rape her so that the teenager could keep giving birth to children so that the mother can get more welfare money. The fact that I was born to 2 white middle class parents who loved me thoroughly has way more to do with my current...
Christian Cliques
Is it just me, or can Christians be sort of cliquish sometimes? I’ve noticed that if you identify yourself as a particular kind of Christian, you can only surround yourself with people and things associated with that identity. It’s like high school all over again. Take for example the Emergent Christians and the Reformed Christians. If you check the bookshelves of any of my Emergent Christian peers, chances are you will see the same authors: Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jim Wallis, N.T. Wright, John Howard Yoder, and Shane Claiborne. Chances are emergent Christians listen to podcasts like The Nick and Josh Podcast, Something Beautiful (at least I hope they do!), Losing My Religion, and Homebrewed Christianity. The...
Resources vs. Results
As I ran at the gym this morning, I noticed advertisers must think 1 of 2 things about those people who are up at 5 in the morning. Either we need a better mattress or we need to get in shape. I have seen my share of workout and diet commercials, but no matter how many I see I know that having the resources doesn’t produce results, only using the resources you have will be of benefit. Even though I know that is true I still buy things in hope that owning them will produce results. I wonder how many bowflexs and thigh masters are sitting in a closet gathering dust right now. I wonder what percentage of folks look like the guy in the bowflex commercials or have thighs off…..iron? And then there’s the shake weight, I’m sure that flew off the...
Experiencing God
This week I began revisiting a study that my husband and I did several years ago with friends at our church in Orlando. It’s called Experiencing God, and I highly recommend it to anybody who, like me, has a hard time “hearing God’s voice” or seeing His will. One of the most valuable things this first week has (re)taught me is that I look at the world backwards. If I want to know God’s will, I, like many people, ask what His will is for me or what His plans for my life are. But throughout the Bible, God works His will through His people by asking them to obey Him in faith. He’s probably not going to give me a life roadmap or tell me exactly what the results will be down the road; instead, he asks me to obey, and as I do that each...