Progress To A Transformed Christian Life
I have an idealist streak in me and I take injustices and problems, especially in churches, as a blow to my sense of what is right in the world. I get easily discouraged and angry. I fantasize about churches where people "get it" and the life and work of Jesus is taken seriously. I romanticized... Continue Reading →
I despise the end times obsession that is prevalent among American Christians. If I started a class today on how to do the things that Jesus taught and it was scheduled at the same time as a class on the end times, we would be outnumbered probably six to one. This doesn't make sense to... Continue Reading →
How would you define learning? Is it the collection of knowledge? Is it performance in an evaluative situation such as a test? Is it only demonstrated through everyday situations? In Jesus' day, many could not read and the written word was found on large awkward scrolls that would have been time consuming to produce and... Continue Reading →
Sometimes I am at fault on this blog by making spiritual formation about what we do. I talk much about spiritual disciplines such as solitude, prayer, meditation, and scripture reading. But the reality is that these are just tools that we use to grow closer to God. A lumberjack would never say that his goal... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, I taught my Sunday School class a lesson on worry. This lesson came from the part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6) when Jesus instructs his listeners to "not worry." He explains that the birds of the air and flowers on the ground are both taken care of by God so why... Continue Reading →
Several years ago I read about the Jesus Chair exercise and decided to try it out. The basic idea is you set aside 15-30 minutes and take an empty chair and imagine that Jesus is sitting in the chair. And you simply begin to talk to Jesus as if he was sitting right there in... Continue Reading →
As we take another look at the Barna study on New Year's resolutions we see the following set of numbers: Among those planning to make resolutions, the top pledges for 2011 relate to weight, diet and health (30%); money, debt and finances (15%); personal improvement (13%); addiction (12%); job and career (5%); spiritual or church-related... Continue Reading →
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