Wonder is a quality that we must embrace and cultivate as believers. We live in an often-cynical world, heavy with pessimism. Unironic enthusiasm and delight sometimes seems out of style, and out of step. But as Christians, wonder is part and parcel of our experience. [Click title to read more.]
Category: spirituality
Christian Peer Pressure: When It’s Okay To Be Out Of Step Sometimes
The thing is, peer pressure to participate in certain activities or trends or events exists among Christians as much as it exists in any other group, and I'd argue that for Christians it's especially difficult to navigate, because we often wonder if it's okay not to like something "godly," or to want to do something different than all of the believers around us are doing. When is it okay to take a pass and not participate, to be the odd duck of the group? [Click title to read more.]
Sports and Misleading Narratives of Christian Victory: Or, That Time I Swore I’d Shave Off My Eyebrows
It's interesting to me that we never equate God's victory with loss. That we never equate God with the less-than-happy-end, or with what happens when things don't turn out right. The team that slumps into the locker room doesn't say, "Well, He's the reason we're here." After a fumble or a turnover, the football player doesn't crouch and quietly thank God.
Don’t Say “I’ll Pray For You” (Unless You’re Willing To Follow Up)
Prayer can't become a believer's band-aid. It can't become that thing we do so that we don't have to do anything else. In the times that it's possible to do more than shoot a wish skyward, we are obligated to do so - for those to whom much is given, much is required. Follow up. Give. Care. Our role in grace-giving does not end the moment the words leave our lips. Love does not stop at the foot of the throne. [Click title to read more.]
The Pharisee Problem
If we must err, let us err on the side of grace. [Click on title to read more.]
Faith Is A Christian With No Answers
Faith is not the blind belief that everything will be fine. Faith is not a self-hypnosis that magically transforms the bad things in our life into good ones, or automatically makes us content to struggle forward without answers. No. Faith is an effort of will. It is the resolution of heart and mind. [To read more, click title.]
God’s Economy
God's economy seems antithetical to the modern age we live in. I and most people I know would run back to get the sheaf of forgotten wheat, would linger to make sure we hadn't left anything behind. And if we found any scraps on the ground we'd ask Pinterest how to use them to make centerpieces. To us, this sort of act seems sensible, and yet it runs directly opposite the commands of God. Leave the leftovers, He commands. They're not for you to use. [Read more...]
