Renewing Faith │ Restoring Hope
This week we launch a series of animated readings of various devotional poems I have written. The poem will be followed by several weeks of blog posts related to the poem. A new animated poem will be launched about once a month. We hope you enjoy this new venture! If you like what we have done, please share with others through your social media outlets.
Continue reading “Animated Reading of The Place of the Broken Beggar”
In our journey towards holy desperation, we now consider the posture of spiritual brokenness. As with holy desperation so too must we realize there are two kinds of brokenness—spiritual brokenness and earthly brokenness. Continue reading “Rethinking Brokenness”
Over the past months we have talked about the importance of holy desperation for a vibrant faith and living hope. We explained such desperation as an attitude of surrender to God. While holy desperation rubs against the grain of human independence and self-sufficiency, we’ve learned that the kind of faith and hope for which we yearn cannot be earned… it must be given. So, for such a treasure, what can we be but desperate for God to deliver? Continue reading “Faith and the Power of Posture”
Christians believe that God is sovereign in the affairs of life and death—no one or nothing is more powerful and absolute. This belief can help us find hope in times of trouble because God’s purposes are never threatened or thwarted by anything… not even suffering. Yet, let’s not confuse such confidence in divine sovereignty with a naive faith. Towards this end, two clarifications are needed. Continue reading “The Mystery of Christian Suffering”
A lifestyle of distraction is not learned in a day… neither is reversing its trend. We concluded last week by introducing “baby steps” as a way to begin standing against the power of distraction. Such efforts may initially seem insignificant—30 second prayers, 60 seconds of stillness, or short walks unplugged from technology. Nevertheless, with persistence we can find the freedom we seek. But, how can we stay motivated for a freedom we haven’t yet fully experienced? We need a foretaste. Continue reading “Quiet Time and Sacred Space”
I am prone to distraction. Such is frequently observed by my family every time I attempt to walk past the television. How about you? Distraction is embedded into the very fabric of our culture. Google, video games, cable television, bill boards, commercials, and myriad other sights and sounds daily call for our time and attention. Our economy even depends on it. Every day, businesses and institutions vie for our interest in buying their goods and services… each one trying to convince us we need what they have. Sadly, we’ve become so used to the noise, we rarely even recognize what we’ve lost. Continue reading “Lifestyles of Distraction”
Last week we emphasized the importance of knowing the purpose and limits of cultural Christianity. When Christians fail to gain such knowledge, they set themselves up for great confusion and disappointment… expecting something of their faith it isn’t able to deliver. This week we consider the vast difference between cultural and biblical Christianity. Continue reading “Surrender”
The failure to resolve the eighteen-inch dilemma paves the way for the second obstacle of holy desperation—cultural Christianity. When our head and heart are not integrated, we become susceptible to settling for a faith driven more by social expectation than true devotion to God. Continue reading “Cultural Christianity”
This week we discuss the first of two challenges often preventing Christians from choosing holy desperation. Today we introduce The Eighteen-Inch Dilemma. This challenge refers to the seemingly infinite span between the head and the heart and the difficulty we have trying to bring them together. For us, this has to do with the difference between merely knowing about God and knowing God. Continue reading “The Eighteen-Inch Dilemma”
Around 2000 years ago, a religious leader asked Jesus which was the greatest Commandment in the Jewish Law. He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Ever since, the church has emphasized loving God as fundamentally central to Christian faith. Even today, faith is born, nurtured, and fueled by the knowledge that God loves us. Continue reading “The Desperation Shift”
