11 Articles You Shared Like Crazy

As we celebrate New Years, here's a look back at the articles you shared like crazy in 2018:

1. Lessons From a Prayer Warrior

Mike Phay says he's no prayer warrior. When you don’t know how to do something, you ask an expert. So that’s he did. Here's what Mike learned.

2. Start Planning Your Own Funeral

When's the last time you thought about death? According to the Bible, not recently enough. Wisdom is found in learning to number our days.

3. Is Hospitality Your Mentality?

If we love others, we’ll share not only our faith with them—but our lives as well.

4. ‘I Don’t Know How You Do It’: God’s Grace for Foster Parents

Fostering children can be overwhelming. It reminds foster parents of their own weakness. But in our weakness, we are reminded that Christ is strong.

5. What it Means to Invest in Eternity

We all have limited time to invest in our future, and Christians have a limited window to invest in eternity.

6. Discontent: Comparing What Is to What Could Have Been

We have never had higher expectations than we do right now. But what happens when life doesn't measure up?

7. An Ancient Solution to Digital Weariness

Our problems with devices would go away if we’d use them in moderation. But sometimes a hard reset with an ancient practice is also appropriate.

8. The Big God Behind Your ‘Small’ Ministry

It's easy to feel underwhelmed by our own ministry. But that's not how God sees what you're doing, no matter how small it seems.

9. Simplicity for the Sake of the Gospel

We’re searching for the simple life. But to what end? What is it we’re after? What will fill the void created by our new, simple lives?

10. The Saints: Ordinary Means for Extraordinary Ends

A funeral for an ordinary saint made me realize that even in our normalcy we're called to extraordinary work.

11. Sermons Aren’t Popcorn: Tips for Being a Good Listener to God’s Word

Do you treat sermons like entertainment? There's a way to listen to sermons that glorifies God and edifies you. Here are some tips to get you started.

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Grayson Pope (M.A., Christian Studies) is a husband and father of three, and the Managing Web Editor at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He serves as a writer and editor with Prison Fellowship. For more of Grayson’s writing check out his website, or follow him on Twitter.

Suffering Doesn’t Have to Keep You from Giving Thanks

“How’s Jesus treating you today?” I asked her, taking a seat at her bedside. Hospice had recently brought in a hospital bed to make it easier to help her in and out. That word—hospice—signaled to all of us that in the eyes of medicine, the end was near. It was just a matter of time.

To most people, it didn’t seem like Jesus was treating her well at all. But she saw things differently.

It took her a moment to answer. Her mind was alert, but her speech had been severely impaired by the pressure of the tumor in her brain. “I know Jesus loves me,” she said, “because he sent you to visit me.”

HUNGRY FOR GRACE

Amid suffering, her eyes had become finely attuned to recognize the grace of God. My friend was on her deathbed, yet she had the clearest sight of anyone I knew.

She was so hungry for grace that she was ready to recognize and receive any gift that came her way. She could easily have rejected the little gifts—like me of all things!—because they weren’t the gifts she really wanted (like healing and wholeness).

She had become adept at recognizing streams in the desert. Her context of disease, suffering, and impending death did not deaden—but rather, amplified—her ability to receive the grace God was lavishly pouring out on her. How is this possible?

HOW GRATITUDE IS CONNECTED TO SPIRITUAL HEALTH

In Romans 1, The Apostle Paul connects gratitude to spiritual health:

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images" (Rom. 1:21-23, emphasis added)

Spiritual decay begins when God is no longer recognized as the gift giver. When we separate God from his gifts, the gifts eventually take his place. Ceasing to give thanks is the beginning of this long downward spiral away from God. Ingratitude leads to spiritual death.

On the other hand, gratitude leads to spiritual vitality. Show me a grateful person and I’ll show you someone who is growing spiritually. Gratitude—hunting for grace and saying “thank you” when you find it—is a discipleship issue. A life of following Jesus should be increasingly marked by gratitude.

THANKSGIVING IN THE CRUCIBLE

The first followers of Jesus took it as a given that discipleship is worked out in the furnace of suffering. Peter reminded his flocks to “not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12). Jesus himself promised a crucible, not a coddling, for those who follow him (see John 15:18-20).

This difficult setting for a life of discipleship isn’t obvious to all because a tension exists in our mind between gratitude and suffering. We find it difficult to believe that a young mother dying of cancer could find anything to be grateful for. We wonder at her ability to draw closer to her Savior at the same time she draws closer to her death.

Scripture, however, reminds us that gratitude best finds its meaning in the face of suffering. Thanksgiving regularly holds hands with lament, a reality understood by the psalmists. Over half of the psalms include lament—or giving voice to the reality that human life is regularly marked by the presence of suffering—such as:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5).

In light of who God is—“my salvation and my God”—the downcast poet calls himself to hope amid turmoil, to rejoice amid tears, and to give thanks amid lament. Gratitude must come even, or perhaps especially, when it doesn’t make sense; a reality understood by Abraham Lincoln.

WHY THANKSGIVING IS CONNECTED TO LAMENT

On October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the famous Thanksgiving Proclamation, marking the last Thursday of November as a national day of prayer and repentance. He wrote this proclamation at the height of the Civil War, within two weeks of one of the bloodiest battles in American History.

The juxtaposition of thanksgiving and tragedy doesn’t seem to make sense. But Lincoln understood the deep connection between gratitude and lament. He saw gratitude as lament’s counterbalance and knew that the way forward for a broken nation would somehow walk the narrow road between the two. Neither could be left out, for thanksgiving without lament would become naive optimism, and lament without thanksgiving would degenerate into hopeless cynicism.

Thanksgiving makes true lament possible because it anchors tragedy, brokenness, illness, pain, and suffering in the person of God. Without God, lament can never find resolution or meaning because it’s detached from an object: someone to whom we can lament. Thanksgiving is the formational practice of thanking that very same Person, providing a relational context where Godward lament makes sense.

PRACTICE THANKSGIVING

A life of following Jesus is a life increasingly marked by gratitude. If you want to become more like Jesus, say “thank you” more often. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” wrote Paul (1 Thess. 5:18). But how?

The foundational work of thanksgiving is to hunt high and low for grace and, having found it, to say “thank you” for it. We can train ourselves to “give thanks in all circumstances” by implementing habits of gratitude, such as:

Say “thank you” more than “you’re welcome.” Jesus called his disciples to exercise hospitality toward those we wouldn’t normally invite to our table, especially those who can’t repay us (Luke 14:12-14). In this instance, it would be easy to see ourselves in the role of benefactors: giving freely from our abundance. But what if Jesus wanted us to see that even in our acts of generosity we should have eyes to see grace coming towards us rather than going out from us? Even in our generosity, God is the one extending undeserved grace to us: “…and you will be blessed” (Luke 14:14).

Say “thank you” for difficult things. God is constantly trying to train us to see his hand in all things. We are at risk of missing his work when we limit the ways we think he can act. That flat tire you had when you were already running late for work? Say “thank you.” The conflict at work that keeps you up at night? Say “thank you.” Could you even say “thank you” for a marriage on the rocks? For losing your job? For a cancer diagnosis? James would say so: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:2-4).

Say “thank you” to others regularly. Write thank you cards. Speak words of affirmation. Making saying “thank you” a regular practice. As you practice saying thanking those around you, you will find yourself regularly on the hunt for grace in the lives of others. Not only that, but you will teach others to say “thank you” when they may never have thought to do so.

Keep a running “thank you” list and review it regularly. This is one of the easiest ways to train yourself to hunt for grace: every morning (or evening), write down at least one thing you’re grateful for. At family meals, rehearse aloud even the smallest graces of God—warm food, shelter, sleep, chocolate, good music, friends. Finding things to be grateful for in the mundane is the training ground for grateful disciples.

GRATEFUL FOR GOD’S GRACE

Gratitude is a recognition and affirmation of the grace of God. There can be no spiritual maturity without thankfulness.

As you pursue a life of discipleship, practice saying thank you in the mundane things, in the difficult things, and even in the unexpected situations. The Thanksgiving holiday is a great time to start.

May you find yourself—even when despair seems right—inadvertently and unconsciously “giving thanks in all circumstances” to a God who is constantly pouring his grace out on you.

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Mike Phay serves as Lead Pastor at FBC Prineville (Oregon) and as a Staff Writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He has been married to Keri for over 21 years, and they have five amazing kids. You can follow him on Twitter (@mikephay) or check out his blog.

Loving and Living in Kairos Time

One of the most significant inventions in human history is something you’ve probably never heard of. It hasn’t received much press, even though it helped fundamentally define the way we now live. It’s called the escapement. First used in the 13th century, the escapement is the piece in the machinery of a clock that allows it to measure time in equally divided increments. It regulates the descent of weights or the unwinding of a compressed spring in a measured fashion, creating the distinctive “tick-tock” of the clock that so infamously vexed Captain Hook.

Take a moment and seriously consider what life would be like without clocks. How would you measure time? How would you know when to show up for an appointment? Or when the football game will be on TV? How would you know what time to take a lunch break—or when you need to come back?

Precisely measured time is such an ingrained part of our experience it is nearly impossible to imagine life without it. Even as I write this, I’m aware of the current time, my next appointment, and the looming deadline to turn in this article.

Prior to the escapement, time was understood more like a flowing river than a ticking clock. The sun, moon, and stars—mysterious heavenly bodies that lay beyond human control—were the base tools for measuring time in large units such as days, months, and years. Even so, time was elastic, as changing seasons ushered in longer or shorter days.

The invention of the escapement marked a radical paradigm shift from an elastic, rhythmic, flowing concept of time to a precisely measured, evenly divided, universal understanding of time. As historian Daniel Boorstin writes, “There are few greater revolutions in human experience than this movement from the seasonal or ‘temporary’ hour to the equal hour” (from his book The Discoverers, published in 1983).

All that to say, we have a complex relationship with time. But it doesn't have to be so complicated.

TOO BUSY MARKING TIME

The Greek term for this kind of measured time is chronos, from which we get the word chronological. We function largely in chronos time—making and keeping appointments, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, and trying to fit as much as possible into the limited time we have. Type-A personalities are known for taking control of their time, not allowing one second to be wasted. “Time is money,” we are told, because “time and tide wait for no man.”

As helpful as the escapement was, giving us a sense of dominance over an uncontrollable part of life, it came with its own requirements. As Boorstin writes, man “accomplished this mastery by putting himself under the dominion of a machine with imperious demand all its own.”

In the area of relationships, when we function primarily in chronos time, people either fit into our schedules or they don’t. Our relationships are controlled by a scarcity of minutes and hours. To give our attention, time, or energy to another person is to sacrifice a limited commodity.

So we must decide, with every interaction, if the person before us—the one vying for “a unit” of our day—is going to be a drain to an already limited asset or a worthy investment of our time. We play a game of give-and-take based on what we can get from them in the time allotted. People become objects, defined by space and time, and their fundamental nature as persons who bear the image of God is devalued.

WELCOMING DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

However, there is another way—one more ancient and biblical—to view time. The Greek term that defines this understanding of time is kairos. Though a complex word, kairos can be understood to mean “a specific and decisive point” in time.

The idea of kairos time, in the Bible, carries with it an idea of divine appointment: that God is in control of time itself, and he has appointed times, seasons, and dates to fulfill his own purposes. Each moment is, therefore, pregnant with purpose above and beyond our own understanding.

Kairos time is purposeful, yet outside of our control. Our lives, therefore, are filled with a multitude of divine appointments, rather than a long line of annoying interruptions.

Scripture is full of divine kairos appointments. Take Philip, for example, who was on the frontline of a revival in Samaria (Acts 8:4-25), which included crowds paying attention to and responding to the gospel, exorcisms, and miraculous healings. People were being baptized and receiving the Holy Spirit right and left.

In the middle of this, “an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a desert place” (Acts 8:26). This is a kairos moment for Philip: a divinely appointed time for him to obey and respond to God’s leading, which he did: “And he rose and went” (Acts 8:27a).

STAYING IN THE MOMENT

For an angel to send Philip to the Gaza road seems a bit like benching a player who’s batting a thousand. Or ending a career right at its apex. “God is doing some amazing work through you … therefore, leave right away, go out to the middle of the desert, and hang out in the wilderness.”

Do you feel like you’ve been taken out of your sweet spot in life, and relegated to the side of a desert road? Perhaps life has been interrupted with a cancer diagnosis, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or a family member struggling with addiction.

It’s easy to get distracted by the wilderness and miss God’s hand in the midst of it. We get overwhelmed with the geography (the desert) and miss the moment (the kairos). What God calls us all to do is be attentive to how he wants to use us right where he has us, even if it’s a place we never would choose. Sometimes the time is more important than the place.

Will you respond to the perfect moment—for every moment is his—like Philip did? For Philip, obedience to God landed him in a chariot with a foreigner and religious outcast. For this man, Philip’s response to this kairos moment was the necessary piece of the puzzle that connected him with Jesus (Acts 8:27-40).

God is at work in every situation. So many times I’ve spoken to friends who have recognized and obediently acted on the divine appointments which came while sitting in a chemotherapy chair, speaking gospel truth and comforting other patients. Could God use something as bad as cancer to put you in the place where he wants to use you?

LOVING AND LIVING IN KAIROS TIME

When we live in the freedom of kairos time, people are no longer seen as time-sucking drains. We are no longer forced to view others as assets or liabilities, worthy or unworthy investments. Because people are not things, they cannot be reduced with such a myopic view.

Loving people in kairos time means no longer seeing time as a scarce asset under our control, but a gift to be generously distributed. It means viewing every person as worthy of our time, because not only are they created in God’s image, they are placed before us by a God who loves them and wants to love them through us.

Because of this, there are no interruptions. Only divine appointments.

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Mike Phay serves as Lead Pastor at FBC Prineville (Oregon) and as a Staff Writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He has been married to Keri for over 21 years, and they have five amazing kids. You can follow him on Twitter (@mikephay) or check out his blog.

Waking Up on the Emmaus Road

I remember how dark it looked inside. It was mid-morning. The sun was hot in the sky, and my skin felt it, but the tomb looked cold, robbed of its purpose. As my eyes adjusted, I saw the linens. And that was it. Nothing else. Were the women lying? I wasn't sure. I pursued truth for so many years—that's why I followed him—but now my heart felt as empty as the rock-cut tomb. He wasn’t here, that much was true. Where could he be?

I turned and walked away. No goodbyes. No farewells. Nothing but the turn of the heel and the open road. I somehow missed the joy the other women felt. Would I ever feel it? Not today, I thought. Maybe never. But perhaps soon? One can never be sure when it will come. Joy isn't ours to beckon; it's ours to receive.

I followed my husband. He kept replaying the events of the past few days. I wished he would stop talking about it. It wasn't helping me feel better, and it wasn't answering any of the questions I asked myself.

As we walked, I felt caught in a dream. It was a nightmare, and there was no one across the room to wake me from the dread. It was only he and I, walking.

In this nightmare, I could see hope. It had become a man. He wasn't transparent, but he wasn't solid, either. He was what you’d expect hope to be—able to be touched, yet somehow out of reach.

He was standing above, pouring something down on me. I couldn't feel it, and that made it a nightmare. I knew it must be something good, something to take the bad away. But I couldn't feel it no matter how hard I tried.

So I jumped as if jumping into the downpour would push me through it to the depths, like jumping into the sea. I wanted to drown myself in whatever it was, but I couldn't get to it. The pain of not feeling it was unbearable.

As I stood beneath the untouchable rain, I saw my husband in a worse position. The downpour wasn't flowing his way. I reached for his hand to bring him into the waterfall, but couldn't find it. So I gave up and turned my face to the dust swirling around my feet. The staleness of the world dried up the beauty of the rain.

Shaking myself awake, I heard a man’s voice. As he approached, he asked what we were discussing. Discussing was a strong word. Had I said anything yet?

I didn't see where he came from but supposed it to be our direction. My husband spoke first. I was grateful. My voice was hard in my throat, that feeling when you want to cry, need to cry, but try to resist. Nothing can go out, because as soon as the stone rolls away everything else inside will follow. And what’s inside on days like this can't be good.

My husband seemed to rebuke the man. I was surprised at his tone. But, then again, everything seemed surprising now.

“Are you the only one who hasn't heard of these things?”

The man pleaded ignorance: “What things?”

I drifted in and out of those first few sentences, and my nightmare returned. But this time it felt different. It wasn't really a nightmare. Something else was happening, though I couldn't recognize what.

The dust I saw before was lapping up the rain and becoming something fresh, something new. The words of the Psalmist rose to my mind from nowhere. “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.” Something was changing.

I awoke again, still on the road. How much time had passed? My husband was still rehearsing the days’ events.

“What things? I can't believe it! The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.  

Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

The stranger’s disposition changed. He wasn't curious anymore. He looked at my husband, then at me, then back to my husband.

With pity in his voice, he said, “My dear Cleopas, how could you be so foolish and slow to believe the prophets? Were not all these things necessary? Was it not the plan of God? Did the Christ need not suffer these things and enter into his glory? Surely you do not fail to understand!”

We were stopped now. When did that happen? I felt something begin to rest, but it wasn't relief from walking. Something deep inside slowed to rest, like laying down after a hard day’s work.

The stranger continued talking, taking up each Scripture in turn, explaining things I never considered. I could see my husband was confused. He was trying, but something seemed out of reach. I realized my nightmare was his nightmare too. Something was pouring down, but he couldn’t feel it. Not yet, anyway. I could tell he wanted to, just as I did. But there was a veil.

We began walking again. And we came to the edge of town. It was getting dark. The stranger wanted to travel on, but neither I nor my husband could bear for him to go. We pleaded with him to stay, and when he agreed, found a friendly house and entered. Food was prepared and brought. We sat down to eat.

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

His story began there. I remembered the way my heart ached before he came and that ache returned with a fury burning inside my breast. The untouchable rain was pouring now, but this time not in a dream. I could feel something bursting out of me. Or was it bursting out of him into me? I couldn’t tell. It felt so foreign yet so familiar. I wanted to hear more, even if the pain would only increase. There was something fresh in the story he told, as if it was all new, though I had heard the words before.

The meal was before us, and the stranger took the bread. I fixed my eyes on him now. I had seen him before. Why didn't I notice until now?

He took the bread, blessed it and broke it, gave it to us and we ate. Then our eyes were opened, and we knew He was in our presence—or were we in His?

I thought of the nightmare one final time and realized I was awake for the first time. The rain came, the harvest arrived, and it was of eternal abundance. I stepped inside and felt it. Hope.

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David McLemore is an elder at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He also works for a large healthcare corporation where he manages an application development department. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons. Read more of David’s writing on his blog, Things of the Sort.

8 Things to Remember When Teaching Kids Theology

Theology, done well, must inevitably result in doxology, and we shouldn’t be satisfied with less just because we’re teaching children. As they grow in theological understanding, we should pray that the children around us are an example of what it means to thank, praise, and worship of the living God. Here are eight things to remember when teaching kids theology.

1. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS TEACHING SCRIPTURE

The charge to raise children in the knowledge and love of God is clearly given in the Bible (Deut. 6:6-7; Ps. 78:1-8), and teaching theology is one of the ways to fulfill that charge. The most pressing concern for those entrusted with the discipleship of children should be the faithful communication and application of God’s Word. The discipline of theology is simply the systematic correlation of biblical truths about God and all other things in relation to him. If children are learning these truths from infancy, it is able to make them wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). So teaching kids theology always means teaching them the Bible.

2. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS HELPS THEM READ THE BIBLE BETTER

When children read the Bible, they bring their thought systems, assumptions, presuppositions, and proclivities to the text; they read Scripture through the lens of whatever theology they’ve imbibed. By teaching kids theology, we are making those things explicit, subjecting them to scrutiny, and making sure that the system they bring to any biblical passage is biblically informed. Knowing theology helps kids read their Bibles better.

3. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS A LIFE-ORIENTING GIFT

From the moment children are born, they are seeking to make sense of the world around them. As they develop, they begin to create a matrix of meaning related to life, which eventually forms a framework through which they interact with and assess every experience. By teaching children theology from a young age, we nurture the formation of a biblical worldview and guide them towards living a life orientated to God and motivated by his salvific mission in the world.

4. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS REQUIRES HARD WORK AND DETERMINATION

There’s no doubt that it can be hard to teach theology well to children. The greatest resistance to teaching theology to children arises because the children complain that they find it dull and boring. This complaint relates entirely to the methodology used to teach the children rather than to the content–we must never lead children to believe that ‘the glorious deeds of the Lord’ are boring because of bad teaching.

Significant effort must be given to teaching theology in a way that makes it accessible and interesting to all children. It takes hard work and determination to communicate abstract biblical truths in a concrete way, but it can be done. It takes thoughtfulness and creativity to illustrate theological points in a way children will understand, but it can be done. The theology we teach arises out of the drama of the biblical narrative, which means that our theology is not just abstract formulations but is rather inseparable from the concrete story of God’s ways in the world.

5. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS MEANS THAT APPLICATION IS IMPORTANT

Children are always asking the question ‘so what?’ What does this mean for me, my life, or my family? The ‘so what’ factor is an important one to remember when teaching children theology. They long to know what difference all that they’ve learned makes to their lives, and so all theology must be applied well in order for children to assimilate biblical truth it into their worldview.

We want children to have a robust, functional theology, rather than an academic, heady theology. This requires some understanding of the lives of the children entrusted to the care of the family and church. Take time to learn their joys and their sorrows, their peers and their parents, their play and their rest. Figure out what they are listening to and what is informing their understanding, and consider how theology interacts with or challenges those voices. We must be able to answer the ‘so what’ question every time we teach theology to children.

6. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS HELPS THEM STAND FIRM IN LIFE

Children today are surrounded by a myriad of belief systems, and as they encounter and engage with these systems they often sadly incorporate unbiblical beliefs into their worldview. One of the ways to enable children to stand firm is to ground them in a rich theological understanding of the Christian faith. Paul longs to prevent people from being tossed to and fro by “every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14). By raising children to be theologically robust, we are ensuring their future stability and are protecting them from being tossed about by false doctrines. We are also instilling in them a great confidence in the Christian faith, which will allow them to stand firm in the midst of a complex and confusing world.

7. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS FORMATIVE FOR THEIR CHARACTER AND FOUNDATIONAL FOR THEIR ACTIONS

Teaching kids theology from the earliest age shapes their character and will as they discover the nature of God and seek to develop godly characteristics. By understanding God’s purposes for his world, his method, and his mission, the will is orientated to serving God and living for his glory. As well as informing the character development of children, theology also informs how they live in the world. How kids live should directly correlate to what they believe, and so theology becomes foundational for their actions as well.

8. TEACHING THEOLOGY TO KIDS IS ABOUT THE HEART AS WELL AS THE HEAD

There is a danger that teaching kids theology can lead to an abundance of head knowledge related to Christian things but result in little heart change. Of course, it is always right to instruct children in the things of God, because by not doing so we allow them to be informed by something other than Scripture. However, we must strive to allow theology to warm and thrill children's hearts as well as inform their minds.

WIN A FREE COPY OF THE NEW CITY CATECHISM CURRICULUM

Our friends at Crossway are offering two giveaway copies of The New City Catechism Curriculum! The New City Catechism Curriculum expands the questions and answers of The New City Catechism into fifty-two engaging and informative lessons, helping children ages 8–11 better understand the truth of God’s Word and how it connects to their lives.

The giveaway opens on July 19 at 10:00 p.m. EST closes Sunday, July 22 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners will be contacted via email by Saturday, July 28, 2018. Enter below for your chance to win.

[GIVEAWAY] The New City Catechism Curriculum Kit

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This post is by Melanie Lacy, editor of The New City Catechism Curriculum. The following article first appeared on Crossway.org; used with permission.

Melanie Lacy (@lacymel) is the executive director of Growing Young Disciples and the director of theology for children's and youth ministry training at Oak Hill College, London.

The Difference Between Selfish and Holy Ambition

We live in a me-first culture. We want to be the best. Our flesh is hungry to worship itself, and that appetite is satisfied through a hardy diet of selfish ambition. So we form our identity through our accomplishments. We work hard in our careers, our education, our lifestyles—and even our churches—to guarantee success.

Ambition is the desire for success. It requires determination and effort. Ambition drives our work ethic.

The desire to see something succeed is good, but sin taints our desires. Instead of desiring God’s success, we strive for our own. We want our names to be great. We want our works to be famous. We’re willing to settle for our name in lights when we could be offering The Light to others.

Selfish ambition is not new to our culture. Five hundred years before Christ, God sent the prophet Haggai to speak to his people about their sinful ambition. They were consumed with building lavish houses but were indifferent to God’s house lying in ruins after it was ransacked by the Babylonians.

We would be wise to heed Haggai’s message today. God wants his people to have a holy ambition. But how do we make sure our ambitions are holy and not selfish? In the words of Haggai, we must consider our ways.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND REPENT

You don’t really have to try hard to have selfish ambitions. Our flesh naturally seeks its own glory. However, God’s Word makes no allowances for seeking our own glory. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition.” Selfish gain is antithetical to the gospel. This biblical command is clear and absolute: do nothing. There are no allowances for when we can pursue something out of selfish ambition. None.

It's easy to deceive ourselves into thinking we’re living for God’s glory until our glory is threatened. We labor to build our own kingdoms at the expense of his. God spoke through Haggai to accuse the people of doing just that. He wanted his people to rebuild his temple. His complaint was that his house lay in ruins while they busied themselves with their own houses (Hag. 1:9).

How did the people respond? In repentance. They turned from their sin and both obeyed and feared the Lord (Hag. 1:12). This is our proper response today. We must repent when God confronts our own pursuits of glory. Immediately laying down our selfish ambition for godlier aspirations.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND PRAY

God performed a work of spectacular grace for the former exiles in Haggai’s day. “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (Hag. 1:14).

God stirred the hearts of his people to obey his command to rebuild the temple. We serve the heart-stirring God. Are you concerned that you can’t obey, can’t repent, or can’t have a holy ambition? The best advice I could extend to you is simply to know your God. He turns the hearts of kings (Ezra 6:22). He will stir your heart. Ask him.

God uses prayer as a means to stir our affections. We must pray and ask our father to perform in our hearts what we cannot do on our own. We must pray for a holy ambition. We ask him to stir our hearts towards him, his kingdom, and his glory. In asking him to do so, we shift our attention from ourselves, our castles in the sand, and our own glory. He did it in Haggai’s day. May he work the same miracle in our hearts.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND WORK

Though God stirred the hearts of the people to pray, they were by no means passive. The people had work to do. God commanded them through Haggai, “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified” (Hag. 1:8). God provided tasks for the people to accomplish and for him to be glorified through. God is motivated by his glory, and he wants his people to be, too. In order to see his glory revealed in all the earth, we must have a holy ambition.

God doesn’t give the people a job to do and then leave them to do it alone. Haggai spoke these encouraging words to them, “Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts” (Hag. 2:4). Our God is Immanuel. He is with us just like he was with the Israelites. He is with us when we work.

God’s presence no longer demands a physical temple. We, the church, are his temple (1 Cor. 3:16-17). We have kingdom-building work to do, as well. Ephesians 4:12 teaches that we are equipped for building up the body of Christ. We build. God provides the gifts. We walk in them. We strive forward. God gets the glory. We do the work, confident in his abilities and in his presence.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS AND BE BLESSED

The people in Haggai’s day were not perfect. And yet, God was determined to bless them. In grace, God confronted them with their sin. In mercy, he forgave them. In power, he stirred up their hearts to obey his command and rebuild his temple. In love, he assured them of his presence. And he promised to bless them (Hag. 2:19).

Receive the blessing of your God. Receive his gifts of mercy, grace, power, and love. Receive the gift of his assured presence in your own work. His word promises that the doers of his word will be blessed in their doing (Jas. 1:25).

Have a holy ambition to be doers of the word (Jas. 1:22). God is about his own glory. So if we are ambitious to do his work, he will glorify himself by doing his word. Work hard for others to see the glory of the Lord. Desire God’s church to be successful, and be blessed as you labor alongside his people with him. Be blessed in your holy ambition.

CHURCH, CONSIDER YOUR WAYS

The book of Haggai is only two chapters, but he pleaded with the Israelites to consider their ways several times. He wanted them to think about what they were doing. He wanted them to consider how their actions of building their own kingdoms—while neglecting the Lord’s—impacted their relationship with their covenant God.

Perhaps, the word to the Israelites is also a word to us: consider your ways. Are you busying yourself with your own success? Do you desire God’s kingdom to advance on earth? Is your ambition primarily selfish or holy? Consider your ways.

God desires his people to join him in building his kingdom. We easily get distracted by building our own. Don’t waste your ambition. Repent of your selfishness. Pray for God to transform your ambition. Work hard with your God to see his kingdom advance. Be blessed in the work. This is how we recover a holy ambition.

We are by nature glory seekers. But whose glory are we seeking? I humbly propose that we aim our success at the fame of God’s name on the earth; that we be a people not committed to our own success, but the success of our great God’s renown being known and treasured across the planet. He transforms our ambitions for his glory and for the good of his church.

Are we—like the Israelites—preoccupied with our own selfish prerogatives or are we engaging in the rebuilding of his temple by building up the church? May we leverage all our careers, our gifts, our goals, our dreams, and our very lives for his glory. May we be a people with a holy ambition.

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Christy Britton is a wife and homeschool mom of four biological sons. She is an orphan advocate for 127 Worldwide. She and her husband are covenant members at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC. She loves reading, discipleship, Cajun food, spending time in Africa, hospitality, and LSU football. She writes for several blogs, including her own, www.beneedywell.com.

A World Made Beautiful

It was only mid-June but already the grass crunched under my feet like potato chips. We were just at the beginning of the great drought of 1988–89 in the US, one of America’s worst. The ugliness of the earth was matched by the ugliness of my dead-end, drug-infested street. We were also at the height of the crack-cocaine epidemic in Detroit, and my community was as scorched by violence and drugs as the extra crunchy grass and trees in my front yard. My world was far from beautiful. The burned-out houses on our block were constantly accessorized by drug addicts and drunks. The stink of toxic fumes from the nearby waste disposal plant hung in the dense, hot air along with the rattling speakers of rap music blaring from cars passing by. Beauty was far from my mind. People living in places like mine are far more concerned about things like food, safety, and shelter. Death was a way of life.

I had just graduated high school and my graduating class was missing several who were a part of the twenty-one homicides in my immediate neighborhood. Death from gunshot, death from drugs, death from disease, and death from suicide—beauty was nowhere to be found. That is why I was caught off guard by my mother’s request. “York,” she hollered authoritatively, “you are going to have to take care of the hedges in the front yard this summer.” We had lived in the house for three years, and I had never even taken notice of the bushes in the front yard. My mother was recovering from surgery, so I was tasked with caring for the bushes. This small task in a place of death and ugliness, however, was one of the first ways I began to suspect that there was something more, a story about everything.

Surprisingly, caring for these bushes also launched a lifelong love for natural beauty, which I’ve cultivated into a talent for landscaping and gardening. This has become a core part of who I am today, but at the time I don’t think I had ever stopped to take note of a tree, a bush, or a flower in all my life.

A row of seven bushes about five feet tall separated our house from the invading urban squalor. For some reason, this hedge did more than separate our house from the neighbors; it seemed to actually do something. It kept ugliness from creeping over onto our property. When I began to take care of the bushes, I wouldn’t have called them beautiful. They too were crispy from the drought and filled with weeds. I began by weeding, trimming, and excessively watering. I then covered the ground around them with stones, which I later learned would help with erosion and water retention. I began to take small joy in seeing new shoots and leaves, watching the bushes become vibrant under my care. My teen friends laughed at me as I spent hours each week nurturing bushes for my mom. It didn’t take long before this raggedy row became lush and green and strikingly full of life against a backdrop of ugly sounds, sights, and smells. My friends laughed a little less over the summer as they saw how my care made a small difference in making something green in one of the worst droughts in American history.

Though our house was ugly and the surrounding area was terribly ugly, this simple, beautiful row of vibrant bushes stood as a barrier, a marker against the drug addicts, drug pushers, trash dumpers, homeless, sleepy drunks, and others. Our house had a modicum of respect because there was something living there, something green, something beautiful.

What Beauty Is and What Beauty Does

Beauty is an elusive term, one often thought to be merely subjective. Standards of beauty have changed from era to era, from peoples to peoples. An element of personal taste goes into labeling something beautiful, but there is also a fixed element. An oversimplified, standard definition of beauty is: the right proportion and alignment of attributes in something or someone that brings deep emotional and/or mental pleasure to the beholder. Sounds pretty sterile, doesn’t it?

When we are in the presence of beauty, our experience of it is far from sterile; it is transcendent. Google the term and you will get some combination of the elements of this sterile definition. But something is missing in this basic definition. Beauty is much more than a proper alignment of attributes. It goes beyond providing mere mental and emotional pleasure. Beauty actually does something. Beauty is functional. Because of this, beauty is the font that God uses to write the story of everything. God’s beauty actually accomplishes something, as I learned during a time of ugliness and drought with those green bushes. The beauty of the bushes didn’t just look good; their beauty offered a tangible protection against the ugliness surrounding us.

Part of the reason a concrete definition of beauty is hard to articulate is that beauty is one of those firefly ideas—it belongs to another realm. You know that you are in the presence of beauty, even in a basic simple expression like my bushes, by what beauty accomplishes both in us and in the world around us. Beauty can captivate us at a soul level. Beauty ushers in a “holy hush” most commonly experienced as eerie silence. Beauty is most striking when it stands against the backdrop of the ordinary and ugly. My simple row of bushes would never have stood out as beautiful if it weren’t for the drought-ravaged lawn on which it stood. A normal, ordinary day became a magical wonder of beauty at dusk in that field of fireflies in part because of the ugliness of the home, dilapidated barn, and field of mud and corn.

We see this all the time. A sudden change in weather patterns can create an elemental display of natural beauty in a snowstorm, fog rolling across a still lake, or a thunderstorm flashing with bright light. Watch a person stare into a sunset, lose themselves as snow swirls about them, or forget the world around them as they gaze into a fireplace. Beauty beckons us into a half-conscious state where we are joyfully unconcerned with concern.

Think about when you have experienced something beautiful. How did it make you feel? Think about when you created something beautiful, perhaps a piece of art or a row of flowers or a table full of food. Whether we are experiencing or creating beauty, it beckons us. It calls to us. Open Instagram and scroll through the newsfeed of your friends. Do you find yourself a little lost on the more artistic shots, the shots of snow on mountain peaks, the shots of the beautiful smiles of your friends’ children? Part of what makes our consumption of social media so addictive is not just the people in our feed but how they are often immersed in a vibrant world and radiating life. Social media for most people is not just about friendship; it is about the beauty of the world and the beauty of people. My phone has become for me a window into other worlds, often as powerful and inescapable as a fire in the fireplace or watching the sun dip low into Lake Michigan.

Regardless of whether we find beauty in the palm of our hand or in the natural world around us, we are subject to its power because of where beauty comes from. Beauty is a sneak peek through a portal into another time and place. It’s an artifact of another world. Certainly, fireflies dancing against the backdrop of a summer meadow at dusk is a beautiful sight, but watch the people watching it and you’ll see the power of beauty. Beauty enraptures us, holds us spellbound, and causes a reverent hush. But beauty does more than this. Beauty elicits within us a set of transcendent reactions. The word transcendent means that which is beyond our physical, visible experience. Transcendent reactions to beauty include hope, joy, longing, passion, and love. Beauty expands the interior of our hearts and minds and allows us to experience transcendence. Beauty actually accomplishes something. It opens a door within our souls to experience God’s story of everything.

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Taken from Do Something Beautiful: The Story of Everything and How to Find Your Place in It by R. York Moore (©2018). Published by Moody Publishers. Used by permission.

R. YORK MOORE is a speaker, revivalist, and abolitionist. He serves as National Evangelist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA. York became a Christian from atheism while studying philosophy at the University of Michigan. He also has an MA in Global Leadership from Fuller Seminary. York is the author of several books and he lives in the Detroit area with his wife and three kids. For more information, visit www.tellthestory.net and follow him on social media channels @yorkmoore.

Want to Know God's Will for Your Life? Start With This Question

If you’ve ever said, “I just want to know God’s will for my life,” this book is for you. If you’ve ever gazed at the trajectory of your life and wondered if you were headed down the right path or off a cliff, keep reading. By the time you finish these pages, I hope you will never have to question what God’s will is for you again. Or, at least, not the way you may have asked it in the past.

It’s a uniquely Christian musing, this question of God’s will. Those who have never called on the name of Jesus Christ are not the least concerned with discovering its answer. It reveals a believer’s awareness that, to be a follower of Christ, not every option is open to me: whatever the way forward, it is not wide but narrow. God has a will for my life, and based on my unsuccessful history of trying to follow the way that seems right unto man, I had better do my best to discern what that will is.

THE PROBLEM WITH ALWAYS WANTING TO KNOW GOD'S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE

But that discernment piece is tricky. When we reflect on what our lives were like apart from Christ, we tend to focus on the poor decisions we made and their ensuing consequences. How we spent our time, our money, and our efforts plays before us like a blooper reel, but instead of making us laugh it forces us to whisper, “Never again.” Before we believed, we did what felt right or what seemed rational to our darkened minds. But now we know our feelings deceive us and our self-serving logic betrays us. No worries, though. Now we have a direct line to God. We’ll just ask him what we should do.

Without meaning to, we can begin to regard our relationship with God primarily as a means toward better decision-making. We can slip into a conception of God as a cosmic Dear Abby, a benevolent advice columnist who fields our toughest questions about relationships and circumstances. Because we do not trust our judgment, we ask him who we should marry or which job we should take. We ask him where to spend our money or which neighborhood to move into. “What should I do next? Keep me away from the cliff, Lord. Keep me on the narrow path.”

These are not terrible kinds of questions to ask God. To some extent, they demonstrate a desire to answer the question “What is God’s will for my life?” They show a commendable desire to honor God in our daily doings. But they don’t get to the heart of what it means to follow God’s will for our lives. If we want our lives to align with God’s will, we will need to ask a better question than “What should I do?”

A BETTER QUESTION TO HELP YOU DISCOVER GOD'S WILL

We Christians tend to pool our concern around the decisions we face. If I pick A when I should have picked B, then all is lost. If I pick B, all will be well. But if Scripture teaches us anything, it is this: God is always more concerned with the decision-maker than he is with the decision itself. Take, for example, Simon Peter. When faced with decision A (deny Christ) or decision B (acknowledge him), Peter failed famously. But it is not his poor decision-making that defines him. Rather, it is the faithfulness of God to restore him. Peter’s story serves to remind us that, no matter the quality of our choices, all is never lost.

This makes sense when we pause to consider that no decision we could ever make could separate us from the love of God in Christ. God can use the outcome of any decision for his glory and for our good. That is reassuring. Peter was faced with two choices—one of which was clearly unwise. But often we must choose between two options that appear either equally wise or equally unwise. Often the answer to the question “What should I do?” could go either way.

Which brings us to the better question. For the believer wanting to know God’s will for her life, the first question to pose is not “What should I do?” but “Who should I be?”

Perhaps you’ve tried to use the Bible to answer the question “What should I do?” Facing a difficult decision, perhaps you’ve meditated for hours on a psalm or a story in the Gospels, asking God to show you how it speaks to your current dilemma. Perhaps you’ve known the frustration of hearing silence, or worse, of acting on a hunch or “leading” only to find later that you apparently had not heard the Lord’s will. I know that process better than I’d like to admit, and I also know the shame that accompanies it—the sense that I’m tone-deaf to the Holy Spirit, that I’m terrible at discovering God’s will.

But God does not hide his will from his children. As an earthly parent, I do not tell my kids, “There is a way to please me. Let’s see if you can figure out what it is.” If I do not conceal my will from my earthly children, how much more our heavenly Father? His will does not need discovering. It is in plain sight. To see it we need to start asking the question that deals with his primary concern. We need to ask, “Who should I be?”

THE ORDER MATTERS

Of course, the questions “What should I do?” and “Who should I be?” are not unrelated. But the order in which we ask them matters. If we focus on our actions without addressing our hearts, we may end up merely as better behaved lovers of self.

Think about it. What good is it for me to choose the right job if I’m still consumed with selfishness? What good is it for me to choose the right home or spouse if I’m still eaten up with covetousness? What does it profit me to make the right choice if I’m still the wrong person? A lost person can make “good choices.” But only a person indwelt by the Holy Spirit can make a good choice for the purpose of glorifying God.

The hope of the gospel in our sanctification is not simply that we would make better choices, but that we would become better people. This is the hope that caused John Newton to pen, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” It is what inspires the apostle Paul to speak of believers “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). The gospel teaches us that the grace that is ours through Christ is, by the work of the Spirit, transforming us increasingly into someone better.

But not just anyone better. The gospel begins transforming us into who we should have been. It re-images us. Want to know what it should have been like to be human? Look to the only human who never sinned.

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Content taken from In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character by Jen Wilkin, ©2018. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org.

Jen Wilkin is a speaker, writer, and teacher of women’s Bible studies. During her seventeen years of teaching, she has organized and led studies for women in home, church, and parachurch contexts. Jen and her family are members of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas.

10 Reasons Your Anger Isn’t Righteous

A frenzied young rabbi runs helter-skelter through holiday crowds. He upends tables, scatters gold and silver, and sends animals and humans fleeing in every direction. Those with sense run for the exits, not eager to find themselves on the business end of this mad Galilean’s handmade whip (see John 2:15). Others, with more greed than sense, dive after loose coins and lost profits.

This episode must have made an impression on Jesus’ disciples, as it’s one of the few stories that made its way into all four Gospels. It is hands down, the wildest depiction of Jesus we have. Rather than “gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” we’re presented with “angry Jesus, zealous and wild.” Here is a shockingly aggressive, courageous, passionate, intense Messiah. Paint his face blue and give him a Scottish accent, and any one of us might be inspired to follow him into battle.

This is angry Jesus.

And if Jesus can get angry, can I?

If we’re honest, this whip-brandishing Jesus is the same Jesus we too easily invoke to justify our own anger. If there is such a thing as righteous indignation, most of our anger probably is justified, right? And if the Bible tells us to “be angry and do not sin” (Eph. 4:26, emphasis added) then maybe we’ve got a green light for our rage.

But the Scriptures don’t give us leeway for such faulty logic. Consider, for example, the words of James: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (Jas. 1:19-20).

James is speaking not of righteous anger, but the more common “anger of man,” which is directed by human passions and desires (see Jas. 4:1-3).

Most of the anger we justify as “righteous”—the flare-ups and frustrations caused by petty annoyances or personal affronts—isn’t righteous at all. Here are ten reasons why.

1. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT DOESN'T PRODUCE RIGHTEOUSNESS

“The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (Jas. 1:20).

If human anger was a machine, no raw material fed into the front end could create an output of righteousness. No amount of tinkering, adjustment, or redesign would produce goodness. It’s simply not the right kind of machine. Has your anger ever resulted in good things in your life?

2. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU

Human anger may claim to be all about righteousness when, in reality, it’s all about self. We reason something along these lines: Someone has sinned against me, and sin displeases God. I care about God’s feelings and am commanded to imitate him. Therefore, my displeasure at this sin—really, my anger at this person—is justified.

This logic, natural as it seems, ultimately aims at preserving self rather than upholding God’s glory. Sin displeases God primarily because it’s an affront to his glory, yet I’m angry because someone has sinned against me. Sadly, I use God’s glory to justify my own anger.

The common denominator of human anger is self-preservation. This is what it’s for, thereby setting it against any threat to the self. Righteous anger, on the other hand, postures itself for the preservation of God’s honor, and against any threats to it (including sin). The common denominator of righteous anger is the preservation of God’s honor.

Twenty years of pastoral work has, at times, given me a front-row seat to the furious self-preservation that arises when a person’s idols are threatened. The most common idol is the human ego. Thankfully, Christ frees us from our natural human tendency to protect ourselves:

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

Because we belong to him, we are freed from the burden of self-preservation.

3. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT FEEDS OFF ENMITY

Jesus said it most clearly: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:43-44).

We often use “justified anger” to keep enemies in their proper place as enemies, and in the process fail to keep the love command. Jesus provides a relational reason for this most difficult of commands: “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:45a).

Children naturally tend to act like their parents, embodying family traits and living out family values. Our Father sets the family standard by loving those who hate him and transforming enemies into family members. As the ultimate peacemaker, he calls his children to imitate him: “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus says. Why? “For they shall be sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

The Apostle Paul directs believers to “live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18), a mode of life that will naturally shrink one’s circle of enemies. But when anger is given space to feed off enmity, it subverts peacemaking, stifles reconciliation, and kindles conflict.

4. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT CULTIVATES A CROP OF BITTERNESS

“Strive for peace with everyone … See to it that … no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Heb. 12:14,15).

The relational crop produced by anger includes bitterness, among other things. Righteous relational stewardship, on the other hand, severs anger at its roots, prevents bitterness, and nurtures peace.

5. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT TAKES JUSTICE INTO YOUR OWN HANDS

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay’ ” (Rom. 12:19).

Human anger keeps records of offenses and takes responsibility for revenge. When an offense is mainly against me (rather than God), then I suppose justice lies within my power. I become the judge, putting myself in God’s place, and arrogantly take justice into my own hands.

Human anger is a brand of unbelief—a failure to trust God to bring the justice he has promised. Faith, on the other hand, exchanges anger for trust and leaves justice where it belongs: in God’s hands.

6. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT'S CONSUMING YOU 

“Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

Anger has an uncanny ability to overcome and control us, yet God would have us control it. Often our anger becomes all-consuming, dominating our emotions, our moods, our attitudes. It even affects our physical health, sleep, and productivity. Like a fire that rages out of control, anger running wild threatens to burn us up in the process.

7. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT'S BEEN GIVEN TIME TO FESTER

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26).

This verse does not clearly prohibit anger—it simply imposes a time limit. Paul recognizes the fallenness of human relationships, the daily temptation to anger, and the constant necessity of repentance. This is a call to reconciliation, not a blanket permission for unqualified rage during daylight hours.

And even if Paul does allow room for “righteous anger,” he protects us from its fermentation. Human nature can easily turn even righteous indignation into sin. Therefore, we must not hold on to it for one moment longer than is necessary.

8. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE THE DEVIL BENEFITS FROM IT

“And give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:27).

Anger—especially when cultivated, nurtured, and allowed to fester—is the devil’s playground. A murderer from the beginning, the devil loves anger and is keenly aware of its slippery slope. Unfettered anger plays into his hands, pays him homage, and furthers an agenda opposed to God.

9. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT'LL COME BACK TO BITE YOU 

“Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matt. 5:22).

Jesus calls attention to the eternal consequences of anger. Not only does it affect us and those around us in the present, but its effects could remain with us forever. When we heap burning coals on our own heads, we’re liable to carry the scars forever.

10. YOUR ANGER ISN'T RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE IT AVOIDS FORGIVENESS 

“But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15).

Human anger refuses to consider forgiveness as an option, but Jesus’ words are clear: forgiveness unextended implies forgiveness unaccepted. The ultimate moral ugliness in the New Testament is a refusal to forgive.

But forgiveness is difficult. As Tim Keller writes, “When you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly.”

We don’t want to pay that debt. We are often unwilling to take on that cost because it feels like a loss for us.

In Christ, we have access to a forgiveness that absorbs our debt. Whereas my anger is for me at everyone else’s expense, Christ’s love is for me at his own expense. In him, we encounter a love that is completely for us. The one who has every right to be angry with sinners chooses to absorb his own anger. In the mysterious beauty of Christ’s love, we are freed from the prison of our own anger and provided with the freedom and resources to forgive.

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Mike Phay serves as Lead Pastor at FBC Prineville (Oregon) and as a Staff Writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He has been married to Keri for over 20 years, and they have five amazing kids. You can follow him on Twitter (@mikephay) or check out his blog.

How the Resurrection Reshapes Success and Regret

The Discovery is a 2017 film about a scientist who makes a find so significant it drastically alters the world. He discovers brain waves continue to emit from the mind after a person is dead. What’s so significant about that? It’s scientific proof of an afterlife. Somehow, someway, the deceased’s brain continues to function after their heart has stopped.

People respond by committing suicide, millions of them, all around the world. Why? With definitive proof of an afterlife, they now have hope for a better life. They don’t have to linger in loneliness or struggle with cancer. All they have to do is pull the trigger, and they can be reunited with their loved ones.

If you had definitive proof of an afterlife, how would you respond? If you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you’d enter another life after you die, what would you do? Would you pull the trigger?

PULLING THE TRIGGER

St. Paul also made a powerful discovery that radically altered history. He encountered a person from the other side, the resurrected Christ, and came to believe that Jesus was not only raised from the dead, but all who hope in him will be raised to eternal life.

But his response was different. Instead of taking his life, he gave his life. Instead of leaping to find what’s on the other side, he transformed his life on this side. You could say he “pulled the trigger” on his old life, and his old life wasn’t too shabby.

He formerly went by Saul and, according to the standards of Judaism, Saul was no slacker. He was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5). In other words, he wasn’t a newbie in the faith; he was circumcised so early he was raised in the faith. And of all the ethnicities in the world, he was from the chosen people. And out of all of Israel, he was from a special tribe, the tribe that furnished Israel with their very first king. Saul had a great pedigree, but he had even more.

His zeal eclipsed many of his contemporaries, aligning him with some of Israel’s greats (Moses, Elijah, Phineas). An expert in the Law, Saul was esteemed by many. You might say he was the Steve Jobs of Judaism, with a passion for perfection to go with it. Saul arrested and persecuted Christians who perverted his Jewish faith. No one questioned his commitment, until his encounter with the risen Christ.

Then something switched, and his zeal ran toward Christ in a life of hopeful self-denial. He traveled unreliable roads and weathered seas throughout the Mediterranean to share the good news about Jesus, all while living off of his tent business and the support of friends. He wrote letters to struggling churches, and his writings eventually comprised half the New Testament. Along the way, he encountered misunderstanding, ridicule, rejection, prison, flogging, and even shipwreck. Yet he persisted. Why? The resurrection of Jesus had radically changed his notion of success.

REDISCOVERING SUCCESS

If you’ve been around successful people, you know how suddenly small and insignificant it can make you feel. A tiny voice pops into your head and starts interrogating you. What have you accomplished? What do you have to show? Why is that?

Sociologist Ernest Becker says it’s a response to death. Sensing our ephemeral nature, we create what he calls “immortality projects.” We might get a higher degree, establish a family, start a business, engage in philanthropy, or take a selfie, all in an attempt to avert death. We’re haunted by questions like, “What will people think about me after I die? What will they say at my funeral? Will anyone remember me?”

Becker says this undeniable impulse is an attempt to deny death. To construct a way for us to live on, long after we are gone. Paul comes along and puts a gun to his immortality project when he says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (Phil. 3:7–8). Resurrection fundamentally alters the meaning of success.

Paul looks back at all his accomplishments and describes them as loss—three times he uses the word. What would compel a person of his stature to throw shade on his success? Christ. Each time he mentions loss, he pairs it with a gain: loss for the sake of Christ, loss because of the surpassing worth of Christ, counting achievement as rubbish to gain Christ.

The word surpassing means “above the mark.” He’s saying when I stack my accomplishments next to Jesus, they can’t even see him. The risen Christ is so good he’s off the scale, valuable beyond measure. By comparison, my accomplishments are rubbish.

Instead, success is this: “knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection” (3:10). It’s knowing the one who holds all things together, the God who swallows death, the rider on the white horse who will judge the quick and the dead, the King of a renewed creation. Knowing him is the greatest discovery—ever. And when you’ve got the greatest thing, you can live without a lot of things.

GLORY IN REGRET

Eventually, the scientific crew working on the “the discovery” realizes the post-mortem brain signals are actually connected to episodes of a person’s past, not to an afterlife. When they convert the waves into images, they observe the episodes actually are moments of regret in a person’s life. Unknowingly, the suicides are waking up, not to a circle of loved ones but moments of intense regret. The central character gets stuck in a loop trying to prevent the suicide of a woman he loves.

Faith in Jesus, however, does not lead to an eternal loop of regret. Rather, to borrow a phrase from C. S. Lewis, it allows heaven to work backward. The meaning, love, joy, and goodness of heaven are transported back into the heart through union with Christ, which helps us weather things like loneliness and cancer.

Of course, our experience of heaven working backward is uneven. We are, after all, still on earth so to speak. And once we reach heaven, Lewis notes that even a past agony, and I’ll add even a regret, will turn into a glory. Why? Because that old pain will serve to intensify the present, everlasting comfort of Christ’s nail-scarred hands. Our regret will be faint, but a vivid reminder of the grand discovery—the remarkable mercy of Christ, who rose to forgive and renew all things.

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Jonathan K. Dodson (M.Div, Th.M) is the founding pastor of City Life Church in Austin, TX which he started with his wife, Robie, and a small group of people. They have three children. He is also the founder of GCDiscipleship.com and author of a number of books including Gospel-Centered Discipleship, and Here in Spirit: Knowing the Spirit who Creates, Sustains, and Transforms All Things (IVP, 2018).

How Do Christians Get Better?

“I’m not getting any better,” he muttered from across the room. We gave an understanding nod. “I’m trying—I really am—but sin keeps tripping me. I don’t know what else to do.”

Our high theology did nothing to calm his despair.

But our pastor was unburdened by the moment. He looked the man in the eye and said, “The primary aim of the Christian life is not to avoid sin but to follow Jesus.”

I didn’t expect this response. Then again, the gospel is always surprising.

THE DANGER OF SIN

Sin is everywhere. But sin is not only a danger outside, it’s a danger inside as well. Sin is a part of us, living in our hearts since birth. Sin is the disease we can’t cure, the ailment we can’t ease, the problem we can’t solve. Words of despair are the only rational response to sin in all its ugliness. We need someone who can fight for us.

In Numbers 21, the Israelites grew impatient with God as he led them to the Promised Land. They tired of the food and water God provided—the miraculous bread from heaven became a bore; the fish of Egypt tasted better. They spoke against God, blaming him for their plight as he led them into plenty.

God’s punishment was swift and strong: “The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6). Throughout the Bible, the serpent symbolizes Satan and his schemes. The venom was a painful reminder of their rebellion against God.

What were the Israelites to do?

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST ADVICE

What advice would you give those with venom in their veins? Some would say they only need to go to the doctor. Stand up and walk toward the healer. But how can a paralyzed person walk? Others may say they need to have enough faith to believe God will heal. But how can one who’s unbelief got them here make such a quick turnaround?

Most advice doesn’t account for our complete inability to fix ourselves. Fearing sin only takes us so far; it does nothing to keep us from sin altogether.

Too often, the despairing man or woman across the room receives a head-nod and a handful of suggestions. They’re told to cut the cord, smash their idols, maybe get outside more. Some say they’re too hard on themselves. After all, they can’t be as bad as other people. But none of this helps. In fact, it may grow our fears. How can we be sure we’re doing enough?

The bad news is our effort doesn’t overcome our sin. The good news is our effort doesn’t overcome our sin. Left to ourselves, we would fail. But left in Jesus’ hands, we receive his success.

Sin is overcome by Jesus’ grace applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We don’t need a list of suggestions any more than the dying Israelites needed to stand up and get moving. We need a rescue. We need a savior. Effort may give us a chance, but the gospel gives us far more—the gospel gives us Jesus.

LOOK TO JESUS!

As the snake-bitten Israelites lay dying in the desert, God commanded Moses to construct a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole. It’s an odd prescription, but God’s ways are not our ways. His response to sin is to present a savior to behold, not a list of rules to follow. It’s the looking and believing that makes the difference.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul says “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The Israelites in the desert looked at a statue of the thing killing them. At the cross, we too behold the image of the thing killing us—ourselves. Jesus became human. And on the cross, Jesus became sin. All the ugliness of our sin was there, clinging to the skin of Jesus, seeping into his body, infiltrating his perfect heart. The sin that paralyzed us paralyzed Jesus.

With his last breath, he proclaimed, “It is finished.” Death flooded in. Salvation was at hand. A centurion saw and said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39).

Those who beheld his crucified body went home despairing. How would they ever get better now, after the one they thought would save them had died? Then something remarkable happened. Three days later a stone rolled away, and Jesus walked out of the grave. The serpent’s bite was overcome!

THE GIFT OF SIGHT

Before Jesus died or rose, he had a conversation with a Pharisee seeking God named Nicodemus. He wanted to know the way to life. Jesus told him he must be born again. But that made no sense to Nicodemus. How can one be born when he is old?

There was a way, Jesus said, but only through himself: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

What snake-bitten sinners need is to look to the One who can save them.

How were the paralyzed Israelites saved in the desert so many years ago? It was not through their effort. It was not because of their good deeds. It was not even their amount of faith. It was beholding the serpent lifted up.

What you get depends on what you set your eyes on. Jesus was raised on the cross so our eyes would raise to him. He was raised from the grave so our eyes would continue to look to our living Savior.

Sin is scary. It should be. But Jesus has conquered it on our behalf. As Al Mohler has said, “Christianity isn’t about how Christian you feel, but how faithful Christ is.” With Jesus, what you see is what you get—a complete Savior for your complete need.

A friend of mine lost part of her eyesight last year due to an optic nerve injury. She has no hope of a complete recovery. But in her blindness, she sees the sharpness of Jesus. She recently told me, “I can’t see very well, and it’s not going to get better in this life. But, you know, I don’t think that when I stand before Jesus he will be blurry.”

If your life is blurred by sin and you’re not sure what to do, look to the One who’s making all things new, including you. The way to get better in the Christian life is by looking to Jesus rather than fearing sin.

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David McLemore is the Director of Teaching Ministries at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He also works for a large healthcare corporation where he manages an application development department. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons.

When You Can't See God Working

I love running, but can't stand treadmills. I can't get past the idea of putting in so much work, sweat, and tears without actually going anywhere. I need to distract myself from my inability to breathe, and staring at the same room doesn't do the trick. If the weather forces me to run inside, I usually get bored and cut my workout short.

Sometimes life feels the same way. With great effort, I'm accomplishing tasks and taking care of business, but can't shake nagging questions like, "Am I going anywhere? What is God doing in my life?"

Do you wonder if God is at work in your life? You feel like you're going through the motions, yet God's hand seems to have vanished.

SUBTLE SIGNS OF THE SOVEREIGN KING

Faith is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). Therefore, if we are walking by faith, we are trusting in a work of God we can’t always see. While we can't always see his hand at work, Scripture tells us the Almighty's providence is always in effect. One of the most vivid illustrations of this is in the book of Esther.

God's invisible, sovereign hand operates all throughout the book. Interestingly, Esther is one of two books in the Bible that doesn't explicitly mention God. Yet he is an inescapable reality woven through the details and ironies of the story. Instead of telling you that God is at work, the author simply shows you.

Esther begins with a seemingly irrelevant story about a queen who disobeys the king, then loses her crown. The king begins looking for a new queen, and Esther is one of many ladies up for the position. She happens to be a Jew (but the king doesn't know it), she happens to be beautiful, and she happens to win the favor of the king.

However, it doesn't take long for a threat to arise. It comes from the prideful villain, Haman.

Mordecai, who happens to be the new queen's cousin, is the source of Haman's wrath. While everyone else is bowing down to Haman, Mordecai refuses. Once Haman finds out Mordecai is a Jew, he manipulates the king, producing a decree that targets the Jews.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

It's at this point in the story that Mordecai tells Esther that she has become queen "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). What does he mean?

Mordecai displays faith in God's sovereignty and ability to keep his promises. He encourages Esther that perhaps all the events of her life have led her to this moment. What seemed like coincidence, chance, or just plain luck was actually the work of God's hand.

When it seemed like God wasn't doing much, he was actually very much at work. That's why Mordecai tells Esther that if she won't help the Jews, deliverance will come another way. He knows God is going to deliver his people; he's just waiting to see how.

THE INVISIBLE HAND OF GOD

How will God save his people? Maybe, as he did in Egypt, he'll send plagues and show the rulers that they should let God’s people go. We know from the Exodus account that God can work this way.

But one thing we learn from Esther is that God doesn’t always work so visibly. Sometimes he guides the course of history through seemingly ordinary circumstances and events.

He takes an orphan, Esther, and puts her in a position to save the people of God. As the Lord was working out his plan, Esther might not have realized what he was doing or that he was working at all.

Was God at work? Or was it simply a coincidence that Esther came to power right before the attempted annihilation of the Jews? Was it just good fortune that she happened to be a Jew and never told anyone? Maybe the stars aligned just right so she would find favor with the king, be allowed to present her request, and that he would then listen!

The author shows the absurdity of believing that all the details just happened to fall into place. Someone was guiding it. God was working out his plan to save his people by getting Esther in place "for such a time as this."

DON'T OVERLOOK THE ORDINARY

If we're not paying attention, we might miss it. Whether it's reading Esther or looking at our own lives, we might overlook the work of God simply because it's ordinary. While we're keeping our eyes open for something extraordinary, we miss the everyday movement of his invisible hand.

As we go through life, we're often stressed by the difficulties. We cry out for a miracle but, when we open our eyes, the burden is still there. The marriage is still hard, finances are a struggle, or there's still unease regarding a certain situation.

There's no grand miracle, no angel showing up in a bright light, no chariot that comes from the heavens and wipes away our enemies. Then we wonder where God is and why he has not answered our prayers.

But, in those moments, don't mistake God's invisible hand for an absent hand. Don't mistake God's ordinary work for no work at all.

WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT

Maybe that's what it means to "walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). I can see God's hand at work when the seas split and the giants fall, but my faith is really put to the test when it's not so apparent.

Do I trust God? Do I believe he is still at work, that he hasn't left his throne, that he is still working things out for my good and his glory? Or do I give myself over to despair and unbelief?

By the end of the book, Esther remains queen, Haman has been executed on the very gallows he made for Mordecai, Mordecai has been promoted to Haman's position, and the Jews have put to death all their enemies on the very day they were supposed to be annihilated.

Against all odds, the Jewish people have been delivered. Chance? Absolutely not.

Believer, trust God even when you can't see him at work. Walk by faith and not by sight. He is working, so continue to run with endurance the race that is set before you (Heb. 12:1). Prayerfully consider how the Lord might be molding and conforming you into the image of Christ. Be encouraged and trust.

And, as you trust, worship him and thank him for guiding you with his invisible, sovereign hand.

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James Williams has served as an Associate Pastor at FBC Atlanta, TX since 2013. He is married to Jenny and they have three children and are actively involved in foster care. He is in the dissertation stage of a PhD in Systematic Theology. You can follow James Twitter or his blog where he writes regularly.

Overeating and Undernourished: How Binge Eating Leaves You Starving for Christ

February is my least favorite month of the year. It's when I'm reminded of the resolutions I failed to achieve. Over the years, I resolved to quit many of life’s nastiest habits. I’ve kicked addictions to pornography, cigarettes, blowing up my credit cards, and more. But there’s still one habit I have yet to break: binge eating.

Forty-five percent of America’s resolution-makers vow to shape up and cut back on eating every New Year. I’m always one of them. My first thirty-one days of 2018 consisted of meal planning, counting calories, and lusting over the cake I swore off.

But before Valentine’s Day, my eating habits were as out of control as ever.

I’m not sure if my dependence on pizza and frosting is proportional to Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”, but it sure feels that way to me. It seems like I’ve spent my entire adult life harassed by intense cravings for food, with little hope for victory. While Paul asked for God to remove his own affliction three times, this is my tenth year of pleading. A decade of defeat would make the most determined among us feel hopeless.

Will I ever be free from this compulsion to overeat?

CALL IT WHAT IT IS

Binge eating is more than the simple overeating everyone engages in from time to time.

For me, a typical binge session looks like a very large meal, followed by an even larger dessert. Then when I begin to feel nauseated, I eat a few more desserts and sneak back to the fridge to consume more unclaimed leftovers. Multiply this ritual by five, add a secret drive-through visit, and you’ve got the standard daily recipe for a binge eater.

Doctors categorize my behavior as a type of eating disorder. The Bible calls it gluttony.

"Gluttony" sounds harsh when spoken out loud, so most of us don’t say it at all. Of all the sins churches discuss on Sunday, gluttony is rarely expanded upon. It seems odd given that American obesity is such a hot topic, but unsurprising when you consider the amount of shame most gluttons carry around with them.

Gluttons are bruised reeds. Nobody wants to break us with an unkind word or an accusatory glance over supper. So Christians tend to stay silent when they see a brother or sister overeating.

To complicate matters more, not every person with an above-average weight is a glutton, and not every glutton is overweight. You likely know several thin gluttons, and I’ve met many thick folks with rational eating patterns.

But how does the Bible define gluttony?

GETTING TO THE HEART OF GLUTTONY

The Biblical definition of gluttony doesn’t appear to be as simple as enjoying food, eating rich food, or even consuming a lot of food. We see countless depictions of elaborate feasts in both the Old and New Testaments.

The Levites in Nehemiah 8 received instructions to eat and drink with joy as an act of worship. The book of Acts describes the early church breaking bread together in grateful community and service to one another. Meals have the power to build community, celebrate great victories and worship the God who provides it all.

When our worship is directed towards food rather than God, none of these things apply, indicating that the problem with gluttony is not our waistline or even the exact amount of calories we eat—but hearts bent towards idolatry. The idol of the stomach leads us to eat meals in secret shame and celebrate created things rather than the Creator.

Solomon spoke about gluttony leading to both practical and spiritual poverty in the book of Proverbs, something I’ve experienced firsthand. Not only has my wallet suffered at the altar of McDonald’s, but I feel spiritually impoverished when I overeat.

While there’s nothing wrong with tangible diet plans and exercise to improve upon the physical effects of sin, addressing the impoverished heart is the only plan that truly releases us from the shame of gluttony.

HOPE IN A BETTER FEAST

How should Christians fight the urge to overeat and find hope when their resolutions don’t stick? By hoping for a better feast.

There is a better feast that awaits every man and woman who struggles with overeating. There is great forgiveness and hope for people like me in the Bible.

Revelation is not where a glutton would think to look for a diet plan, but among depictions of burning lakes and apocalyptic beasts in chapter 19 is a deep well of hope for someone like me:

“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure'— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” – Rev. 19:6-9

I don’t know if all the food imagery found in Revelation is literal or figurative. I don’t know if there will be an actual table with physical food piled upon it. But I hope more than anything that this feast is real in a tangible sense. Not because I’m excited about heavenly catering, but because at the consummation of all things, Jesus Christ himself will celebrate eternal union with his bride and welcome her to his wedding feast—me included.

TAKE YOUR SEAT AT THE WEDDING SUPPER

Despite years of sinning with my stomach, the King of Kings will offer me a seat at his table just as if I never binged a day in my life. On that day and for the rest of eternity, I will eat food in exactly the manner God intended, filled with worship for the Creator instead of worshipping created things. I’ll share a meal in perfect community with my brothers and sisters and my Lord rather than inhaling food in disgraced secrecy.

If you must make yet another resolution centered around food, resolve to believe in this wedding feast, living every day as if it were real.

When you experience great loss and hope to deaden the sorrow with take-out, remember the greater joy that awaits you when the groom clothes his bride in white.

When you think excess food will give you peace of mind, imagine the perfect peace you’ll have on the day of the marriage supper of the Lamb—and remember that if you follow the Lamb you will have a seat reserved just for you.

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Rachelle Cox converted from Mormonism six years ago and is now passionate about helping women understand God’s good word and good theology. She is a women’s ministry intern at Karis Church and is beginning her theological education at Boyce College. She loves serving her husband and two children, and writes at eachpassingphase.com.

The CSB Disciple’s Study Bible: A One-Stop Shop for All Things Discipleship

I had a radical conversion experience in the summer of 2002. Boy, was I jazzed about Jesus. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone the news—I was a Jesus-follower now! The problem was, outside of my salvation experience, I didn’t know much about Jesus or what it meant to be his disciple. To that point in my life, I knew more about following Rachel from Friends than Jesus of Nazareth. I didn’t need a little “tweaking” after conversion—I needed a whole new worldview. So I set out to rebuild my life from scratch, which was incredibly overwhelming.

Today, fifteen years later, I’ve grown a lot as a disciple (of Jesus that is, not Rachel Green). Yet I’ve often wished there had been a single resource handed to me after conversion to jumpstart my discipleship journey. This resource would be a simple guide on how to read, interpret, and apply the Bible, how to understand my story in light of God’s big story, and how to live out the habits of grace.

If only . . .

ENTER THE CSB DISCIPLE’S STUDY BIBLE

With the new CSB Disciple’s Study Bible, my hopes have come to fruition. This is a study Bible I’d happily hand to newly converted, “jazzed-for-Jesus-but-have-no-idea-what-it-means-to-be-a-disciple” Whitney.

Published by Holman Bible Publishers in 2017, the Disciple’s Study Bible is a one-stop shop for all things discipleship. It takes a fresh, reliable translation and pairs it with a wealth of discipleship resources to guide you on your discipleship journey, as well as equipping you with tools to disciple others.

Whether you’re a new believer who wants to rebuild your worldview or a mature Christian who actively disciples others, this Bible should be on your bookshelf. Here are six reasons why.

6 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET THE CSB DISCIPLE’S STUDY BIBLE

1. Faithful Bible Translation

The basis for a good study Bible has to be a clear, faithful translation of the text. No amount of resources, marketing, or cool graphics can (or should!) replace the text itself. The Disciple’s Study Bible features the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), a highly reliable and readable translation developed by 100+ scholars and published by Holman Bible Publishers. It uses optimal equivalence as its translation philosophy, translating the original text word-for-word when its meaning is clear, but opting for a more dynamic translation when meaning might be obscured for modern readers. It blends fidelity to the original text with readability for a modern world, making it an excellent translation choice for new and maturing disciples.

2. Achievable Reading Plan

Once you have a good translation, you need a plan to read it. There are fantastic reading plans available, but not everyone knows this. I didn’t. The beauty of the Disciple’s Study Bible is that a reading plan is built into the Bible itself, taking out any guesswork for new or busy readers. The Foundations 260 (or F260) Plan walks you through the big story of the Bible in 260 days worth of reading rather than covering every chapter of the Bible, lest you fall behind, get discouraged, and give up. It’s like a “best of” highlights reel that hits all the major points of redemptive history, giving you a sense of God’s redemptive narrative and where/how you fit into that storyline. This achievable “big picture” plan is perfect for new believers seeking to be shaped by God’s story instead of their past stories.

3. Simple Interpretative Method

This is my favorite piece. For every assigned reading, there’s a corresponding H.E.A.R. section that walks you through basic interpretive questions (e.g., who was the book originally written to, how does the text fit with the verses before and after it, what does it mean, in what ways does it call you to action, etc.). You highlight the verses that speak to you, explain what the passage means, apply what God’s saying, respond to what you’ve read, and—poof!—you’ve just done Bible interpretation without stressing over words like “hermeneutics.” The H.E.A.R. method teaches solid interpretative habits that will serve you well for the rest of your life. I didn’t learn this stuff until I went to Bible school; now, you can access it now in your personal devotions.

4. Accessible Book Introductions

Each book of the Bible features a short, accessible introduction; no academic or biblical background necessary. The introductions provide the circumstances of writing, contribution to the Bible, structure, and outline in a page or so. It also features a timeline for each book, placing the redemptive-historical events (boldface black print) within contemporary world events at the time (light gray print). It’s enough to get your bearings before you jump in, but not so much that you lose yourself in scholarly debates about Pauline authorship or the age of the earth. That stuff is important and fascinating to me now, but it would have turned me off as a new believer, undermining the whole purpose of getting into the Word.

5. Solid Study Notes

The study notes are arranged by key doctrines of the Christian faith. As you read commentary on a passage, you’ll encounter categories like creation, revelation, sin, evil, and salvation, thus offering you categories, or “buckets,” into which you can put your new biblical insight. These study notes also familiarize you with historic Christian beliefs and begin exposing you to systematic theology, an important discipline for all Christians. Don’t worry though, it doesn’t read like a stiff textbook. The emphasis is on discipleship and personal transformation. Additionally, the study notes make some of the key Christ-centered connections between the Old and New Testaments, showing how the Scriptures are all about Jesus. It comments on common messianic passages like Isaiah 53 and Ezekiel 36, but also on more obscure passages like Job 9:2.

6. Discipleship-Themed Articles

At the end, you’ll encounter a load of discipleship-themed resources from the team at Replicate Ministries, led by Robby Gallaty. These articles cover everything from how to pray and evangelize to how to establish a D-group (discipleship group). Of course, there are varying names for Christian practices like spiritual disciplines and small groups, but the core idea is the same—we want to make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus. These articles can help you towards that end. If you want to know more about Bible interpretation, turn to page 2034. If you need help sharing your story, turn to page 2041. If you’re considering starting a discipleship group, check out the article on page 2046. Even if you disagree on finer points in the articles, they’re a great resource to get you moving towards a life of discipleship. Again, I would have loved to have this in my hands right after conversion.

IS THIS BIBLE ONLY FOR NEW BELIEVERS?

The CSB Disciple’s Study Bible is great for new believers, but it’s also a fantastic resource for believers at every stage of the Christian life. I’m (obviously) excited about the value it has for new believers because I longed for something like this when I got saved. But don’t let my personal passion mislead you. If you want to grow as a disciple of Jesus, then this Bible is for you.

You could use it as your primary devotional Bible with the built-in reading plan, journaling, and memory work. It could also work well in small group settings; the H.E.A.R. method offers easy steps and questions everyone can follow. Some churches are even using it as a whole-church initiative to read the Word together and talk about it throughout the week. You’ve got options! It really is a full-orbed discipleship Bible.

Personally, I’ll be using it in the future as my “go-to” resource when I walk a new believer through the Bible. Just as I use different translations for different kinds of study, I find great value in having various study Bibles on hand for specific purposes. And, after reading and reviewing it, the CSB Disciple’s Study Bible just became my discipleship Bible.

WIN A FREE COPY

Our friends at LifeWay are generously giving away 5 free copies of the CSB Disciple's Study Bible. The giveaway will close next Wednesday, January 31 at 12:00 midnight EST. Winners will be contacted via email by Saturday, January 26, 2018. Enter below for your chance to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Whitney Woollard is a writer, speaker, and Bible teacher. She serves as a staff writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship and contributes to various ministries, including YouVersion, 9Marks, and the Bible Project. She holds her M.A. in biblical and theological studies from Western Seminary and loves sharing her passion for the Word with others. She has been married to Neal for over ten years and together they serve Jesus at Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon. You can contact her at whitneywoollard.com.

GCD’s Top Articles of 2017

Quantity doesn’t always correspond to quality, especially on the Internet. The prolific nature of click-bait posts and listicles swirling around the blogosphere make deep, quality articles quite rare. Yet, sometimes, articles that have a broad readership indicate that a powerful idea or formative truth has been shared. As I surveyed the last year’s worth of articles for GCD, it has been apparent to me that the most-viewed and most-read articles have been pieces of exceptional quality that have helped to shape and inform the lives of thousands. More than merely discussing the latest theological trends or how-to’s of specific methods, the top articles at GCD this year reflect the need for resources that are thoughtful, emotional, and practical for Christ-centered formation.

They reflect our ambition to produce resources to make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus.

Several of these articles came from our excellent team of Staff Writers. A handful are excerpts from recent publications by various publishers released in 2017. We’ve also included a list of our own publications in 2017 and invite you to pick them up if you have not had an opportunity.

On behalf of the GCD Team, thank you for a great 2017, and we look forward to bringing you another year full of gospel-centered resources.

TOP 10 ARTICLES OF 2017

#10. Ask Him For Joy by Mike Phay

#9. The Problem of Unity in The Church by Matt Rogers

#8. Following Christ in an Age of Authenticity by Trevin Wax

#7. Do You Love Your Friends Enough to Hurt Them? by James Williams

#6. Small Towns Need Missionaries by Aaron Morrow

#5. Here I Raise My Ebenezer by Rachael Starke

#4. The Baffling Call of God by Jeremy Writebol

#3. 10 Family Worship Ideas for Busy Families by Mathew Sims

#2. Why You Don’t Read Your Bible (and How to Start) by Grayson Pope

#1. Let’s Get Real About Women’s Discipleship by Rachelle Cox

GCD BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 2017

Renew by Jim Hudson

A Guide For Holy Week by GCD Contributors

Sent Together (Second Edition) by Brad Watson

Gospel Glories A to Z by Kelly Havrilla

That Word Above All Earthly Powers by GCD Contributors

Do You Love Your Friends Enough to Hurt Them?

Most of us know the popular slogan "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." It's a simple phrase that's been around since the early 80s.

With just a few words, the phrase carries much meaning. The subject, "friends," shows that we’re talking about people who care. What do these friends do? They don't let their friends drive drunk. Why would they step in to stop this behavior? Is it because they're hateful and arrogant? Is it because they're judgmental people who need to mind their own business? Are they controlling people who want everyone to act like them? No.

True friends stop their friends because driving drunk can be destructive and life-ending. A friend who truly cares will do what they can to stop this from happening.

When we think of using our words in our friendships with believers, we often think of Ephesians 4:29: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." What are words that build up? Does that mean we only speak "positive" words? Does that mean we only say things that will be well received and make the person feel good?

Tucked away in the midst of many wise sayings, Proverbs 27:5-6 gives us some insight: "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy."

OPEN REBUKE IS BETTER THAN HIDDEN LOVE

In our culture, someone who speaks against a person's behavior is seen as hateful, while the one who keeps his words to himself is praised as a loving person. Unfortunately, this understanding has crept into the church as well. Our individualism has set up walls that even our Christian friends dare not cross.

Asking someone how their job is going is acceptable, even praiseworthy. But asking someone about a sin in their life is considered "crossing the line," and the solution is to "mind your own business."

God's Word teaches that open rebuke is better than hidden love, though. James 5:29 states, "Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." We are told in the first verse of Galatians 6: "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness."

Admonishing others is difficult, and we can easily talk ourselves out of doing it. We tell ourselves that it won't work or that what they are doing is "not that bad." At times, we're guilty of underestimating the destructive power of sin.

The Destructiveness of Sin

Sin is a destructive cancer. It kills and destroys. It takes good relationships and tears them apart. It takes peaceful situations and makes them divisive and chaotic. It takes individuals made in the image of God and leads them down a path of everlasting destruction.

If we don't understand the destructiveness of sin, we'll never see the need to lovingly rebuke our friends. If we think they are just "choosing a different path," we might keep quiet, but if we see they are on a path to destruction, perhaps that will motivate us to speak up. Someone who doesn't believe drunk driving is that dangerous might let their friend do it, but someone who recognizes the danger will try to stop them at all costs.

As believers, if we don’t see the destructive nature of sin, we might not speak words of truth our friend needs to hear.

Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend

Nobody likes to be called out. It doesn't feel good; it wounds. Scripture doesn't shy away from this reality or try to sugar-coat it. This is why many interpret correction as harmful or hateful. But, if done in love with the goal of repentance and healing, it can be a most loving act. Wounds from a friend can be trusted.

Proverbs warns us against rebuking everybody (Prov. 9:8), but true friends are a means of grace the Lord uses to bless, encourage, and even rebuke us. True friends are those who are willing to wound us in order to help us see our sin and point us to Christ.

I’ll never forget receiving a call from a church member who was broken-hearted after finding out his wife was having an affair. As a twenty-two-year-old pastor, I had no prior experience handling such a situation. It would have been much easier to step back and do nothing. However, by the Lord’s grace, that’s not what happened. We set up a meeting with the wife, told her we loved her, and reminded her of the mercy and grace of the gospel of Christ. Though she already knew, we told her that she was in sin and needed to confess and repent before the Lord.

These types of meeting don’t always go well, but in this case, the Spirit worked powerfully. She was convicted of her sin and immediately took the proper steps toward repentance with many sisters in Christ at her side, and her marriage was restored!

I’ve also been on the receiving end of such rebuke. While blinded to my own sin, I’ve had brothers in Christ hold me accountable and love me enough to confront me. While I didn’t like it at the time, I look back and am grateful to God for their boldness and love toward me.

True Friends Love Enough to Wound

Since most of us don't like confrontation, having to speak out at the risk of being rejected or losing a friend makes it even more horrifying. So, what would possess us to do something we hate when there's so much to lose?

Love.

If my friend is in sin, and I truly believe that their sin is destroying them, stealing their joy, and robbing God of his glory, then I am willing to face my fears of rejection and awkward conversation to address this issue.

To lay down our preferences for the good of others is love . . . and only those who are truly our friends are willing to do it.

If we are going to have a culture of speaking truth to one another in this way, then we must be willing and ready to receive it. Since we're all sinners, there will come a time where we are the ones in sin. If our friends confront us, it will hurt, but we must be willing to trust the wounding of our friends. We may not agree or understand at first, but we must fight to be receptive and willing to learn. Being defensive and attacking does not encourage a culture of openness with our friends.

PROFUSE ARE THE KISSES OF AN ENEMY

True friends love us enough to wound us, but what do our enemies do? They flatter us.

They tell us what we want to hear and make us feel good about it. They aren't concerned about our good and they will only speak with their best interests in mind. They know well the old adage “flattery will get you everywhere,” and they use it to their advantage. In the Old Testament, we read about false prophets who told the king the message he wanted to hear (2 Chron. 18:4-7). The New Testament also warns us to beware such people: “For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve” (Rom.16:18).

It's easy to understand how we can get confused as to who our true friends are. It's counterintuitive to say the one who wounds might be the true friend while the one who flatters could be the enemy.

THE GREATEST FRIEND

Friendships are a gift from the Lord and a means of grace, but there is one friend who truly sticks closer than a brother. Jesus, the lover of our soul, knows exactly what we need. He willingly laid down his life for our sin, thus showing there’s nothing he won’t spare for his children. He's able to provide encouragement at just the right time, and he loves us enough to wound us when we need to be rebuked. We know that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves (Heb. 12), and this is done out of care and concern for our soul to train us in righteousness, thus, we can trust him.

Sometimes, he might provide a needed correction through the words of a faithful friend who's willing to speak the truth. Other times, he might be doing that very thing through us in the life of someone else.

Are we willing to be used by the Lord this way? We speak often of encouraging one another, but are we just as willing to be used when "building up" our brother or sister means giving a loving rebuke?

For the good of our friends and the glory of God, let us be willing to encourage and admonish one another with our words. As one commentator has said, "Flattery kisses and slays; friendship wounds and saves."

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17).

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James Williams has served as an Associate Pastor at FBC Atlanta, TX for four years. He is married to Jenny and they currently have four children in their home (three biological, one in foster care). He is in the dissertation stage of a PhD in Systematic Theology. You can follow James on Twitter or his church’s blog where he writes regularly.

That Awkward Moment When Shame Entered the World

We’ve all had weird, awkward moments with others. You probably hate those moments as much as I do. You say something but it doesn’t come out right, and what comes out is embarrassing. Your embarrassing little quip is then followed by what is probably a few seconds, but seems like an eternity of strained silence. You then feel the need to explain, but you just end up digging a deeper hole for yourself. You wish one of your listeners would rise to your rescue, but no one does. Finally something else happens that grabs everybody’s attention, and the horribly awkward moment ends. But it doesn’t really end for you; you carry it with you for the rest of the night. In fact, it is the pain of the moment that wakes you up the next morning. A few years later, that awkward moment has morphed into a humorous moment, and you retell the story over and over again to the delight and amusement of your friends.

THE FIRST AWKWARD MOMENT

I want you to think today about the most horribly awkward moment in human history. This one wasn’t a minor moment of embarrassment, and it will never morph into a humorous story. As you read the account, you know you are dealing with something so shocking and out of place that the world will never be the same again. Every time I read this account, I want to weep. Every time I think about it, I am hit with the painful thought that it really did happen and that we still see its results in our lives today. When you read it, you better know that this is not the way things were meant to be, or you will never understand the biblical story, and Christmas will never make the kind of sense that it should make to you.

Here is the Bible’s account:

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:8–13)

Adam and Eve had just endured the first awkward, embarrassing, shame-inducing moment between them. For the first time they realized that they were without clothing, and they felt instant shame. This is an immediate clue that their disobedience had destroyed their innocence, and human relationships would never be the same again. But that sad and shameful moment pales in comparison to what happened next.

THE AWKWARDNESS OF SIN

God was walking through the garden, and rather than being filled with awe and joy at the thought of his presence, Adam and Eve were filled with fear. Their reaction was weird, awkward, and unusual. They had been designed for intimate, moment-by-moment, loving, and worshipful communion with him. They were made to delight in God and he in them. They were created to live in an unbreakable bond of love with him. So their reaction seems strange and out of place. It tells us that something has gone drastically wrong.

God notices that they have not approached him with the usual expectant joy, and so he calls out to them, inquiring where they are. Adam answers and confesses that he was naked and afraid. The effects of sin are immediate and catastrophic. The bond between God and mankind has been broken. Fear has replaced love. Hiding has replaced communion. Adam and Eve have not only damaged their spirituality, but have lost a huge chunk of their humanity. It is a tragedy of historic and universal proportion. Made to live in the center of God’s love, people hide from him. In the psyche of every human being since lives this weird and uncomfortable battle between hunger for God and a desire to hide from him.

JESUS HAS BROKEN THE AWKWARDNESS

Sin has broken the most important relationship in all of life, the relationship between people and their Creator. This separation alters everything in each of our lives. That’s why it is so wonderful and encouraging to know that Jesus came to earth to be the Prince of Peace. Through his life, death, and resurrection, he would make peace between God and us. By his righteous life, he would earn our acceptance with God and purchase our right to be God’s children.

It is this vertical peace that then allows us to live in peace and harmony with one another. The fearful awkwardness between us and God has been forever broken by Jesus, so we can run with confidence into God’s presence and know that he will never turn us away.

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Content taken from Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional by Paul David Tripp, ©2017. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org.

Paul David Tripp is the president of Paul Tripp Ministries, a nonprofit organization. He has been married for many years to Luella and they have four grown children. For more information and resources visit paultrippministries.org.

Male or Female: Fidelity to Your Sexuality

Let’s probe a bit further into what it means that God created us male and female. But before we do that, we should take a small step back and consider something even more basic. Each of us is created either male or female. This may seem so obvious that it’s not worth stating, but given the challenges we face, it does need to be pointed out. It’s the clearest thing we can say about being created in the image of God. All of us are either one or the other. The tragic developmental anomaly of intersex notwithstanding, there really is no third option; there is just this basic dual reality.

SEXUALITY AS VOCATION

When God created you in his image as male or female, he called you to a certain way of life—as either a male or a female. By virtue of being created in the image of God as male or female, you have a call on your life; you have a vocation. It is your most basic vocation, your most fundamental job in life: to joyfully embrace and faithfully embody your sexuality—whether male or female—for the good of others. God’s first call on our lives is to acknowledge rather than deny our sexuality. We are to rejoice in it rather than seek to downplay it. We are to lean into it fully rather than avoid it entirely. We are to use our sexuality to bless others rather than neglect it to the loss of others. And we are to embrace its limits rather than try to transcend it.

There is always the temptation to depart from God’s call on our lives as either male or female, to downplay or even deviate from who God has made us to be. Tragic things happen when we begin to despise our own sexuality and the bodies God has given us. When we fail to thank God for who he has made us to be and allow ingratitude to define our attitude toward God, the results can be very serious and sad. This is what Paul describes in Romans 1:21, where both men and women find their lives going off the rails in sexual ways, precisely because they failed to honor God or give him thanks.

Melinda Selmys, in her book Sexual Authenticity, describes how for years she wrestled with her own sexuality. She was a professed, practicing lesbian who underwent a profound transformation and eventually got married to a man. She explains how significant change came when she began to come to terms with her own sexuality and with who God had made her to be as a woman:

"I realized that my own sex was not inferior, that its strengths throughout the ages had always been strengths, that its contributions to the world were not second-class or insignificant. It was here, in this, that the cracks opened enough that I could risk falling in love with a man. Suddenly, I was not an interloper on his territory, trying to seize his castles and make them my own.

I had my own kingdom, my own square of land, my own integrity. I did not need to demand power: I had it. I did not need to take something of value away from him and hold it to ransom: I had valuable things of my own. At last, I understood something of who I was. Not lesbian. Not bisexual. Not gay. Not straight, either. But a woman, made in the image and likeness of God. In possession of myself, with the right and the ability to give the gift of myself to another, sincerely, in love."

To be created in the image of God as male and female means that each of us is either male or female. We are called to embrace who God has made us to be, whether male or female. We must be faithful to our calling as male or female and must own who we are sexually as one of God’s greatest gifts to us—for the good of others.

MALE AND FEMALE: COMPLEMENTARITY IN OUR SEXUALITY

The truth that God has made us male and female is very good news. God not only created two genders, male and female, with unique and glorious and mysterious differences; he made these two genders complementary. They don’t simply fit side by side, like peanut butter and jelly; they fit together in an interlocking pattern like puzzle pieces. They have been created for each other, to complete each other in the most profound sorts of ways. This means that to be faithful to your own sexuality, whether male or female, you can’t idolize your own sex—as though your sex is the be-all and end-all of the human race. Sure, there’s a place for donning the “Girls Rule” T-shirt or descending into the “man cave.” Yes, there’s a place for same-sex friendships and even a little “bromance.” But the relationships we have with those of our own sex should not replace or exclude the beautiful dynamic at work when we relate to those of the opposite sex.

We need opposite-sex relationships not only to complement and strengthen the other sex but to learn more about our own sex. Women learn who they are as women by interacting with other women but also with men. So, too, men learn who they are by interacting not only with other men but with women as well. Interaction with the opposite sex is essential to our growth and self-understanding as creatures made in God’s image as male and female. Karl Barth put it brilliantly: “It is always in relation to their opposite that man and woman are what they are in themselves."

Think about what this means practically. You won’t grow into the kind of person God wants you to become if you don’t have meaningful relationships with those of the opposite sex. You can’t, because the opposite sex isn’t just some strange creature from another planet, but it is God’s gift to you, as your complement, whether you are male or female.

Of course, one of the most obvious ways this interaction between the two sexes takes place is in marriage. But that’s not the only place we interact meaningfully (even if not sexually) with the opposite gender. If you are a man, you interact with the opposite sex all the time—mothers, sisters, friends, employers or employees, teachers, coaches, classmates, neighbors, aunts, cousins. So too, if you are a woman, you encounter men all the time—fathers, brothers, friends, employers or employees, teachers, coaches, classmates, neighbors, uncles, cousins.

Don’t overlook these opportunities to learn about what it means to be who God has called you to be, whether male or female. We should grow to appreciate the distinctive yet complementary strengths males and females bring to every task, whether planning a party, running a business, cheering from the sidelines of a soccer game, or raising a family. We should not only appreciate but be dazzled by these complementary differences.

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Excerpt from Mere Sexuality: Rediscovering the Christian Vision of Sexuality by Todd Wilson (©2017). Published by Zondervan. Used by permission. Purchase a copy.

Todd Wilson (PhD, Cambridge University) has spent over a decade in pastoral ministry and is currently the Senior Pastor of Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois. He is the cofounder and chairman of The Center for Pastor Theologians, a ministry dedicated to resourcing pastor theologians. Todd has authored or edited a number of books including Real Christian: Bearing the Marks of Authentic Faith and The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision. Todd is married to Katie, and they have seven children.

Lead with Your Ears

“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.” —Rachel Naomi Remen

Research suggests the average person listens at a 25 percent rate of efficiency, which means most of us aren’t very good listeners.

One reason for our attention deficit is that the media we’re immersed in—especially social media and the ubiquitous smartphone—is shaping us. The more immersed we are, the shorter our attention spans become.

As a result, we are more attuned to the visual rather than the aural. Smartphones lure us into believing we can relationally “multitask”—we think we can give a portion of our attention to virtual relationships through our screens, while simultaneously acting like we’re truly listening to the flesh-and-blood person right in front of us. Even when not actively engaged with a screen, our attention and minds are often drawn to our devices and away from whatever, or whomever, is in front of us.

We live in and are increasingly being shaped by an age of distraction that makes listening a lost art. Which means a good listener is one of the rarest and most beautiful things in the world today.

LISTENING IS AN ACT OF LOVE

In one of the earliest Christian writings, Jesus’ half-brother James makes listening to others a priority: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19).

James directs his readers to open their ears rather than their mouths. “Be quick to hear,” he says (emphasis mine). This quickness is not an indication of speed, but of priority. In other words: listening is of primary importance, so it should be done first. There should be a sense of urgency to our listening, and it should consistently be our intuitive, default, automatic posture toward others.

The research cited above suggests this is not the case for most of us. How about with you?

Are you a good listener? Where does your mind go as people speak with you in conversation? Are you more interested in hearing or being heard? Do you attend to those in your presence, or are you constantly distracted by the ever-present virtual world on your smartphone? Do you respond to those who are angry at or critical of you with a “soft answer,” or with a reflection of their anger?

Our first response to others should always be with our ears rather than with our mouths. In the command “be quick to hear,” James is essentially calling us to “lead with our ears.”

There is no better way to misjudge or misunderstand someone than by failing to listen to them. This failure to listen often leads to, as James warns against, a quick tongue and a sharp temper. But listening is an act of love in which the other person’s interests are put in front of one’s own.

Listening is an essential part of what psychologist and spiritual director David Benner calls “soul hospitality”—the creation of space and safety for someone to be themselves, to be welcomed, to be loved, and to share their innermost self.

As with the hospitality of an open home or an open table, soul hospitality requires at least two things: reception and attentive presence.

RECEPTION

The ear is an organ of reception. It does not produce anything but simply receives. This is the perfect organ for providing hospitality because it gives deference to the speaker, offering space for them to be heard. Benner writes, “the essence of hospitality is taking another person into my space, into my life.”

It is intuitive to think of hospitality as generosity—as giving something of substance to someone—and listening tends to follow this general pattern. In this model, listening becomes a necessary but over-rated launching pad for response formulation.

In these cases, most conversational energy is given over to what will be said next, rather than what’s being said now. The posture taken by the purported listener is therefore not one of reception but of provision. It is a position of power rather than humility.

But soul hospitality, which includes true listening, “is more demanding than giving advice, money or some other form of help,” Benner goes on to say. It is an act of humility.

The assumption for the truly hospitable listener is that the other person has much more to give. The most appropriate posture to take, then, is one of reception. And reception’s proper response? Gratitude.

Providing hospitality while also being the one to show gratitude is counter-intuitive. Yet truly hospitable people are often the most grateful people, blessed beyond measure at the grace-filled presence of their guests.

For this reason, reception is not equivalent to consumption. It is not a receiving into the self for the sake of the self. It is not self-centered at all. As an act of love, reception is focused on and for the other.

ATTENTIVE PRESENCE

Leading with an open ear, although it implies reception does not equate to passivity. It includes the giving of a gift: the gift of attentive presence.

Like reception, attentive presence is another act of love and humility. Benner again: “To be present to you means that I must be prepared, temporarily, to be absent to me.” To be “absent to me” is to set aside thoughts, responsibilities, text messages, emails, and a plethora of other distractions that play tug-of-war with our attention.

If hospitality implies space-making, then attentive presence requires boundary-setting and the removal of distractions for a time, creating an opportunity to be present and attentive to the person whose image-of-God-bearing soul has been entrusted to the listener in this sacred space and time.

The command to listen is not easy. It takes something from us, especially when it is met with sin or anger. It is difficult to attentively listen when what is being spoken is emotion-laden and dripping with hostility. Attentive presence requires the difficult work of self-differentiation from attack, blame, or anger in order to truly listen. The natural response to emotionally furious assaults is often tantamount to an explosive chemical reaction.

But God would call us instead to the attentive, humble, loving response of the open ear—not only when it’s pleasant and congenial, but, even more importantly, when it’s inconvenient, tense, and downright difficult.

FIRST, LISTEN TO GOD

To serve others by leading with an open ear is to quickly recognize our great need for God. When shortfalls, inadequacy, and inability are easily recognized, we must make haste to run to his grace.

To have any hope of being receptive and attentively present to others, we must begin with attentiveness to God’s voice. As James goes on to say: “Therefore . . . receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

First, we must listen to God, which takes place when we prayerfully and humbly attend to his voice. To become familiar with God’s voice is to listen to how he has chosen to speak to us in the Scriptures. As we listen to God, we will find ourselves crying out to the One who is quick to hear: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1).

God is quick to listen and will attend to the poor and needy sinner who comes to him asking for grace in their time of need.

You cannot become someone who is quick to hear unless you first call upon the One who inclines his ear to you. Truly it is from him that we learn to listen.

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Mike Phay serve as Lead Pastor at FBC Prineville (Oregon) and as an Affiliate Professor at Kilns College in Bend, OR. He has been married to Keri for 20 years and they have five amazing kids (Emma, Caleb, Halle, Maggie, and Daisy). He loves books and coffee, preferably at the same time.

What Does Mission Look Like in the Suburbs?

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” – Karl Marx

I was at a church conference, listening to an impassioned young pastor talk about the work he does in inner-city high schools in his neighborhood:

“Everyone should be getting in on this. It’s the greatest need in our city. Young men without fathers need attentive, compassionate, strong men to pour into their lives and mentor them.”

I listened to him with a mixture of admiration and annoyance. I admired how he’d discerned local mission in his neighborhood and galvanized his community to action. Men putting their lives on the line for young men stirred my heart and excited my mind.

But I was also annoyed (and feeling more than a bit guilty about being annoyed). What if my neighborhood doesn’t have the same problems as your inner city neighborhood?

Does mission in the suburbs count, too?

THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE?

The city where I am living and planting a church (Fishers, Indiana) was recently named the BEST place to live (in all of America!) by Money Magazine (based on factors that a magazine named MONEY would base it on: healthy economy, affordable homes, and a “high quality of life”).

This is a very different environment from inner-city realities described by the young pastor above. So what does mission look like in the affluent suburbs? Should we drive 30 minutes to mentor high school teens in a more impoverished area?

What does mission look like here in the suburbs?

THE HIDDEN PAIN OF THE SUBURBS

My friend and co-pastor Ben says that mission in the suburbs is more difficult to discern because the needs we see most quickly are those that contrast with the American Dream (poverty, homelessness, crime, etc.). But the American Dream isn’t the same thing as the Kingdom of God.

The needs in the suburbs are just as pressing, but it takes some discernment to see them because they’re hidden under the veneer of the apparent fulfillment of the American Dream.

Our church has been inhabiting and praying for our suburban city for three years now. And we’ve noticed a glaring issue largely left untouched and ignored by the affluent, active culture of our city: there seems to bea deep well of unprocessed sadness, unfinished grief, sorrow, and relational pain that people carry with them on a day to day basis.

One recent study suggests that loneliness is rampant, and it’s just as dangerous to our health as obesity. And unlike poverty, homelessness, and hunger, most people who are chronically sad don’t know it. They can’t identify what’s actually haunting them.

AFFLUENCE AND ACTIVITY NUMB US

Part of the reason we don’t know we’re sad is that the affluence and relentless activity of the suburbs insulate us from having to feel our pain. We’ve generally got enough money and power to find a way to numb the pain if we ever start feeling it.

• Lonely? Watch another Netflix show, refresh your Facebook pic of your family to see how many likes you’ve received, kill off that box of cookies.

• Ugly? Get free botox from your neighbor, start a gym membership and lose that weight, buy more expensive (and flattering) clothing.

• Hurting from a relationship? Eat, drink and be merry; change churches; just begin to ignore that awkward relationship.

• Insignificant at work? Find your significance in your kids' performance, or your meticulously cared for lawn, or your car.

• Stressed out and unable to cope? Pop open another bottle of wine, plan a guys’ weekend, play another round of golf, download another mobile phone game.

CHURCH DOESN'T HELP (MOST OF THE TIME)

And our suburban churches aren’t helping.

Worship services are often called “celebrations.” Preachers regularly tell people that the answer to their unhappiness is to “just praise God!” Our liturgies are full of thanksgiving, praise, and exhortation, but often bereft of lament, mourning, and weeping. Our Christian radio stations are full of “positive and encouraging” programming, implying that to be a Christian is to be happy, positive, smiling, and put together.

If Karl Marx thought the religion of his day was the “opium of the people,” there’s a case to be made that the kind of Pop Christianity described above is the opium of the American suburbs.

Drop the kids off at childcare, get emotionally moved by awesome music, listen to an inspirational message about God that tells you to try harder and do more, and God is good all the time and all the time God is good . . . and come back next week for your next spiritual hit!

But none of this frenetic spiritual activity really heals us. It just keeps us sedated and unaware of our immense sadness and pain. Church just becomes another activity to distract me from my pain.

RECKONING WITH REALITY

Instead of this kind of happy-clappy faith, the suburbs desperately need a faithful Christian witness of how to lament pain and evil in our world.

One of our foundational assumptions about life (because we see Jesus make this assumption over and over in his dealings with people) is that God is so real he most fully meets us where we really are.

We need a reckoning with reality, a dealing with “what is,” a rhythm that makes way for healing, and a robust community with which to journey.

We need the emotional safety to name what’s actually going on, a pruning of distractions to become aware of how we are really doing, language to describe “I think that feeling of loneliness and anxiety is really just sadness that I haven’t dealt with yet.”

LEARNING A LITURGY OF LAMENT

Mission in the suburbs can begin with learning to lament. And thankfully, even though most of us aren’t practiced in it, the Bible is filled with lament, especially the Psalms. Lots of Psalms are mainly lament!

Our church gatherings must make room for lament because this is the only thing that can heal our sadness.

We can start with sadness for our own life tragedies: relational ruin, personal trauma, individual sin. And we can enter into solidarity with the suffering of the world as well: victims of natural disasters, systemic oppression, the principalities and powers of racial and economic injustice, broken families, physical and emotional abuse.

Healing and restoration happen when we move beyond merely “standing up for” or “speaking out against” things. Underneath speaking and standing, we find the aching need to suffer in solidarity with actual people.

GROWING ROBUST CHURCH COMMUNITIES

Loneliness and isolation are the privileges of affluence. In the suburbs, we live in large castles of independent self-sufficiency, closing ourselves off to connection and dependence on others.

Much of our pain in the suburbs is due to past and present relationships that are not healthy. If relationships have caused us pain, it will be relationships that play a role in our healing.

Our discipleship must be built on creating relationships of emotional and spiritual safety. At a minimum, this means cultivating a culture where:

• Shame is dethroned through regular confession and proclamation of good news.

• The worst thing about me can be brought into light in community because the grace and truth of Jesus Christ are trusted and celebrated.

• People can share pain without others dismissing, denying, ghosting, fixing, or gas lighting.

• We learn how to be present to others pain; suffering solidarity with each other.

• Hope and healing are held together with despair and pain.

This isn’t easy, of course. Most people have to pay professionals $125 an hour to receive this kind of relationship and care. And of course, professional counseling is important and good and necessary. It’s just sad that it’s often the only place people experience this kind of care.

What if we can create a fabric of community that is able to bear more and more suffering as we learn to name our own in community?

In the suburbs, creating spaces where it’s safe for people to learn to lament is mission, because it addresses one of the hidden ways the kingdom of God needs to come to the suburbs.

Matt Tebbe has been a coach, communicator, and consultant for over 4 years with churches in North America. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has worked as an adjunct professor at Trinity College. Matt co-founded Gravity Leadership and is planting a church (The Table) in the northeast suburbs of Indianapolis, where he and his wife Sharon live with their children Deacon and Celeste. You can follow him on Twitter or check out Gravity Leadership for more of his work.