Understanding therapy culture from different generations: This article from Sheryl Jacob resonates with my experience in the counseling room with different generations. “Millennials (born 1981-1996) grew up with therapy as mainstream - encouraged to talk about trauma, set boundaries, process their inner child, and name anxiety. While this openness is good, this generation also normalised many struggles the Church should have addressed long ago.”
Be drunk with love: J.A. Medders encourages, “We get filled with the Spirit—when bottles (barrels) of the vintage gospel hit our bloodstream, our Blood Gospel Content rises above the legalistic limit.”
"Forgive me for all the times I needed to suffer and I ran from it, I numbed it.” The prayer caught me off guard. I looked up. Aspens bent in the wind outside the window. A small group of pastors gathered in the small community center in the tiny town of Summerhaven, located near the summit of Mount Lemmon, 5,000 feet above Tucson.
Who hasn’t avoided suffering? I’ve avoided suffering in countless ways: I’ve dodged difficult conversations, evaded serving, neglected the spiritual disciplines of fasting and silence, overspent our budget, and skipped leg day. But how often have I prayed for forgiveness for shirking suffering?
Six chapters into the Bible and only three chapters after Adam and Eve committed the first sin against God, the hearts of humanity have turned in on themselves. They desire to please themselves alone. God’s heart is broken. Listen to the narrative in Genesis 6. It’s a remarkable glimpse into God’s emotional life,
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart….
When God says now: Christopher Cook says, “I understand the hesitation, but you and I need discernment for this hour. We are being called to submit. Our job is not to assess our readiness (according to our perspective). It is to step forward with clean hands, a yielded spirit, and a heart tethered to the will of the Father.”
The secret things: Andrea Sanborn concludes, “Someday we’ll know the secret things that our mortality can’t fathom. “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”, as the Apostle Paul explained it. But for now, it’s okay to rest in wonder. Because wonder, in the end, is worship.”
October 7, 2023 Iranian backed Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The moment I heard, I buried my head in my hands grieving that again great suffering had begun.
From that day, I have prayed anew for peace and justice as this round of tensions between Israel and Iran unfolds. Gaza, Hezbollah in the north, all of it is, at its root, the same conflict.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, like many of you, I read that American B-2 bombers dropped 14 “bunker buster” bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities. We joined the conflict. Some call it a war.
I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. During the dead of winter, there are several weeks when the sun skims the horizon for a mere four hours a day. If you move north to the Arctic Circle, there are days without sunlight.
Can you imagine a world without light? A world where you can’t see your hand in front of your face?
Little kids love re-watching movies. The movie might play in the background as a sort of interactive wallpaper, as their attention is locked on playing with the nearest doll or a truck. Then they’ll freeze, attention rapt on the screen, “This is my favorite part!” The movie is no longer the wallpaper; it is a focal point.
Many of us have faith that latches onto specific parts of the Easter story. But the gospel includes every part of the story. Is there an aspect of the Easter story that you focus on? Over the next two weeks, we will consider five parts of the Easter story and reflect on how each component can enrich our faith.
“I guess I just need to develop rhino skin.” My friend was weary of being battered by gossip and slander. I empathized. I have similar struggles. “Isn’t there a less painful way to develop thick skin?” I asked. God has given humans skin that is a scant 2 millimeters thick. That is thinner than most cardstock. Meanwhile, our rhinoceros friends have skin that is over two inches thick. Wow!
How do we make sense of God and the world when we feel so hurt by them? Doesn’t the world make more sense without a God who would allow the evil that we see and experience?
Friedrich Nietzsche, a prophet ahead of his time, saw the allure of the modern rejection of God. But he also recognized the serious consequences of such a conclusion. If Soren Kierkegaard demanded the Christian to take a “leap of faith” toward God, Nietzsche demanded that the atheist take a leap of faith into the abyss.
Faith is required of both the Christian and the atheist.
I had the blessing of just returning from an amazing trip connecting with our brothers and sisters in India.
It’s always impossible to put into words what it is to see a glimpse of God’s miraculous work. India is one of the most challenging places for the gospel in the world. Christians are suffering in ways it is hard to imagine from our Western context.
What are the idols of your heart? What are the ways in which you have allowed your heart which is intended to worship God, to worship the golden calves that surround us? Where else have you placed your hope?
If you’re unsure of the answer to that question, perhaps one of these questions might help diagnose your heart. What keeps me up when I’m trying to sleep? What do I fear? What do I think about? What do I daydream about? What gets me most excited in life? What do I give myself to? What do I use my time for?
Is it possible idolatry might still be alive and well in us today?
I am currently in India, a land of a million gods. The first time I traveled to India, I was startled by how many altars and temples filled the land. Gods are layered upon gods: family gods, regional gods, and gods of healing and fertility. Devout Hindus, in search of hope, pour out their time and resources to god after god in hoping that one of these gods might be able to solve their health problems or financial woes.
This is the human condition, not a quirk of Indian culture. We want something tangible to place our hope in, and we want objects to worship.
Are you an idolater? I already lost you, didn’t I? Most wouldn’t raise their hand to affirm their idolatry.
Idolatry doesn’t preach well to us 21st-century Westerners. A couple of years ago, I had someone leave the church after I preached on idolatry. “You preached for most of your sermon on the Old Testament, the law against Idolatry, and how might we be guilty of idolatry today,” she reflected. She said that the sermon didn’t connect with her and didn’t offer “spiritual encouragement.”
Oh, friends, the dangers we face when we think that biblical passages on idolatry don’t apply to us!
Can you change in 2023? Yes, yes, you can! And that change begins not by never giving up on you, but by never giving up on God. He has made you for something far bigger and far more satisfying than what the world offers. And he promises that when you give up on yourself, you will change….May 2023 be the year we behold his face. Are you willing to give to God your plans, hopes, dreams, and desires to experience his transformation? The reward is worth the price.
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