“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
There’s a story about John the apostle as an old man, recounted by Jerome.1 Whenever John’s disciples carried the frail apostle in to their meetings, he would say, “Little children, love one another”. Every. Time. (more…)
Moneyball is exactly the sort of movie I thought I would hate. I loved it.
Released last year, it’s a movie in which Brad Pitt plays the manager of a fairly average baseball team trying to put together a successful season on a tight budget. (more…)
I am here and not there because He has brought this to pass. I am here for Shannon’s sake, for her good. I am here for my own sake, for my good. And I am here for the sake of Darby, Campbell, Delaney, Erin Claire, Maili, Reilly and Donovan. My Father knows what each of my children need. He knows how to grow the fruit of the Spirit in each of them. He knows precisely what they each need to become more like Jesus. And He has the power to bring this to pass. What they need right now if for me to be here.
Tragic; beautiful.
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
Where do you go to church? For me, I go to an Anglican church in North Epping, Sydney, Australia. Easy, right? I suppose a better question is this: where are you when you’re at church? These verses from Hebrews 12 show us why that’s a question that’s worth asking, and what’s going on when we gather as God’s people. (more…)
Ken Currie:
For the time being, it seems the greatest threat to gospel-telling in such a society is not that we will be hauled before the city council, beaten, and have our property taken away. What we are really dealing with is some awkwardness.
Awkwardness is perhaps the biggest threat to evangelism for far too many of us.
One of the best watch-the-penny-drop moments I’ve ever had reading the Bible with people has been with these few verses from Exodus, as they realized for the first time that ‘grace’ isn’t a New Testament concept.
Three months after escaping slavery in Egypt, Israel came to the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses went up to speak with God on behalf of the people, where he heard a deliberate summary of the events of the preceding chapters (v. 4): God acted against Egypt to release the Israelites from slavery, he brought them out smoothly and powerfully, and he did it to bring them to himself. (more…)
In a culture that dismisses faith as unreasonable, can Christians remain confident that the Bible is both reliable and relevant? Is the gospel still good news?
If you can get to Sydney in July this looks great.
Ben Pakula, talking about his upcoming album, with my current favourite sentence on the internet:
Masterplan is a biblical-theology rock opera.
Ben is a musician who teaches deep theological truths from the Bible through the medium of heavy rock music.
[Masterplan] is designed as the kind of thing to listen to on long (or short) car trips, especially for kids who like crazy music, and kids who are ‘too cool’ for kid’s music generally.
Dave Macca:
Dear Mr Harris,
I was encouraged by a friend to watch your lecture on Death and the Present Moment at the recent Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne. Your topic is very close to home for me, as I’ve been battling a stage 4 adenocarcinoma of the lung for the past 6 months. I understand it was also especially pertinent for you, and many in your audience, following the death of your good friend, Christopher Hitchens. Your lecture has provoked me to consider a number of issues and to write a few words in response.
The whole thing is a great read, as is the rest of Macca’s site.
(h/t Sandy Grant)
Many of our friends and family—and us, I suspect—don’t think about death a whole lot. So when someone close gets cancer, or a friend has a miscarriage, we’re caught off-guard.
Nathan W. Bingham reflected on this recently:
There are many reasons why ignoring grief and the pain of life is bad. Not the least of which is that we’d be faking it. And faking it is antithetical to Christianity. Christianity is all about getting real with God. Real about who you are and your sin. Real about who He is and His holiness. Real about the only way to reconcile the two: through Jesus Christ. Too many Christians are being crushed as church has become a show room for success stories instead of a hospital for the hopelessly helpless.
However, today I want to consider another reason ignoring grief is a bad idea: pain and grief is an apologetic for the faith. Not apologetic in a literal sense of being a defense of the faith, but:
- a tool to confirm the truthfulness of Christianity,
- a reality best explained by Christianity,
- and a bridge to give us an ear for sharing Christianity.
Luma Simms:
If we stop to consider the motivations of our hearts—what is driving us as parents—we can gain important insight into the discipleship of our children. The driver behind gospel-centered discipleship is the glory of Christ. The driver behind child-centered discipleship is the glory of our children, and by extension, our own glory. In order to understand my own motives, I’ve learned to ask myself: Do I want my children to know God, to rest in the person and work of Christ, to have their many, many sins washed in the blood of the Lamb, and to eternally glorify Him? Or rather do I want my children to be “good,” to scrupulously avoid sin and follow biblical injunctions, to avoid bad consequences in this life?
(h/t Jean Williams)
In the Bible, James says that ‘anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect’ (James 3:2). Does he seriously expect that? He reckons that a person who speaks that well could ‘keep their whole body in check’. He seems to picture someone with absolute self-control.
But who’s like that? Our speech bubbles up from so many different emotions and circumstances. How could you seriously expect ‘perfect’ speech from anyone?
Short-but-fascinating post on the complexity of wise speech, and if you can make it (to Sydney) it sounds like a great night of discussion.
Christine Jensen:
Growing up in a family that didn’t go to church, I was determined when I married for ‘church’ to be the centre of our family. Of course, this was idealistic, and there were many moments when I thought it would have been easier to stay at home.
I hadn’t realised that this goal of mine wasn’t as easy as it sounded. I wanted my children to go happily, for church to be a delight to all family members. But this does not always happen. We certainly had a revolt on our hands for a couple of years, by a couple of teenagers who simply did not want to go to a Bible Study on Friday nights in addition to one on Sunday afternoons with church to follow! I know that we should just go to church come what may as we want to meet the Lord, but are there any tips we can share about creating a positive attitude to what is a pretty important activity?
From The Australian:
The main lobby group promoting gay marriage yesterday distanced itself from polyamorists demanding to be included in the proposed reforms, saying marriage involving more than two people would undermine a traditional institution.
Context is important: in this post by Robert Jones we’ve got both an interesting example of using God’s word to talk through hardships in life, along with a look at what the ‘good’ is in Romans 8.28.