Thoughts
Thoughts on Christian-Subculture Part Two
I can’t help but wonder what we as Christians do, say or think that is particularly indicative of our specific culture or upbringing that is influencing us. What things from our culture are influencing us that are un-Christian? What things might influence us that contradict our faith? What things could we be learning from Christians from other time periods or other countries and therefore from other cultures?
Thoughts on Christian-Subculture Part One
We’ve got tons of Christian websites, Christian music, Christian movies, Christian political groups–in effect we’ve created an alternative to just about everything the secular world offers and slapped a Christian-approved stamp on it.
We all Need Encouragement
Who is someone you could go out and encourage today? What random stranger could you give an unexpected, unknown encouragement to? Your encouragement to them today will mean a lot coming from you. You could give a random friend a hug and tell them you’re happy that the two of you are friends. You could call up a random friend and tell them you miss them and are praying for them.
We are the Watchmen
You see Christian, you and I are the watchmen. We must show the love and grace of Jesus. We must not pull the punches and fail to speak when there is truth that must be declared. We must be brutally honest. This world needs (though often does not want to hear) the truth and it needs to be bold in our proclamation of what is true. However, we must speak the truth in love.
We’ve become Church Cynics & Critics
You have churches popping up all over the place and yet still more and more churches are dying out. It’s like a consumerist propaganda, each church is trying to sell themselves as having what the guy down the street doesn’t have and I hear people comparing churches like they compare hamburger joints. The preferences over theology, music, eschatology, liturgy, and preaching style have caused a great splintering of the evangelical Church in America.
Be Still…I am God
We go days, weeks and months without purposely being still. When we are caught in a situation where we must wait we are bored out of our minds. We’re impatient as we wait and become crankier and more irritated the longer that waiting lasts. Some of us have ways of dealing with these times and they often involve either taking a nap or whipping out our smart phone to surf the internet, text, e-mail or something fun or work related to pass the time and feel productive.
Delight Yourself in the Lord
If you find yourself admiring the One who made our souls to run on Himself, what else would you find that would be more satisfactory to your soul? If you find yourself delighting in the one who made laughter, joy and happiness, what else do you think would bring you joy in this life? Once you have delighted yourself in the Lord, I believe your heart will want nothing else besides Him.
The Work of His Hand
We all know that God has a plan for our lives. I think often we’re afraid that plan will be boring or that His plan will lead us somewhere we don’t want to go. I think we often hope that God will bless our plans. That He will simply let us drive and just come along for the ride. But what if living like that wasn’t God’s plan for us? I think the concept of God’s will for our lives has left Christians divided and confused.