One takeaway from the excellent conversation I listened to on the podcasts I referred to in my last post was this insight: when we are tired of making too many decisions in our lives we fall to fundamentalism. There is a hard right and a hard left fundamentalism, but those are the areas we go to when we’re done trying to work through too many decisions or too many perceived gray areas.
Continue reading “We can’t settle for simple sets of rules”Tag: Discipleship
Renouncing all to follow Christ
33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (Luke 14:33)
Christ can’t have me following him with all the junk I want to carry. He knows I won’t make it, so he calls me to jettison my junk to obtain his treasure.
BEING salt and light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matt. 5:13, NIV)
A disciple of the kingdom who does not LIVE like a disciple of the kingdom is worth about as much as tasteless salt or invisible light.
The power of the greatest commandments
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” — Matthew 22:37-40 Continue reading “The power of the greatest commandments”
The greatest examples we carry
I have reached a place in the Gospel of John that causes me to walk slowly. It’s difficult for me when I think I’m in some sort of time crunch, or in a “check off” mode. But this is holy ground. Continue reading “The greatest examples we carry”
The difficulty of discipleship
John 6 is at once one of my favorite chapters to chew on… and the most frustrating chapter to read. It is the deep call to discipleship and full participation in Christ.
This is the place where Jesus drives a crowd AWAY. In our world, that’s utter foolishness. We are so thirsty for big crowds! We celebrate big crowds! And Jesus is here thinning things out! Continue reading “The difficulty of discipleship”
How to live with others
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 7:12) Continue reading “How to live with others”
