Love and Liability
Recently, I read the Guidepost Solutions report about sexual abuse within Southern Baptist Convention churches. The events, coverups, and victim-blaming made me sick. Once I recovered from my bout of nausea, I began to reflect.
Biblically, how can we allow perpetrators to follow up their abuse by further preying on their vulnerable victims? Financial liability that may imperil the spread of the gospel is no viable excuse for the coverups, intimidation, slander, and further traumatization of these abuse victims by lead members of the SBC’s Executive Committee. Really, should the fear of liability and loss be our number one priority?
Rebuilding the Road to Discipleship
Many of us have strayed far from Jesus’ Great Commission—if we even know what it is! Needless to say, the road to discipleship needs repair.
Perhaps our navigation system is broken, or we forgot where we are headed in the first place. Maybe we were pointed in the wrong direction entirely and wonder why we seem to be circling the same old relational landmarks of relationship problems and sin habits. Continuing the way we’ve been going and expecting to arrive at a different destination is, in a word, nuts.
Bungling the Discipleship Equation
Jesus’ command to make disciples doesn’t require higher math or years of advanced study. Being no fan of arithmetic, I’m thankful He solved the “discipleship equation” so simply that even a young child can follow. In Matthew 28:19-20, He adds up the three essential parts for us:
7 Reasons Why Small Groups Become Big Gripes for Pastors
Small groups can be a source of life, growth, and grace. So why do so many pastors have gripes about the development of small group ministry in their church? Honestly, there are a lot of reasons.
Maybe We Need New Glasses?
Eternity starts here and now! Don’t miss it. Grace is so much more than unmerited favor. To receive the grace of God through Jesus means accepting that God has a boundless capacity of relational grace toward us as well as toward every other person we meet (and we all know we all need it!). Do you have a habit of looking at other people through this sort of generous, grace-based lens? Because of His capacity, God can honestly see each person as his most special and favorite, times infinity. No limits. Maybe we need new glasses?
Does Your Soul Need “Elk Space?”
God’s grace empowers us to sit quietly with ourselves and one another, so we become brave enough to be seen out in the open. Wild things that we are, if you and I love one another—in good times and bad, through best behavior and our foibles—you and I will demonstrate his faithful presence as well as our own.
Invasion of Ukraine. This is Personal
My heart is breaking for my friends in Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine is much more than the latest hot, trendy, geopolitical news. It’s far beyond the realm of issues the media typically seizes upon to stir up emotions in the hope of generating higher ratings.
To me, it’s personal.
God’s Grace Sets a Spiritual Atmosphere
For years, people told me over and over again that grace changes the spiritual atmosphere around them. I agree. Within the family of God, grace is a catalyst for transformation in every area of life.
A force to be reckoned with, it is God’s vision for His special and favorite family members—and for those whom He longs to adopt. Grace-based relationships found here afford us what many of our families of origin could not. It is the seedbed for encountering God’s grace and presence.
Agents of Grace
Each of us needs people who really see and know who we are to remind us of who we are in Christ, especially during the times when we seem to forget. Apart from a close community, we cannot expect lasting spiritual transformation. You know the saying, “It takes a village”? We are called to show up with our offering of presence for one another—that includes our grace, our gifts, and our talents.
The Four Amazing Rs of Relational, Grace-Based Attachment
God created our natural family to help powerfully shape our identity and attachment through the Four Amazing Rs of Relational, Grace-Based Attachment (from now on, these will be referred to as the Four Amazing Rs). Our families help each of us learn what it means to accomplish four vital tasks:
Families and Fairy Tales
God designed our natural family to be the place where you and I learn to live in grace. Drawing on what we now know about grace helps each of us better understand His intention for grace in the context of our spiritual families too. For those who have received Jesus, family is a space where relationships remain bigger and more important than our problems. Here, grace can form bonds, attachments, and identity in the good ways that you and I need. Unfortunately, the family that raises us can also be a place where bad things happen. That being the case, you can count on it: the grace you and I experience through family interactions has been—and will be—formed and tested through good times and stormy, alike. Grace points to a profound relational need—a reciprocal one. Each of us is born with it. Naturally, that need is magnified in families.
Missing Christ at Christmas
It’s pretty easy to miss Jesus when we create Him in our own image. It’s even worse when we confuse our agenda with His!
