The Danger of Idealizing Christian Community
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once observed that idealism about church can actually hurt real churches. When we value our ideal of Christian community more than Christian community itself, we can miss the gift God wants to give to us. The New Testament reveals many times how hard it can be to get along with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Yet, God intends for us to live the Christian life in a genuine, committed relationship with others. Often this takes work!
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It is Far Better to Go Be With The Lord (Part 2)
It is far better to go. That is not only biblically accurate, it just makes good sense. Streets of gold versus potholes; better to go. Christ as the light in a city or rising gas and electrical bills; better to go. No more tears versus tear ducts and allergies; better to go. There are plenty of reasons to contemplate longing and planning for a renewed heaven and a renewed earth. Death would yield something better. But then again, there is a reason to stay.
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It is Far Better to Go Be With The Lord (Part 1)
We often forget how frail and fragmented everything is. Inside the tension and fragmentation we do not only find doom, but rather we find Christ himself and his bidding us to follow—never asking us to atone but instead teaching us that he has atoned for all of it. Christ is really all in all, isn’t He?
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What Good is Any Of It? (Part 2)
Whether there was a letter sent to Paul with questions, or Paul was simply thinking about how his situation affected those in Philippi, it is clear what Paul wanted them to know. It is what we need to become intimately clear about also: dire circumstances can actually bring about redemptive hope.
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What Good is Any Of It? (Part 1)
Whether there is despair, uncertainty, success, or setback, Paul’s first clause affirms a strong reminder: there is always some good to come in every circumstance.
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What is to Come is Real (Part 2)
It may be unclear how our present work is actually turning out to advance the Gospel. But we can learn to live a good life with the same confidence that Paul had.
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What is to Come is Real (Part 1)
Paul was keenly aware of his circumstances as well as the circumstances in Philippi. But he was also aware of another foreign country where it’s always light and where weeping and cursing will be gone. That place informed how he looked at his current circumstances in at least two ways.
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Discernment and Knowledge
Life is full of difficult decisions for which there are often no easy or obvious choices. We all need discernment.
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Discernment and Love
Love requires difficult decisions. Followers of Christ seek discernment to make those decisions.
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Citizens of Heaven on the Fourth of July
We affirm the good and confess what is not good, working as citizens of heaven and earth for God’s justice here and now, even as we long for the ultimate justice of God’s future.
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Gentleness and Anxiety
While our anxieties can make it more difficult to be gentle, God promises gentleness as the fruit of his Spirit.
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