I have been thinking and praying a lot about following Jesus in the current climate. How can I represent the grace and love of Jesus in a culture that is angry and divided? I read pundits and commentators saying terrible things about the motives of Evangelicals as if all people of faith act in lockstep. They do not. To be fair, some of their accusations are valid. I wrote a book called “When Bad Christians Happen to Good People Happen to Good People” so I would suggest I have no problem owning the shortcomings of Christians. The fact is EVERY ONE of us falls short of the glory of God. Too often the church has made what we stand against the message of our faith instead of the wonderful and liberating Good News of the Gospel. The word Evangelical literally means “Good News”. Is that the connotation the word has in our culture today? Do we share in the degeneration of the
Continue reading...
One of the things that I struggle with the most in our current cultural climate is the broad brushing by all sides. What do I mean by that? If you disagree with someone’s faith or political opinion you automatically assign to them the worst values from the most extreme people proclaiming that message. Without knowing a single thing about the person’s story, their heart, or their background we are prone to throw down the gauntlet of judgment. A lot of Christians have been unfairly targeted recently. Some deserve to be called to accountability. I have never had a problem with being honest about how I and many other followers of Jesus often fall short of representing the grace and love of Jesus. That is just a fact. That doesn’t change who Jesus is. But one heartbreaking result is that the entire Christian faith is being dismissed and denigrated by a lot of people with social media influence. With just a bit
Continue reading...
I have teased for years that I want to develop an app that asks you to pause and pray before you hit send. Failing that, maybe I can convince you instead to play a song recorded by Glen Campbell. The lyrics are from a poem written by Edgar Albert Guest in 1914. Guest immigrated from England in 1891 at the age of 10. He was a newspaper reporter for the Detroit Free Press before becoming a syndicated author of poetry. He became known as the “Peoples Poet” and was said to have published a new poem everyday for 30 years. His works were not critically acclaimed but they connected with the public. Fifty-one years after Guest published “A Creed” the words were put to music by Glen Campbell in a song titled “Less of Me”. (Click on the link to hear it) Let me be a little kinder,Let me be a little blinderTo the faults of those around me,Let me
Continue reading...