"Helping the Next Generation Think Christianly About All of life"
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The Invitation of Jesus
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”--Matt. 11:28-30
Everyone is an apprentice to someone...who are you learning from?
Our churches are filled with people who are spiritually born again, but who still think like non-Christians.—William Lane Craig
Pop Quiz: Try to make a list of all the beliefs that you have that the culture around us doesn't. (any difference?)
Could you show someone from the Bible, why the Trinity is important? That Jesus claimed to be the only way to God? Could you tell someone why it is reasonable to believe God exists? If you have been a Christian for longer than a year or two, you can read, and you own a Bible--without trying to induce guilt--the answer ought to be yes.
How are you doing? As Christians, our intellectual habits should be different from those around us. Engage your mind (Luke 10:27; Rom 12:2; Col. 2:8; 2 Cor. 10:3-5)--it is an act of worship. Our world desperately needs thoughtful Christians. You can become one--start here:
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."- Prov. 4:23
How is your heart these days? (biblically speaking, 'heart' includes our emotions and thoughts). For more, see Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard and It Came From Within by Andy Stanley (below)
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:22-34)
The BIG question I need to answer is this....does Jesus really know what he is talking about?
We live in a world that gives us more and more...faster and faster and calls it progress. But is this good for us? Do you ever feel like someone else is setting the agenda of your life? Thankfully the Bible gives us some wisdom on how to make the most of the days we are given.
Here is a talk that I gave called "I want my time back" in which I explore this topic biblically and try to apply it to our lives. As we begin the new year, we all need to consider an important question.
Is there enough time in my life right now for me to do what I say matters most on a daily basis?
Here is an excellent and (short!) book that can make a BIG difference - A Minute of Margin: Restoring Balance to Busy Lives180 Daily Reflections by Richard Swenson
Product Description
Where’s the balance? Too many of us are losing the "war of the planner." We want to get everything done, but for some reason, it never happens. And the machines that were supposed to make lives easier only leave our lives more stressful.
Something has to give, and often it does––to disastrous consequences.
Expanding on principles from Dr. Richard Swenson’s best-selling books Margin and The Overload Syndrome, this book consists of 180 daily readings to help restore balance to hectic, modern lives. Each reading serves as a practical assignment––a helpful "prescription"––to eliminate unneeded frustrations, reflect on what’s really important, and start winning the war with our time.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."--2 Timothy 3:14-17
Quite a thought...but that is the goal of the Christian life (i.e., becoming more like Jesus cf. Rom.8:29). Dallas Willard offers us some sage advice, “We cannot behave ‘on the spot’ as Jesus did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does.” But that leads us to the needed, but uncomfortable question of how am I living?
"The process of spiritual formation in Christ is one of progressively replacing destructive images and ideas with images and ideas that fill the mind of Jesus himself" (Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart). Our beliefs and our thought life provide the live possibilities for us to choose in the day in and day out of life. If our thoughts are mostly away from God, then our choices most likely will be as well. Renewing our mind is fundamental to being an apprentice of Jesus (Romans 12:2).
"To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."--John 8:31-32
“Has the Church lost her mind?” That is a question that many within the evangelical world are rightly asking. After much study of this question, historian Mark Noll concluded that “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”[2] Os Guinness laments “Anti-intellectualism is a disposition to discount the importance of truth and the life of the mind. Living in a sensuous culture and an increasingly emotional democracy, American evangelicals in the last generation have simultaneously toned up their bodies and dumbed down their minds.”[3] Guinness even begins his book by including a humorous cartoon illustrating this sad state of affairs with one character saying to the other “Buns of Steel—Brains of Silly Putty!”[4] Evangelical Philosopher and Theologian William Lane Craig observes that “Our churches are filled with people who are spiritually born again, but who still think like non-Christians.”[5] Is this an accurate portrait?
Unfortunately, in many circles it is. But it shouldn't be; it doesn't have to be....
Jonathan Morrow is the founder of Think Christianly (www.thinkChristianly.org). He is the author of Welcome to College: A Christ-follower's Guide for the Journey, Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture, and Is God Just a Human Invention? And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists (with Sean McDowell), and contributed the chapter "Introducing Spiritual Formation" to Foundations of Spiritual Formation: A Community Approach to Becoming Like Christ. Jonathan also contributed several articles to the Apologetics Study Bible for Students. He graduated with an M.Div. and an M.A. in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology and is currently the equipping pastor at Fellowship Bible Church. His books have been featured on shows like Family Life Today, Stand to Reason, Breakpoint, Frank Pastore, The Janet Mefferd Show, and Apologetics 315. **This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not necessarily those of my employer.**
