As with any good mystery, God hides Himself, but He does so not because He wishes to withhold Himself from us, but because He wishes to reveal – to give us the delight of the pursuit and the glory of the discovery. A kind and loving Father, God cloaks Himself in mystery with the strategic intent of being discovered. He hides Himself to be found.
Read MoreAs we embrace our Christian mission, it is an act of love to ready ourselves to respond in whatever way the situation in front of us demands, and not to concern ourselves so much with whether we have this or that charism. In other words, when we get focused on our mission of extending God’s love to others, it is only natural that we would seek the most powerful means of accomplishing that mission: an intimate partnership with the Holy Spirit through the full range of spiritual gifts that are available to us.
Read MoreAt some point, we need to believe that we’ve become spiritual adults who have moved beyond self-improvement and are strong and developed enough to engage powerfully in the world. We have to start believing that grace actually works, and that our continual journeying with Christ over time has actually been effective in purifying and sanctifying us, readying us to do the world-changing activities that Jesus commissioned us to do.
Read MoreAside from wildly underestimating God’s goodness, grace, and sovereignty, the trouble with perfectionism is that it’s unattainable. There is always something that is falling short, always some area of failure, so there will never be a time in which shame stops speaking and we can truly rest. It’s a never-ending plight that will keep us busy until the day we die. We can re-brand that plight as “noble” or “holy” if we’d like, but in the end, it’s a form of bondage — and specifically, a bondage that Jesus came to deliver us from.
Read MoreIn Christ, we are citizens of God’s heavenly Kingdom and are invited to begin living heaven’s culture of honor here and now. We do this by learning to see people the way God sees them, by being eager to praise the good we see in them, by leveraging the favor we have to create opportunities for people to develop into their full potential, and so on. But because of the fallen state of this world, there are certain challenges to living a culture of honor that we have to contend with now that we won't in heaven. So what does honor look like in the midst of the brokenness of this world?
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