I get down about stuff sometimes. Bewildered about how it seems some things never change. And, why, I wonder. Why, if you love Jesus and his way in the Gospels, wouldn’t you want it to change. But what lifts my spirits again and again is the sacred privilege to love and be loved. I think as much as anything, abundant life in Christ manifests itself in unkillable love in a murderous world, “punished and yet not killed.” We’ll think it’s dead and there it is again. “Dying and, behold, we live.” These 2 things: the Holy Spirit Spring-fed desire to love well and the faith to feel well-loved. Doesn’t take everybody. A lot of people can ignore or dislike you and a handful of people alongside Jesus love you well and you can make it through just about anything. There are some people out there who have defied the hatefulness of this world and loved you well. You have also, despite the scars that mark your heart, managed to love some people really well. Not a bad life, sweetheart. Not a bad life at all.
With each new day, I’m learning that the common thread for stability, sanity, success and sustainability is….
Trust God.
When worry seeps in, doubt begins to distract, my expectations aren’t met, things don’t line up, the timeline is delayed, people disappoint…
Trust God.
If I were a betting woman, I’d bet 10 bucks some of the meanest, relentlessly condemning people do in the dark the very thing they condemn in the light. I wish I had the luxury of a background that wouldn’t make me suspect smokescreens of loud mouth Bible police. But I don’t.
My Bible reading this morning started with these words: “The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind.” I just threw my head back with glee over the marvelousness, the unfathomable uniqueness, the wildness & wonder of God. I mean, he’d calendared it.
Capitalism is fundamentally about self-interest and ultimately hoping that the self-interest of others incidentally coincides with yours.
Christianity is fundamentally about the denial of self-interest.
Like…it’s not actually a debate. They’re different political economies.
Yes, Sunday's coming. But we have need of Saturday. Do not rush it. Feel the helplessness & horror. Imagine the pictures they could not get out of their heads. There's nothing you can do. No work. You're forced into Sabbath, suspended in stillness between what was & what will be.
At no point did Jesus say "If your right eye offends you, tell your sister to dress more conservatively."
Men, you have every tool in the Gospel to overcome lust without making your sin about what someone else does.
Don't shift blame for your sin to your sisters. Crucify it.
Can't believe I'm degrading myself by wading into The Modesty Debate.🧵
One thing I learned really quickly as I got older and started meeting people from other countries is that things that seem really obvious to you aren't obvious at all and someone had to teach you the rules.
As some of you try to spread around how much I have changed, please keep this in view: my faith in Jesus & my love for Scripture haven’t changed 1 iota. My faith in hyperfundamentalist men has. I’ve seen what I cannot unsee in the last 5 yrs. I just simply no longer believe you.
I’m gonna put this right here: I’m not a fan of immodesty. What I am is simply completely creeped out by hyper fundamentalist dudes objectifying women and telling women in detail how not to dress in pictures so that we unrighteous crudes don’t make these righteous dudes stumble.
Them: I can’t believe you allow women to preach at your church.
Me: I don’t.
Them: Oh good. I heard they were preaching, but...
Me: No, you heard right. Women preach at our church a lot, it’s just not me who “allows” it. Jesus does. I just get out of the way and cheer them on.
At one point in the last several years, my heart was so broken & my mind so burdened, I went to stand up and could not feel my feet. I literally was too weary of soul to stand. I couldn’t possibly have stood on a platform that day and taught, let alone competed in the Olympics.