Tag: Christian Life
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Western Theology
There are two visions of life, two kinds of people. The first see life as a possession to be carefully guarded. They are called settlers. The second see life as a wild, fantastic, explosive gift. They are called pioneers. These two types give rise to two kinds of theology: Settler Theology and Pioneer Theology. According…
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10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health
How are you doing, Spiritually? That is an important question. God repeatedly encourages us to examine our hearts. And while many are aware that it ought to be our regular practice to take a spiritual pulse, I suspect that relatively few know how to read the gauges even if we were to try. Consequently, if…
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10 Building Blocks for On-going Discipleship
by Stephen Smallman I went away with our elders for a time apart to re-examine our priorities as a church. The word “discipleship” started as one of many things on a “to do” list, and the more we talked and prayed, the more that word pushed its way to the top of the list. That…
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Living Dangerously
One of the dangers of [obedience based Christianity] is that it can lead people to think God owes them a reward for their obedience. Their perspective in life is: ‘If I do certain things, I expect God to come through for me’. And when He doesn’t, they think: What’s wrong? Why isn’t He doing something…
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Appropriating Grace
Here is an important reminder and challenge from Richard Lovelace, from his monumental Dynamics of Spiritual Life: Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives… Many… have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their…
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2 Mistakes Christians Make
People tend to make two mistakes when they think about the redeemed life. The first is to underestimate the sin that remains in us; it’s still there and it can still hurt us. The second is to underestimate the strength of God’s grace; God is determined to make us new. As a result, all Christians…
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Killing Me Softly: Putting Sin to Death
In Colossians 3.5, the Apostle Paul commands: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Based on the language Paul uses it is clear that sin is in our hearts, and it will not just go away on its own. We need…
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The Difference That Makes All the Difference
Francis Schaeffer, of his own testimony, writes: “I became a Christian once for all upon the basis of the finished work of Christ through faith; that is justification. The Christian life, sanctification, operates on the same basis, but moment by moment. There is the same base (Christ’s work) and the same instrument (faith); the only…
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Paradoxes of Grace
In his excellent, perspective shaping book, Broken-Down House, Paul Tripp reflects some of the amazing paradoxes of the gospel. Take some time to ponder these; feel the tension. This is what genuine grace is and does: So grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God’s character and it is your hope.…
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When God…
When God had mercy on us, when God revealed Jesus Christ to us as brother, when God won our hearts by God’s own love, our instruction in Christian love began at the same time. When God was merciful to us, we learned to be merciful with one another. When we received forgiveness instead of judgment,…
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Schaeffer’s Theorem
Francis Schaeffer was a prophetic voice to Christianity for the latter half of the 20th Century. His treatises such as Mark of the Christian and Two Contents, Two Realities were excellent primers for Gospel-Centered & Missional Christianity long before either Gospel-Centered or Missional were coined terms. The premise behind his philosophy has been has been…
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I Asked the Lord to Grow in Grace
This song comes from a beautiful poem by John Newton. It is a powerful reminder to me about God’s grace and how God works. Like Newton in the opening lines of this poem, I often ask God to grow me in grace and faith and the fruits of his Spirit. I asked the Lord that I might…
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Advantages of Pleasing God More Than People
The following dozen points are about the advantages to us in seeking to please God, instead of living for the approval of other people. They were originally written by the great English Puritan, Richard Baxter. I have attempted to clean up the language a little, hopefully without dulling the wisdom: 1. If you seek first to please…
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Living & Loving to Please God
Steve Brown, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary and president of Key Life Network, penned a marvelous word picture of the motive and expression of a life gripped by God’s grace: When I became a Christian, two things happened. I got saved, and I got loved. I got loved so deeply that it still amazes me…
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Gospel: Where Rubber Meets Road
It is one thing to affirm the gospel; It is something altogether different to experience it’s power where the rubber meets the road. ~Tullian Tchividjian, from Jesus + Nothing = Everything
