Church

Learning to be a Christ-follower is about learning a new way to live.  Learning a new way to live requires learning a new way to navigate life.  Learning a new way to navigate life requires learning a new way to see the path in front of you. I call this reframing. Jesus taught his followers the principle of reframing in the Sermon on the Mount.  Here are a few examples: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12). You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with…

For those who remember, boxing legend Muhammad Ali never lacked for bravado.  On many occasions, he would say of himself, "I am the greatest!" Once while flying to a fight, Ali refused to buckle his seatbelt despite being told many times.  The flight attendant kept insisting, but Ali said, "Superman don't need no seatbelt."  Finally, the fast-thinking attendant replied, "Superman don't need no plane." Ali buckled his seatbelt. Muhammad Ali experienced an attitude adjustment. For those of us who have given our lives to Christ, the cross offers us a different way of looking at life: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Several times in the New Testament we hear the phrase (or a variation), "come to your senses."  The prodigal son "came to his senses" (Luke 15:17).  In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes "come back to your senses as you ought" (v. 34). It's an interesting phrase. It could literally read, "Come back to your right mind." In other words, there are right minds and wrong minds.  Right ways of thinking and harmful ways of thinking.  There are times when we are thinking straight, and other times when our thinking is clouded and foggy. When a person returns to their senses, they are returning to their right mind.  A change in behavior is often precipitated by a change in thinking.  Unless you change the way you think, you'll likely stay in the same ruts. When a person "makes no sense," there is something out of alignment between their thoughts, words, or…

Over at the Gospel Coalition blog, I read a recent post by Paul Tripp about how one's perspective on their ministry changes as they grow older.  In particular, I liked how he contrasted astronauts with archeologists.  I've included a snippet below.  I'd encourage you to read the entire post. ********* The longer you're in pastoral ministry, the more you move from being an astronaut to an archaeologist. When you're young, you're excitedly launching to worlds unknown. You have all of the major decisions of life and ministry before you, and you can spend your time assessing your potential and considering opportunities. It's a time of exploration and discovery. It's a time to go where you've never been before and do what you've never done. It's a time to begin to use your training and gain experience. But as you get older in ministry, you begin to look back at least…

Because of the beauty of the Internet and six degrees of separation (clicking from Tim Spivey to Jim Martin to Ian Cron), I came across this great article by Ian Cron entitled "Is Jesus Just Background Music in Your Life?" The article was inspired by a coffee shop conversation with a friend, Rob Mathes, who said this about the music playing in the background: "“When brilliant compositions are used for background music it desensitizes people to their genius." It's an interesting article to read. Has Jesus become background music in your life?