Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Speak with convicton
If you haven't seen this before (and even if you have) watch this video.
I think there is an important message in that for us as Christians. God is the most significant topic we could talk on and surely he deserves that we present him in a worthy manner. There are segments of the Christian community that put value on doubting everything and scorn the idea of being able to say much for certain about God. I certainly wouldn't wish to argue for arrogance or that we will know everything with perfect certainty. But for those things we can know, we should be doing out best to speak with conviction. As someone who tends towards being a little shy, it is hard but I pray that with God's grace I may be able to speak of him with the conviction and passion he deserves.
I think there is an important message in that for us as Christians. God is the most significant topic we could talk on and surely he deserves that we present him in a worthy manner. There are segments of the Christian community that put value on doubting everything and scorn the idea of being able to say much for certain about God. I certainly wouldn't wish to argue for arrogance or that we will know everything with perfect certainty. But for those things we can know, we should be doing out best to speak with conviction. As someone who tends towards being a little shy, it is hard but I pray that with God's grace I may be able to speak of him with the conviction and passion he deserves.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Book review: Russell Moore- Adopted for life
Adopted for lifeRussell Moore
In Adopted For Life, Russell Moore outlines what the bible says about adoption and the case for Christians to care about the issue.
It is logical to assume that this would be a book for people who plan to adopt or have already done so. People in this situation will no doubt find the book very helpful. I read the book as someone with no plan or possibility of adopting any time soon because of how highly I had heard it recommended. If you are also not a prospective adoptive parent, you can still benefit and learn from this book.
One of the aspects of the book which will be applicable to all Christians is the discussion of how God adopts us into his family. I had not realized the bible had so much to say on the topic. I definitely gained a fuller understanding of what it means to become a child of God.
Another way the book could be beneficial to everyone is in helping us think more accurately and biblically about adoption. It should help dispel some of the questionable media portrayals of adoption we see, whether that be of a misfit adopted kid or the gossip magazine tales of adoptions by celebrities. He also shares a lot about his own experiences of adopting two children from Russia which was really interesting.
I reviewed this book in audio format. I liked that it was narrated by the author but the somewhat fast reading pace took a little while to get used to.
Review copy provided by christianaudio.com
Friday, August 6, 2010
I am part of the problem
Pointing out problems is easy, especially when it comes to the church. You don’t have to look very hard to find a Christian or Christian group doing something stupid. You also don’t have to look very far to find people making a public show of what a problem some other Christians are.
Unfortunately our talent for problem spotting doesn’t usually extend to ourselves. We’d like to kid ourselves that there is two classes of Christians- us “good” Christians and the troublemakers. When we think like this, we are deceiving ourselves. Sure, we might not be demonstrating the more dramatic, television friendly ways of being messed up but we are all flawed, sinful people. All of us have problems and all of us have been a less than perfect witness. I am part of the problem. You are part of the problem.
Pointing out the faults of someone else is easy because we don’t have the responsibility to fix it. We can walk away, thinking we have done something productive just for pointing out their problems. Sometimes there is a case for publicly dealing with issues involving people we have influence over, but realistically this is not the case in a good deal of our talking about the problems of other Christians. Bringing our own faults out into the light is so much harder because the responsibility for them is ours. We can’t walk away because our own problems follow us around.
Dealing with our own stuff may be harder, but it is where we can make a change. We might not be able to do much about the television preacher from another country who is doing something stupid, but with God’s help we can become more Christlike and a better witness to the world. Imagine how much things could change if we directed energy we used getting frustrated and angry at what other people do towards our own issues and towards becoming more like the kind of Christian we would like the world to be taking notice of.
Unfortunately our talent for problem spotting doesn’t usually extend to ourselves. We’d like to kid ourselves that there is two classes of Christians- us “good” Christians and the troublemakers. When we think like this, we are deceiving ourselves. Sure, we might not be demonstrating the more dramatic, television friendly ways of being messed up but we are all flawed, sinful people. All of us have problems and all of us have been a less than perfect witness. I am part of the problem. You are part of the problem.
Pointing out the faults of someone else is easy because we don’t have the responsibility to fix it. We can walk away, thinking we have done something productive just for pointing out their problems. Sometimes there is a case for publicly dealing with issues involving people we have influence over, but realistically this is not the case in a good deal of our talking about the problems of other Christians. Bringing our own faults out into the light is so much harder because the responsibility for them is ours. We can’t walk away because our own problems follow us around.
Dealing with our own stuff may be harder, but it is where we can make a change. We might not be able to do much about the television preacher from another country who is doing something stupid, but with God’s help we can become more Christlike and a better witness to the world. Imagine how much things could change if we directed energy we used getting frustrated and angry at what other people do towards our own issues and towards becoming more like the kind of Christian we would like the world to be taking notice of.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Book review- D.A Carson- Scandalous
ScandalousD.A. Carson
Buy: christianaudio, koorong, amazon, book depository
In scandalous, D.A Carson lays out some of the really incredible and scandalous things about the gospel.
Because we Christians tend to hear about the gospel often, it is easy for it to not seem as special as it should. This book really made me think about how extraordinary it is. While the book presented some big theological ideas from some complicated biblical texts it wasn’t particularly difficult to get through and contained lots of stories to illustrate his points. Some of the texts, particularly the one from Revelation arn’t ones that would normally come up in discussions about the cross but his explanation of these texts was helpful in understanding more about the cross.
One thing I didn’t really like about the book was that the chapters didn’t really seem to flow together. This is possibly a result of the material in the book being drawn from several different talks. Because of this, it might be helpful to not read straight through and instead take some time to think about the content before moving onto the next chapter.
Overall, I thought this was a really good book. I particularly recommend it to those who have been a Christian for a while and need a fresh reminder of the scandal and power of the cross.
Review copy provided by christianaudio.com
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