Stumbling About for Truth

I recently saw the following headline for a story on Mother Teresa and her doubts about God's existance: Did Mother Teresa Believe in God? Essentially, Mother Teresa didn't feel God's presence the last 50 or so years of her life and came close to questioning His very existance. The story is essentially a PR piece for a new book about Mother Teresa. The headline to this story is a commentary on the unbelieving society we all inhabit. The headline supposes that those of us who believe do so without question or struggle. How silly that assumption is - especially coming from a jaded and cynical world - a world that struggles to make sense of every bit of information it comes by. This story (and others on this subject) also seems to "dance on her grave" at finding out that she may have had doubts. Nothing like finding out that those we have mounted on a high moral pedestal are really just human after all and that they are fallen like the rest of us. We celebrate the fa...

As I continue to read through the book of Ephesians at least once in its entirety each day, I am continuously looking for something new God may be speaking to me about. As I read through the book again tonight, I noticed a couple of things running like a winding stream through Paul's letter: community and unity. Paul, even though he was in chains for the Gospel in a different location than the Philippians, considered himself to be a part of their community with them. he also wrote to them, exhorting and encouraging them to stand in unity. Consider the following verses: ...your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now... (1:4) ...all of you share in God's grace with me... (7) for I know that through your prayers ... what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. (1:19) ...it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/16/wpapua116.xml

Just returned from church and from an awesome testimony from a young man who spent the summer in New Orleans in the inner-city working with children. The center he worked in, which is supported by the North American Mission Board, is right smack dab in the middle of a very dangerous neighborhood with all sorts of crime, immorality, etc. going on. It was, in essence, a summer-long VBS with a reading and math element injected into it. He taught the kids reading, math and recreation. His purpose there was to show the kids and their families that there is hope in Jesus Christ, even in the midst of the rubble that is New Orleans. Out of everything he said during his time of sharing, one thing stuck out to me: He said the center was known as a safe place in the midst of this broken down neighborhood for kids to go to. That got me to thinking about the church - Christ's body. Is it a safe place to go to for people who are broken down? Or is it a place of condemnation, judgement and legali...

How much money is too much? Can you make too much? Can you have too much? Should someone be able to criticize you for accepting more than they perceive your position is worth? How about when it comes to employees of non-profit organizations? How about employees of Christian non-profit organizations? Do the rules change in those instances? Let's look at this with a little clarity and in keeping with my previous post, let's look at this issue with honesty. And after some basic, layman-level pointers on how our free-market economy works, lets also discuss the fact that God isn't interested in economics or in the amount of money we have or make. He is more interested in what it does to us and what we do with it. We live in a country where the free market reigns. Only the strong/relevant/useful survive when it comes to doing business in our economy. The rest fall by the wayside. If someone puts a product out on the shelf or offers a service you think is priced too high, what do ...

I have been battling lately with a severe case of insomnia. After reading awhile in bed and still not feeling sleepy, I decided to check out some blogs and ran across a freshly minted one about transparency and preachers at Wade Burleson's blog. His post got me thinking again about this issue. Here are my thoughts: Honesty and transparency destroy the dark. They shatter the illusion we've constructed about who we really are and what our true motives are. The light of the truth invades our otherwise secret world, making it almost impossible to continue in our sin. With the choice to be honest and transparent, we are forced to live our lives out in the open - for everyone to see. Most of us would feel stark naked, terrified, ashamed and embarrassed if we chose to do this. But I think it a necessary choice nonetheless. It is a good and healthy habit to live transparent lives before others - to share what's going on in our lives - to confess our sin. It protects us. It protects...

As I have said in this blog before, I am reading through Philippians once each day in its entirety. I want to focus on this passage for this post: Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. -Philippians 1:27 I looked this verse up in the NET Bible's notes (www.bible.org) and found this about the above verse: Translation note: Grk “live as citizens.” The verb πολιτεύεσθε (politeuesqe) connotes the life of a freeman in a free Roman colony. Study Note: Conduct yourselves (Grk “live your lives as citizens”). The Philippians lived in a free Roman city, and thus understood from their own experience what it meant to live as citizens. Paul is here picking up on that motif and elevating it to the citizenship of heaven. Cf. 3:20 (our citizenship is in heaven). The idea here is that we are citizens of heaven now. Right after the above passage, Paul says that if they conduct themselves as citizens of heaven (or worth of the gospel) in his absence, he will...