Let’s Stop Using Christian as an Adjective Do you call yourself a Christian? What does that word mean to you? What might it mean to others? Especially to those who aren’t part of our faith community? Let us consider if we should use Christian as a noun, Christian as an adjective, or Christian as something […]
What if Jesus Never Intended His Followers to Form a Church as we Know it Today? I looked at where the Bible talks about the kingdom of God and where it talks about church. What I learned is shocking. Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God, not church. These are New Testament Considerations Both the […]
As Followers of Jesus We Must Focus Our Attention Paul encourages the church in Philippi to focus their thoughts (Philippians 4:8). We should do this too. But what should we think about? Fortunately, Paul gives us a list. We are to pursue these ideas. Think about Whatever is True First, we should dwell on the […]
Followers of Jesus Should Carefully Consider the Message We Send to the World A song from my youth carries the title, which repeats in the chorus, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” If you’re not familiar with this song, check out the lyrics or watch a video. Though not the style of music […]
Choose Labels With Care For They Reflect Our Identity and Theology By definition I am a Christian, but I’ve always shied away from that word. It means different things to different people, not all of which are positive. For too many, Christian is a negative label implying narrow minded, bigoted, or hate-filled people. Since these […]
Discover What Label Best Describes Our Faith Are you a Christian? Be careful before you answer. By definition I am a Christian, though I seldom use the Christian label. Why? In my book How Big is Your Tent?, I write: “Christian is a loaded term. It means many things to different people. To some, Christian […]
Social Media Has Trivialized What It Means to Follow Someone and Be Their Friend Today when we think of the word followers, our mind quickly takes us to Twitter. As in, “How many Twitter followers do you have?” Instagram and Pinterest also lists our number of followers. And when someone wonders about the number of […]
I don’t like the label “Christian,” even though I am one. The Christian label is a loaded term. It means many things to different people. To some, Christian implies narrow-minded. To others, Christian means hateful. Still others think Christian refers to a political party or secular movement. And what about mean, militant, murdering, manipulative, and […]
Like yeast in a lump of dough, a little bit makes a big difference In the thirteenth chapter of the book of Matthew, we read many parables of Jesus. This includes the parable of the sower, the parable of the weeds, the parable of the hidden treasure, the parable of the pearl, the parable of […]
People Complain About Things That Matter to Them; Silence Reveals Apathy When a customer complains about a business, the astute businessperson knows to embrace it as an opportunity. The fact that the customer is complaining means they’re still a customer, and they’re simply providing a chance for improvement. After all, if they no longer view […]